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This is the first book I've reviewed in Simon Green's Nightside
series and, in fact, the first book I've read by Mr. Green. I was
totally blown away as it was one of the best dark fantasies I've
read in quite a long time. This great book has elements of dark
fantasy, horror, sci-fi, mixed with a little mystery and a generous
sprinkling of humor. Now, that may sound like the book wants to be
all things to all people but the elements work very well.
The Nightside is a kind of alternate world buried deep in the heart
of London. It is a place much bigger that the supposed one square
mile it rests on. It's always 3 am in Nightside. That's how the
denizens like it. In the Nightside everyday people mix with
creatures of myth and legend. Vampires, ghosts, ghouls, sorcerers,
demons, and things far more terrible can be found living in
Nightside. There are many unique being in the Nightside such as
Jennifer Sorrow, Razor Eddie, The Collector and others. Watching
over the Nightside is the Authorities, mysterious beings of great
power that police...loosely...the Nightside.
John Taylor is one of them; a private investigator that has a
special gift for finding things. John can find virtually anything or
anyone with a magical/psychic talent. Jack is contracted by the
Vatican itself to retrieve a powerful artifact--The Unholy
Grail--the cup that Judas drank from at the Last Supper…an artifact
so evil and powerful that it could bring Armageddon to the world.
But The Vatican is not the only ones searching for the grail. All
the great powers in the Nightside want it.
Add to all of these great powers who want the Grail, so does Heaven
and Hell. They both send legions of angels and demons into the
Nightside which even the Authorities cannot stand up against.
Without much subtlety the angels begin killing anyone who dares get
in their path. John Taylor’s unique power makes the angels aware of
his presence and makes him vulnerable; he decides to use
old-fashioned footwork to find the grail, enlisting the aid of
Shotgun Suzie to help. John and Suzie quickly find themselves caught
squarely in the middle of a battle between all of Nightside’s great
powers along with Angels from above and below. And just under the
surface of all this is the mystery of Jack's mother who NO ONE wants
to talk about and the only thing that causes Jack to be unable to
control his emotions over.
This is just a terrific book. Green creates some of the most
fascinating creatures of power you'll ever meet. Razor Eddie is a
skinny, pale, smelling of death power who uses an ivory handled
razor to dispatch anyone in his way. Then there is Alex Morrissey,
owner of Strangefellows, the oldest bar in the world whose ancestor
is the Great mage Merlin.
Witty and darkly humorous, with doses of dialog brimming with
sarcasm, Green creates fantastic, more-than-human characters who
have distinctly human frailties. In Nightside, he's manifested a
wonderful yet terrible place that you'd want to visit but never want
to live there.
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TIm Janson
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