Something from the Nightside [Mass Market Paperback]

 

 

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Imagine Harry Dresden loose in a Neil Gaiman-style world, and you'll have some idea of what's going on in "Something From the Nightside."

Simon R. Green starts a little shakily in this fantasy-noir series, set in a grimy extranatural zone full of demons, monsters, freaks and warped reality. The first book takes about half its length to get started, but once it does, it's a wild ride -- with hints of darker twists to come.

John Taylor fled the Nightside years ago, and set up shop as a PI in London, using his special talent (finding things) to eke out a living. But when wealthy Joanna Barrett hires him to find her teenage daughter, Taylor finds himself leading her into the Nightside, and acquainting her with the terrifying, often gruesome chaos that dwells inside it.

Then they accidentally step into a timeslip, and John finds himself facing a ruined, dead world. Worse, it turns out HE was the one who did it, many years in the past. Tormented by this possible future, John must find the girl who was lured into the Nightside -- and hope that the area doesn't get blown up first.

"Something From the Nightside" is a skinny little book, barely more than a novella. But Simon R. Green definitely packs a lot of material into it, and in a few sentences he spins up a fascinating "other world" in London full of monsters, creatures, and outright weirdos.

Examples: a citadel filled with armed UFO paranoiacs, the Brittle Sisters of the Hive, brawling yuppie druids, faceless assassins, and a bar with Merlin buried in the wine cellar. Those are only a few of the strange, colourful things Green conjures, like a playful Gaiman nightmare.

And Green has succeeded in capturing a certain noir snap, with plenty of solid dialogue ("Suzie doesn't know the meaning of the word 'fear.' Other concepts she has trouble grasping are 'restraint,' 'mercy,' and 'self-preservation'"). But he can imbue some more subtle horror into some scenes, like the battle with the Harrowing, and the devastated world of the future.

The big problem is that he spends the first half of the book basically showing us how very freaky the Nightside is. Not very mysterious. Fortunately things perk up after the halfway mark, and leave doors open for future books.

The generically-named John Taylor is a good noir hero too -- he's got a tortured, mysterious past and a lot of people out for his blood. Some of the other characters are not quite what they seem, but Taylor bumps into some endearingly bloodthirsty characters like Razor Eddie and Shotgun Suzie. Guess what they do for fun.

"Something From the Nightside" starts off slow and merely amusing, but the second half blooms into a dark, thorny little rose. Definitely worth reading -- and it only promises to get better.

In Something From the Nightside, Simon R. Green takes us on the initial exploration of a fascinating hidden world located far below the civilized streets of London. In the Nightside, it is always 3 AM; people (and other things) come from all kinds of worlds (including fictional ones) and times to indulge in the secret and oftentimes perverse pleasures they can never pursue in their own worlds; and anything and everything is possible - the sight of a fallen angel burning eternally in a blood-sealed circle qualifies as a mundane sight. Native Nightsiders all possess a gift of some sort - oftentimes a deadly one. It's a dangerous place, which is exactly why John Taylor left it five years ago. Now ensconced in the real world of London, he is a private detective of the film noir sort. When a rich dame comes seeking his help in finding her lost daughter, though, he finds himself returning to the secret world he vowed never to set foot in again. John Taylor's natural-born gift is an uncanny power to find things, especially within the confines of the Nightside. If anyone can find the missing girl, he can - whether he can survive long enough to do it, is a completely different matter.

Despite his misgivings, the journey back feels like going home. Little has changed in the Nightside. At Sidefellows bar, Alex Morrisey is still tending the bar (but of course, he is cursed to always remain there); Razor Eddie, Punk God of the Straight Razor and Nightside's most proficient eternal killer, is still coming in for free drinks; Suzie Shooter is still around to shoot first and ask questions later; and young punks still have no better sense than to challenge John Taylor's powers. Taylor's gift can be deadly, and he is soon given the opportunity to prove that five years away have not lessened his powers. The secret of Taylor's childhood and mysterious destiny are fleshed out as the story progresses, but the one thing Taylor has been unable to find is the meaning and significance obviously attached to his life - although he's pretty sure it has something to do with his non-human mother who disappeared after he was born. Some unknown but very powerful someone (or something) has been trying to kill him ever since he was a kid, and the blank-faced, pseudo-beings called The Harrowing soon appear to claim their long-stalked prey. They are just one of several deadly problems Taylor encounters on his mission to find the missing young girl.

The actual climax of the story is a little less satisfying than what comes before, but that's about the only small weakness in this action-packed, fast-paced novel. Green proves himself a master of sly, dark humor in these pages, mixing a sharp wit with sociopolitical satire and plenty of campy hard-boiled detective adventure to create a portal to a wondrously enigmatic world where anything can happen and usually does. While the search for the missing girl remains the center of the novel, the story really shifts to that of the mysterious John Taylor himself, as we learn about his past and - thanks to a Timeslip phenomenon - a cataclysmic future he will supposedly bring about. Messiah-like references to him by the likes of the Brittle Sisters of the Hive raise intriguing questions, questions John Taylor wishes he knew the answers to himself.

The prolific Simon R. Green has created other worlds of great fascination in the fields of science fiction and fantasy, but the Nightside may be his most memorable creation, as it truly takes on a unique life of its own. Something From the Nightside leaves many a door open for Green to continue his dark and highly entertaining jaunts into this fascinating world, and the intriguingly complex life of John Taylor is guaranteed to bring delighted readers along for the ride as long as it lasts - especially if it takes us to more places where plague rats travel in pairs because they are afraid to venture out alone.

A good journeyman's effort at noir fantasy. The author tries to strike somewhere between Raymond Chandler and Neil Gaiman's _Neverwhere_, and doesn't quite manage to attain either, but he comes close enough to be readable and entertaining if you don't mind the occasional cliche, or don't mind the occasional long monologue when a character gets introduced.

If you're a fan of pulp noir and/or pulp fantasy, it's worth reading. Some of the imagery is quite novel, the book is well-paced (mostly), the characters are reasonably engaging. It's not the most wildly original book I've ever read, but by no means the least, either, and even the cliched parts are executed enjoyably.

One note: a number of events in the book quite clearly set this up to be the first of a series, and everything that could be resolved between the covers, isn't.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Good Introduction
A beautiful woman walks into the office of a washed-up private dick and waves money in his face. He takes the case. You've read this before, of course you have. Read more

Published on July 3 2004 by Kevin L. Nenstiel

3.0 out of 5 stars The Dark of the Nightside
I have read alot of Simon Green's books, so I should have expected the dark, twilight zone feel of this one. I have been spoiled by Melanie Jackson and Kim Harrison. Read more

Published on Jun 22 2004 by Elaine C McTyer

1.0 out of 5 stars Stay away from the Nightside
This book starts off as any un-original detective story would, with a beautiful woman entering a shabby office. From there, it just gets worse. Read more

Published on Jun 9 2004 by Nicole Laflamme

4.0 out of 5 stars A Place Even A Rat Would Leave
Hidden in the dark core of London is The Nightside, a place where it is always 3 A.M., and every arcane and twisted appetite can come for satiation. Read more

Published on May 17 2004 by Marc Ruby™

3.0 out of 5 stars Editor Needed
While I enjoyed the concept and found the main character interesting, I was distracted by the poor writing style. Read more

Published on May 3 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars I have fallen in love with a new series!
This is a wonderful new series. If you like the Anita Blake Series, Tanya Huff and Jim Butcher series, you will love this new series by Simon Green. Read more

Published on April 20 2004 by Elizabeth

3.0 out of 5 stars Whatever
I was surprised after I finished reading this book. It had really good reviews and I just didn't see what others were seeing. Read more

Published on April 13 2004 by Neker

5.0 out of 5 stars just a little bit like Douglous Adams
Ok, it is more grounded. I truly think Adams fans would enjoy this though I think it would be an overstatement to say the reverse.... Read more

Published on Feb 7 2004 by Thea Holmgren

4.0 out of 5 stars Quick read but a good one
A short book but a good one. This book sits at two hundred and thirty three pages but not a one is wasted. It is about a "PI" who has a gift finding things. Read more

Published on Dec 18 2003 by Jason S Robinson

5.0 out of 5 stars John Taylor found me!!! . . . Read it, you'll understand
Something from the Nightside is a wonderfully written fantasy under the guise of a private detective mystery. Read more

Published on Sep 29 2003 by Shannon

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