Hex and the City by Simon R. Green
Jul. 17th, 2007 10:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe 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 ...
I've said pretty much all there is to say about these books in my review of Agent’s of Light and Darkness and Nightingale’s Lament.
It's a shame that Green writes Taylor as being so ultimately bad ass and indestructible because it robs much of the tension from the face-off scenes. Even when Green throws in some vicious beatings, you know that Taylor is still going to find a way of getting through in one piece.
Construction-wise, there really isn't much plot to this book. In essence, Taylor (accompanied by Sinner, Pretty Poison and Madman) is getting a history lesson by going from Power to Power in the Nightside to see what they know about its formation, hindered by Walker who is keen to stop Taylor from discovering the truth, no matter what the cost. As always with Green's work, there are some good set pieces in the text and I particularly liked the interaction between Sinner and Pretty Poison, a man who was tempted to hell but loved the succubus who took him there, even after he knew what she was. The background lesson on the Nightside is important for the overriding story arc and it introduces the reader to a number of characters who you know will come into play later. What's also interesting is the way in which Green links in the possible future that Taylor will bring into being, something first visited in Something From The Nightside - the scene with the Suzie Shooter of the future is visceral and disturbing and sees a possible return of the Speaking Gun.
If I had a disappointment it was in the revelation as to just who Lady Luck was, mainly because the rationale for it lacked a certain credibility and I'm also annoyed by the fact that once again, Green repeats description from the earlier books. It's lazy and needless.
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.
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 ...
I've said pretty much all there is to say about these books in my review of Agent’s of Light and Darkness and Nightingale’s Lament.
It's a shame that Green writes Taylor as being so ultimately bad ass and indestructible because it robs much of the tension from the face-off scenes. Even when Green throws in some vicious beatings, you know that Taylor is still going to find a way of getting through in one piece.
Construction-wise, there really isn't much plot to this book. In essence, Taylor (accompanied by Sinner, Pretty Poison and Madman) is getting a history lesson by going from Power to Power in the Nightside to see what they know about its formation, hindered by Walker who is keen to stop Taylor from discovering the truth, no matter what the cost. As always with Green's work, there are some good set pieces in the text and I particularly liked the interaction between Sinner and Pretty Poison, a man who was tempted to hell but loved the succubus who took him there, even after he knew what she was. The background lesson on the Nightside is important for the overriding story arc and it introduces the reader to a number of characters who you know will come into play later. What's also interesting is the way in which Green links in the possible future that Taylor will bring into being, something first visited in Something From The Nightside - the scene with the Suzie Shooter of the future is visceral and disturbing and sees a possible return of the Speaking Gun.
If I had a disappointment it was in the revelation as to just who Lady Luck was, mainly because the rationale for it lacked a certain credibility and I'm also annoyed by the fact that once again, Green repeats description from the earlier books. It's lazy and needless.
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.
