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Agent’s of Light and Darkness by Simon R. Green
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 ...
Green keeps the story tight, packing an awful lot of plot into around 220 pages and ensuring that the story is always moving forward. It's first person point of view, told in the same noirish style he used in Something From The Nightside and there are some good lines in there and some wonderful ideas (e.g. The Unholy Grail and the concept of angels who can turn people into pillars of salt). However, there's also an awful lot of telling rather than showing in the text so it's not particularly subtle. One of the things that began to grate on me is the fact that Taylor keeps banging on about how he has a reputation for being a bad arse and Green reinforces this by having several conversations with bad guys/wannabe bad guys that go along the lines of "OMG! You're John Taylor? I'm getting out of here!". It gets old very quickly and there's only one scene with Belle where you get an inkling of why Taylor has that reputation.
I wasn't particularly impressed with the concept of The Speaking Gun, which reminded me far too much of a scene in Existenz where Jude Law puts together a gun that's made of skin, muscle, bone and teeth. Green puts his own spin on it in terms of how the Gun operates and he also takes the time to show the effects of using it, but I kept flashing back to Existenz every time I saw the Gun mentioned, which spoiled it for me. I also didn't really enjoy the tragic backstory of Suzie Shooter, which was just too much angst and woe for me to really sympathise with her and her inability to stand being touched by anyone felt hokey and forced, particularly in a scene that I'm sure Green meant to be powerful and emotional, but just lacked the requisite punch it required.
I do like the way that Green is weaving in the mystery about Taylor's mother - you're given just enough information to want to know more and each piece of information takes you further into the back story. I also like the way that Green handles the return of characters such as Suzie Shooter, The Collector, Walker and Razor Eddie - they all felt more integrated into the story than in Something From The Nightside and if I'm going to make a complaint, it's that the reintroduction of Cathy was quite jarring from what we last saw of her.
Saying all that, Green doesn't have any conceit about his writing - it's a pulp story that nicely fills a couple of hours without pretending to do anything else and whilst I got the twist very early on, it didn't stop me from enjoying the journey.
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.
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 ...
Green keeps the story tight, packing an awful lot of plot into around 220 pages and ensuring that the story is always moving forward. It's first person point of view, told in the same noirish style he used in Something From The Nightside and there are some good lines in there and some wonderful ideas (e.g. The Unholy Grail and the concept of angels who can turn people into pillars of salt). However, there's also an awful lot of telling rather than showing in the text so it's not particularly subtle. One of the things that began to grate on me is the fact that Taylor keeps banging on about how he has a reputation for being a bad arse and Green reinforces this by having several conversations with bad guys/wannabe bad guys that go along the lines of "OMG! You're John Taylor? I'm getting out of here!". It gets old very quickly and there's only one scene with Belle where you get an inkling of why Taylor has that reputation.
I wasn't particularly impressed with the concept of The Speaking Gun, which reminded me far too much of a scene in Existenz where Jude Law puts together a gun that's made of skin, muscle, bone and teeth. Green puts his own spin on it in terms of how the Gun operates and he also takes the time to show the effects of using it, but I kept flashing back to Existenz every time I saw the Gun mentioned, which spoiled it for me. I also didn't really enjoy the tragic backstory of Suzie Shooter, which was just too much angst and woe for me to really sympathise with her and her inability to stand being touched by anyone felt hokey and forced, particularly in a scene that I'm sure Green meant to be powerful and emotional, but just lacked the requisite punch it required.
I do like the way that Green is weaving in the mystery about Taylor's mother - you're given just enough information to want to know more and each piece of information takes you further into the back story. I also like the way that Green handles the return of characters such as Suzie Shooter, The Collector, Walker and Razor Eddie - they all felt more integrated into the story than in Something From The Nightside and if I'm going to make a complaint, it's that the reintroduction of Cathy was quite jarring from what we last saw of her.
Saying all that, Green doesn't have any conceit about his writing - it's a pulp story that nicely fills a couple of hours without pretending to do anything else and whilst I got the twist very early on, it didn't stop me from enjoying the journey.
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.