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quippeThe 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 ...
As a set-up book, I think this worked well but there are times when Green over-eggs the pudding. For example, he constantly feels the need to reinforce that Taylor has a magical gift for finding things, that the Nightside is full of things that want to kill or do far more unpleasant things to people, and that Taylor is something of a legend in the Nightside (something that could drift into Gary-Stu territory if he's not careful).
He uses the character of Joanna Barrett to ask the questions that the reader would ask about the Nightside, which works in some sense but at the same time can make for some clunky, expositional dialogue. I also felt at times that the questions were reinforcing information that Taylor had already told the reader via the first person POV and wished that Green had spent a little more time establishing Joanna as more of a character in her own right rather than a stock ice maiden/damsel in distress despite herself character. This is because it would have meant more when it came to the Big Twist, which, as it was, really felt rather by-the-numbers.
The pacing is good - Green is careful to make sure that the action never slows down for a moment and he has some wonderfully creepy imagery - notably in a post-apocalyptic scene where Taylor's friend, Razor Eddie meets a very unpleasant end. At times I think that the book is a little too full of characters - Razor Eddie, Walker, The Collector, Suzie Shooter and there is a danger of them merging into one if Green is not careful. It's also ironic that the character of Cathy (who Taylor is supposed to be finding) isn't developed at all beyond the reader being told that she's sassy - and yet she's down to return in the next book - this felt a little rushed to me and makes me wary of how she will be used.
Finally, Green is writing in a noir, pulp fiction style, which he holds well for the first half of the book but fades in and out in the second half as the action hots up. This isn't a serious quibble because Taylor has a strong enough voice to carry you through the action, but again, it does hint at the novel being rushed.
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.
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 ...
As a set-up book, I think this worked well but there are times when Green over-eggs the pudding. For example, he constantly feels the need to reinforce that Taylor has a magical gift for finding things, that the Nightside is full of things that want to kill or do far more unpleasant things to people, and that Taylor is something of a legend in the Nightside (something that could drift into Gary-Stu territory if he's not careful).
He uses the character of Joanna Barrett to ask the questions that the reader would ask about the Nightside, which works in some sense but at the same time can make for some clunky, expositional dialogue. I also felt at times that the questions were reinforcing information that Taylor had already told the reader via the first person POV and wished that Green had spent a little more time establishing Joanna as more of a character in her own right rather than a stock ice maiden/damsel in distress despite herself character. This is because it would have meant more when it came to the Big Twist, which, as it was, really felt rather by-the-numbers.
The pacing is good - Green is careful to make sure that the action never slows down for a moment and he has some wonderfully creepy imagery - notably in a post-apocalyptic scene where Taylor's friend, Razor Eddie meets a very unpleasant end. At times I think that the book is a little too full of characters - Razor Eddie, Walker, The Collector, Suzie Shooter and there is a danger of them merging into one if Green is not careful. It's also ironic that the character of Cathy (who Taylor is supposed to be finding) isn't developed at all beyond the reader being told that she's sassy - and yet she's down to return in the next book - this felt a little rushed to me and makes me wary of how she will be used.
Finally, Green is writing in a noir, pulp fiction style, which he holds well for the first half of the book but fades in and out in the second half as the action hots up. This isn't a serious quibble because Taylor has a strong enough voice to carry you through the action, but again, it does hint at the novel being rushed.
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.
