{"id":162,"date":"2005-12-05T19:40:34","date_gmt":"2005-12-06T02:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=162"},"modified":"2021-09-22T17:47:28","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T21:47:28","slug":"something-from-the-nightside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/162","title":{"rendered":"Something from the Nightside"},"content":{"rendered":"

Something from the Nightside<\/em> (2003) Simon R. Green<\/a> <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>After The Great Book of Amber<\/em>, I decided that the requirement for my next book to read, was going to be small and slight. As a 203 page paperback, this fit the bill perfectly.<\/p>\n

Something from the Nightside<\/em> is fantasy written as hard boiled mystery. John Taylor is from the Nightside, but trying to eek out a living in the Real World. Until a woman (it’s always a woman) shows up in his office asking him to find her daughter, who appears to have disappeared into the Nightside.<\/p>\n

The book was Spenser meets Thieves’ World (although John Taylor speaks fondly of Dashiell Hammet) and I have a fondness for both. The Nightside is nasty and and evil, and John is witty and possibly one of the good guys, although possibly not. Interestingly, Simon R. Green keeps describing him as someone who walks the line between good and evil, but really, he comes down squarely on the side of good, without much waffling. The Nightside, however, really does come across as evil. Which must be why I liked it.<\/p>\n

The writing was good, the dialogue was snappy, and the story was very interesting. The cover was also almost perfect. Looking at it after finishing the story, they seemed to have captured the character and the place just as they were described. Kudos to Ace for getting the cover just right.<\/p>\n

I also noticed random references to other fantasy and mystery charaters and stories, which greatly amused me. It also makes me wonder how many references I missed, for as much as I read, there is so much more that I have yet to read.<\/p>\n

However, I did have one major issue with the story. John Taylor keeps talking about how he’s out of practice, and that using magic is putting a huge strain on him, yet except for a quick stop, he doesn’t bother to rest.<\/p>\n

Maybe I’m missing something, but if you keep talking about how what you are doing is straining your body, and how you need to rest, then maybe you should do just that? Perhaps I missed something about their brief rest stop, but that bugged me.<\/p>\n

Aside from that, I thoroughly enjoyed the story and am looking forward to the next book in the series.
\nRating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Something from the Nightside (2003) Simon R. Green After The Great Book of Amber, I decided that the requirement for my next book to read, was going to be small and slight. As a 203 page paperback, this fit the bill perfectly. Something from the Nightside is fantasy written as hard boiled mystery. John Taylor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,8,291,16],"tags":[79,78],"class_list":["post-162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fantasy","category-mystery","category-paper","category-supernatural","tag-nightside","tag-simon-r-green"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-2C","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4653,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4653","url_meta":{"origin":162,"position":0},"title":"Something from the Nightside, Audio Book","author":"Michelle","date":"June 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Something from the Nightside (Audio Version) (2003\/2008) Simon R. Green narrated by Marc Vietor This is the first book in the Nightside series, and introduces us to both John Taylor and the Nightside. You'll probably know very quickly if this is for you or not. John \"Bloody\" Taylor is a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/12\/Something-from-the-Nightside.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":332,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/332","url_meta":{"origin":162,"position":1},"title":"Hell To Pay","author":"Michelle","date":"December 27, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Hell To Pay (2006) Simon R. Green I am quite fond of Simon R. Green's Nightside books, although the Nightside itself would probably be offended by the use of the word fond. John Taylor is a private investigator in the Nightside, an alternate city within London where it is always\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/12\/Hell-to-Pay.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11171,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11171","url_meta":{"origin":162,"position":2},"title":"Hex and the City, Audio Edition","author":"Michelle","date":"October 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Hex and the City, Audio Edition (2005\/2008) Simon R Green narrated by Marc Vietor The fourth Nightside book finds John Taylor taking a case to look into something he always wanted to know: the origin of The Nightside. Unfortunately, neither his enemies nor the current authorities want John looking into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/12\/Hex-and-the-City-e1511010632202.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":889,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/889","url_meta":{"origin":162,"position":3},"title":"Unnatural Inquirer","author":"Michelle","date":"January 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Unnatural Inquirer (2007) Simon R. Green We return once again to Nightside, where John Taylor is once again on the case. On several cases actually. As he finishes a case at the HP Lovecraft Memorial Library, he's asked by Walker, who has the Voice of Authority in Nightside, to retrieve\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/Unnatural_Inquirer.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":163,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/163","url_meta":{"origin":162,"position":4},"title":"Agents of Light and Darkness","author":"Michelle","date":"December 7, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Agents of Light and Darkness (2003) Simon R. Green >In the second Nightside book, John Taylor, back working in the Nightside, but still living in the Real World, is hired to find the Unholy Grail, so that it can be returned to the Vatican. I really liked this book. We\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2005\/12\/Agents-of-Light-and-Darkness.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11189,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11189","url_meta":{"origin":162,"position":5},"title":"Paths Not Taken, Audio Edition","author":"Michelle","date":"October 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Paths Not Taken, Audio Edition (2005\/2008) Simon R. Green narrated by Marc Vietor The fifth Nightside book finds John looking to go back in time for a way to stop his mother--the Being Lilith--from destroying the Nightside and possibly the world. John takes with him Suzie Shooter and Tommy Oblivion\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/Paths-Not-Taken-e1510884715482.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}