Book 31. Something from the Nightshade by Simon R. Green
Book 31. Something from the nightshade by Simon R. Green fantasy
240 pages
I have seen this one around for a while. I thought about buying it because there is a quote on the book from Jim Butcher, talking about how good it is.
As much as I love Jim Butcher, I cannot really agree with that assessment. Don't get me wrong, it was ok.
But only Ok.
The story is about John Taylor. A mysterious private eye working in London. But his past belongs to the hidden part of London known only as the Nightshade. I say known, but only to a few and hidden from most. A case of a missing daughter takes him back to Nightshade, a place he had willingly left behind five years prior.
Along the way he gets into a lot of trouble and meets some odd characters. Razor Eddie, Suzie Shooter. Yes, those are their real names. :)
Overall, a decent if not great book that reminded me a bit too much of what Jim Butcher has done with the Dresden Files.
So John Taylor used to live in the Nightshade. It is hard to tell just what he was five years previous, but he is definitely someone of importance in the world. He came to London (topside) so he could get away from the Nightshade. He wanted peace and although London proper may be boring, he could at least be safe there. The creatures of the Nightshade could not track him there.
Then in walks a client. Joanna Barret. She wants him to find her runaway daughter and the only clue she has it that she is in the Nightshade. So, off they go to the Nightshade.
A lot happens in just a little over 200 pages. John is betrayed a few different times, almost killed by creatures called the Harrowing, stumbles into a time slip sends them into a future that he actually helped devastate, and eventually they save the runaway. Nothing was easy though, and he had feelings for his client, who was actually just a creature sent to bring him back to the Nightshade so he could be dealt with.
The good. There is a lot of action. It starts from the beginning and never really lets go. Being such a short book, that was impressive. Taylor just kept getting into sticky situation after sticky situation, which is very easy to do in the Nightshade. The Nightshade was interesting because anything could be there. From aliens to many different creatures.
Taylor was interesting from the little we saw. Noble in his own way, he wanted to make a difference in the Nightshade, but eventually had to flee because too many wanted him dead.
His explanations on how the magic worked were good. A bit long, but good. :)
The betrayal at the end of the book was nice. A little predictable, but still nice. Being lured to his death took some planning and it almost worked.
The bad. At times, it really too much like Harry Dresden. One in London, but some of the same characteristics. It hurt the book a bit.
The book was so short, I think that he could avoided the first problem I had by going more into Taylor. Nothing ever specific was said that really helped you understand his motivations. Just a lot of hints about things that happened in the past. I am sure this could be done in later books, but I would have liked to see some of that in this one.
Suzie Shooter? Can you have a more clichéd female in this book? The only thing that was missing was some reference to her being a stripper at some point.
The ugly. How inappropiate the chinese girl being raped over and over was. The whole stereotype of how that asians were represented was rather bad.
My Rating. Like it, but that is about it. 6.0 out of 10. Yeah, this book was ok. Nothing too great, or awful about it. John Taylor felt a bit too much like a Dresden clone, but overall it was a decent read. Doubt I will read any more of them though.
240 pages
I have seen this one around for a while. I thought about buying it because there is a quote on the book from Jim Butcher, talking about how good it is.
As much as I love Jim Butcher, I cannot really agree with that assessment. Don't get me wrong, it was ok.
But only Ok.
The story is about John Taylor. A mysterious private eye working in London. But his past belongs to the hidden part of London known only as the Nightshade. I say known, but only to a few and hidden from most. A case of a missing daughter takes him back to Nightshade, a place he had willingly left behind five years prior.
Along the way he gets into a lot of trouble and meets some odd characters. Razor Eddie, Suzie Shooter. Yes, those are their real names. :)
Overall, a decent if not great book that reminded me a bit too much of what Jim Butcher has done with the Dresden Files.
So John Taylor used to live in the Nightshade. It is hard to tell just what he was five years previous, but he is definitely someone of importance in the world. He came to London (topside) so he could get away from the Nightshade. He wanted peace and although London proper may be boring, he could at least be safe there. The creatures of the Nightshade could not track him there.
Then in walks a client. Joanna Barret. She wants him to find her runaway daughter and the only clue she has it that she is in the Nightshade. So, off they go to the Nightshade.
A lot happens in just a little over 200 pages. John is betrayed a few different times, almost killed by creatures called the Harrowing, stumbles into a time slip sends them into a future that he actually helped devastate, and eventually they save the runaway. Nothing was easy though, and he had feelings for his client, who was actually just a creature sent to bring him back to the Nightshade so he could be dealt with.
The good. There is a lot of action. It starts from the beginning and never really lets go. Being such a short book, that was impressive. Taylor just kept getting into sticky situation after sticky situation, which is very easy to do in the Nightshade. The Nightshade was interesting because anything could be there. From aliens to many different creatures.
Taylor was interesting from the little we saw. Noble in his own way, he wanted to make a difference in the Nightshade, but eventually had to flee because too many wanted him dead.
His explanations on how the magic worked were good. A bit long, but good. :)
The betrayal at the end of the book was nice. A little predictable, but still nice. Being lured to his death took some planning and it almost worked.
The bad. At times, it really too much like Harry Dresden. One in London, but some of the same characteristics. It hurt the book a bit.
The book was so short, I think that he could avoided the first problem I had by going more into Taylor. Nothing ever specific was said that really helped you understand his motivations. Just a lot of hints about things that happened in the past. I am sure this could be done in later books, but I would have liked to see some of that in this one.
Suzie Shooter? Can you have a more clichéd female in this book? The only thing that was missing was some reference to her being a stripper at some point.
The ugly. How inappropiate the chinese girl being raped over and over was. The whole stereotype of how that asians were represented was rather bad.
My Rating. Like it, but that is about it. 6.0 out of 10. Yeah, this book was ok. Nothing too great, or awful about it. John Taylor felt a bit too much like a Dresden clone, but overall it was a decent read. Doubt I will read any more of them though.