Hex and the City

Hex and the City (2005) Simon R. Green

BAH! That was just completely uncalled for! Here I am, enjoying this series, which in many ways reads more like a mystery series than a fantasy series, when WHAM! No longer will the story be wrapped up in a single book. Oh no, now we must have a story that does not conclude in a single book, but carries over into the next book.

And to add insult to injury, book six doesn’t come out until February, and the copy available doesn’t say “The Conclusion to the Nightside Story” so I don’t think that book six is going to finish things either.

The only good thing in all of this is that Simon Green seems to write these books quickly, at the rate of around two a year.

But still. I hate waiting.

However, aside from the non-ending story, like the rest of the series I enjoyed Hex and the City. Good characters, good plot, good storytelling. Oh, and a great cover. Again they got it about perfect, which is always a pleasant surprise.

Like the previous book, Nightingale’s Lament, the story starts with a small case that John Taylor is dealing with, and like the previous book, things do not go as he expects. He is then hired by Lady Luck to investigate the origins of Nightside, and case that has interested John Taylor for quite awhile.

Again, John Taylor gets assistance from characters we have not met before. Although he talks about Suzie Shooter, and we again see Alex and Strangefellows, and of course Walker is important in this book, but working with John Taylor we have three new people, all of whom are very interesting. I liked Dead Boy, but I like Sinner, Pretty Poison, and Madman just as well (Though perhaps not Pretty Poison’s name so much).

The story was good, even if I did figure things out on my second guess but that wasn’t frustrating–it was good to be able to go “I KNEW IT!” (And I won’t tell you my first guess, since that will make my second–and correct–guess pretty obvious.)

I have to admit that I also realized something partway through this book. If the Nightside books were a movie, I would REALLY not want to watch them. But for some reason the way Simon Green describes the horrors of Nightside doesn’t bother me, and I don’t know why. It should. And if someone put these things in a movie, they’d give me screaming nightmares, but here, I’m fine with it.

Well, almost okay. One scene of destruction took place in a library, and I kept thinking, “all that blood is going to be really bad for the books. Hopefully they’ll have some magic way to keep it from ruining them.”

So, despite the unexpected cliffhanger ending, I enjoyed and liked Hex and the City. I am still enjoying reading about John Taylor’s exploits, although I am unsure about the next book and whether the change from collections of exploits to unresolved continuing mystery will change the tone of the books. I may wait a bit before reading the next book. Especially knowing that I’ll have to wait until February to read the next installment.

Hex and City is a good book, and I recommend it, unless you don’t like unresolved stories, in which case you should stop at Nightingale’s Lament. At least until a few more books are published.
Rating: 8/10

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