quippe | Entries tagged with simon r. green

The Blurb On The Back:

The name's John Taylor. I'm a PI, though what I really do is find things that are lost. I work in the Nightside, the city within the city of London, where the sun never rises and where the human and inhuman go to get their kicks, provided they're willing to pay the price in whatever currency the seller demands.

In the wake of the war that almost brought the Nightside to total ruin, there's a power vacuum begging to be filled - and some think I should take charge. I don't agree. Neither does the immortal known as the Griffin. Wealthy beyond reason, he has his own ideas about who should be running things. Still, when his granddaughter - and designated heir - is kidnapped, he calls on me to find her.

But someone - or some Thing - is blocking my special gift. So this time, I'm going to have to do the job the hard way. And quickly, or the Griffin will have to choose a new heir ...

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Another okay read. I'm interested to see where Green next takes the series - presumably it will have something to do with the new rising Authorities and Walker.

The Blurb On The Back:

My name is John Taylor. I'm a PI for hire in the Nightside, the dark and corrupt city within the city of London. Where the sun never shines and where pleasure and horror are always on sale - for the right price.

Not a nice place to visit or a nice place to live. So you wouldn't think I would care that it was about to be destroyed, by none other than my very own long-missing, not-quite-human mom.

But I do. I was born here, I live here, and I've got friends here. They might not all be acceptable in polite company, but they're my friends, nonetheless.

I know that I'm the only one who can stop her. The trick is, how to do it without fulfilling this prophecy that says whatever action I take, not only is the Nightside doomed, but the rest of the world will soon follow ...

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

This is okay - it gives a definite resolution to one arc and sets the seeds for another. I'm definitely intrigued to see what will happen next in the Nightside and whilst I think the Taylor/Suzie romance is too perfunctory to be believable, perhaps it can be developed to give Taylor more of an emotional core.

The Blurb On The Back:

I'm John Taylor. I was born in the Nightside, that square mile in the hidden center of London where it is always the hour of the wolf, where gods and monsters walk side by side and where every dark question ever asked can be answered - for a price.

I left for a while, but I did come back, to make my living doing what I do beter than anyone else: finding things - lost or stolen, real or imaginary.

Revently, I found the most dangerous thing of all: the true identity of my long-gone mother. Turns out she's a bein who's been around since before the dawn of history. Then, she created the Nightside - and now, for her own warped reasons, she intends to destroy it.

To stop her before she even gets started, I've got to do some hard travelling - back in Time, through endless eons, into the very distant - and probably deadly - past ...

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

It feels rather like filler - the prelude to the eventual face-off between Taylor and his mother. As such, whilst it fills in some interesting details about the backstory, in the main it's rather forgettable. I'm not a fan of the relationship between Suzie and Taylor as I think it lacks a certain credibility and I wish that Lillith was a more fleshed out adversary, rather than an all-powerful uber-bitch. Basically, it's okay but ultimately forgettable.

The Blurb On The Back:

John Taylor is the name. I work the Nightside. Only in that dark heart of London where it's always three a.m., where human and inhuman can feed their darkest desires, do I feel at home. Probably because I was born here.

What I do find is things - people, objects - and in this case, the truth about the origins of the Nightside.

That's what Lady Luck has hired me to investigate. But the more I dig, the more I discover, not about the Nightside but about the great question in my life: exactly who - and what - was my long-vanished mother?

Paying jobs are one thing. Personal quests are another. And I've been warned that uncovering the facts about dear old mum could be a very bad thing, not just for the Nightside but for all of existence.

Still I can't stop ... I'm John Taylor. Finding things is who I am. It's what I do. Whatever the consequences ...

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The Verdict:

For what's basically a book setting out the backstory for the Nightside and Taylor's mother, this is an interesting read and keeps things moving. There are some wonderful set pieces, some truly horrifying and there's an interesting character relationship between Taylor's allies, Pretty Poison and Sinner. I still dislike the way Green cuts and pastes description of characters and places from earlier books as it feels like lazy repetition for the sake of it, but the story doesn't suffer excessively for it.

The Blurb On The Back:

The name's John Taylor. I work the garish streets of the Nightside - the hidden heart of London where it's always three a.m., where inhuman creatures and otherworldly gods walk side by side in the endless darkness of the soul.

I have a talent for finding things. People ... property ... no problem. But now I'm after something different.

A local diva called the Nightingale has cut herself off from her family and friends, and I've been hired to find out the reason. I'm also wondering why her suicide-prone fans think she has a voice to die for. Literally.

To get to the truth, I'll have to lend an ear to the most enticingly beautiful and deadly voice in all of the Nightside - and survive.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

There's nothing wrong with it, but it's not particularly deep. I dislike the cut-and-paste repetition of description which Green brings to the book and even for a book of only 200+ pages, the story is slight. But as always, it's entertaining and an okay way of passing a couple of hours.

The Blurb On The Back:

I'm John Taylor. I work in the Nightside - the gaudy, neon noir, secret heart of London, where it's always three in the morning, where gods and monsters make deals and seek pleasures they won't find anywhere else.

I have a gift for finding things. And sometimes what I'm hired to locate can be very, very dangerous indeed.

Right now, for example, I'm searching for The Unholy Grail, the cup that Judas drank from at the Last Supper.

It corrupts all who touch it - but it also gives enormous power. So I'm not the only one hunting. Angels, devils, sinners and saints - they're all out there, tearing apart The Nightside, seeking the dark goblet.

And it's only a matter of time until they realize that the famous John Taylor, the man with the gift for finding things, can lead them straight to it ...

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Entertaining enough without having any pretensions about being deep literary fiction. Worth a look if you're into urban fantasy or want to read something short, uncomplicated and fun for a couple of hours.

The Blurb On The Back:

Taylor is the name, John Taylor. My card says I'm a detective, but what I really am is an expert on finding lost things. It's part of the gift I was born with as a child of the Nightside.

I left there a long time ago, with my skin and sanity barely intact. Now I make my living in the sunlit streets of London.

But business has been slow lately, so when Joanna Barrett showed up at my door, reeking of wealth, asking me to find her runaway teenage daughter, I didn't say no.

Then I found out exactly where the girl had gone.

The Nightside. That square mile of Hell in the middle of the city, where it's always three a.m. Where you can walk beside myths and drink with monsters. Where nothing is what it seems and everything is possible.

I swore I'd never return. But there's a kid in danger and a woman depending on me. So I have no choice - I'm going home ...

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Well paced, pulp urban fantasy with an interesting set-up for the follow-on. I have some reservations re characterisation but these wouldn't stop me from reading other books in the series.