Simon R. Green
Nightside #1
Published 2003 by Ace Books
Bite-sized Review
With an a dark and interesting world and an unexpected story, Something from the Nightside is worth reading despite some questionable characterization.
King-sized Review
Something from the Nightside introduces us to John Taylor, finder extraordinaire. He's perfectly happy in his shabby office, far from the Nightside, until a mother knocks on his door, asking him to help find her daughter.
There were some mental/emotional shifts here that I didn’t really buy. First, John is adamantly opposed to returning to the Nightside at the beginning of the book, but actually ends up going without that much protest. Obviously he was going to go, but he either needed to be a little less against the idea or take a little more convincing. Second, he kept switching between super-badass hero and terrified/heart-broken/compassionate mortal with startling rapidity. It’s not really that I don’t believe he’s capable of all these things, but these attributes went from not present at all to the greater part of his personality from one scene to the next. I guess what I’m saying here is that I didn’t really *get* the character.
There were some mental/emotional shifts here that I didn’t really buy. First, John is adamantly opposed to returning to the Nightside at the beginning of the book, but actually ends up going without that much protest. Obviously he was going to go, but he either needed to be a little less against the idea or take a little more convincing. Second, he kept switching between super-badass hero and terrified/heart-broken/compassionate mortal with startling rapidity. It’s not really that I don’t believe he’s capable of all these things, but these attributes went from not present at all to the greater part of his personality from one scene to the next. I guess what I’m saying here is that I didn’t really *get* the character.
The story was pretty interesting. It was pretty much your basic missing persons case with a supernatural twist, but the twist was pretty different and unexpected, as was the world itself. The Nightside is actually one of the most intriguing things about this book: dark, dangerous, and mysterious. I really liked this idea and want to learn more about it.
This was quite a short book, just a bit over 200 pages. I think the story could have been expanded a bit more for better characterization, but for the actual plot, it worked, though I'm hoping the plots get a little more intricate as we're familiarized with the Nightside. Overall, it was a pretty good read, and there was enough mystery about John’s origins and past that I want to keep reading the rest of the series.
Quality: Acceptable
Enjoyability: Acceptable
Something from the Nightside is similar to:
Storm Front by Jim Butcher
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
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