{"id":179,"date":"2006-01-12T08:25:21","date_gmt":"2006-01-12T15:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=179"},"modified":"2021-09-22T17:47:28","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T21:47:28","slug":"paths-not-taken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/179","title":{"rendered":"Paths Not Taken"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paths Not Taken<\/em> (2005) Simon R. Green<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Okay. Wow. This book certainly took a different turn. And I’m not sure how much I care for the change. In this book John Taylor is, for lack of a better word, a complete asshole. I was going to say jerk, but that’s just not a strong enough word. He is simply not a nice person, no matter how much he tries to justify his actions.<\/p>\n

And I’m not sure how I feel about that.<\/p>\n

John has decided that he must go back in time to discover how his mother founded the Nightside, to search for a way to stop her, because if he does not, all of the Nightside–and perhaps the world–will be destroyed. With him, he takes Suzie Shooter, who helped John Taylor on previous books, and Tommy Oblivion, Nightside’s other Private Investigator.<\/p>\n

Unlike the other books in the series, this one is almost straight fantasy. Although he spends a couple of chapters in a small mystery, it’s hardly up to the standards of the first few books, which I found a disappointment, as I really liked the mysteries.<\/p>\n

Additionally, as I said at the start, John Taylor is not a nice person. We learn that he is actually the one behind some of the tragedies of Nightside, and there is a good reason that many people in Nightside dislike him so much. To be honest, I am not sure if I like him anymore. I suppose only the second book will tell.<\/p>\n

The arc of the story also struck me as rather strange. The start of the story seemed unusually light, with a good deal of light hearted humor, while the second half of the story is extremely grim. It’s as if the first half was an attempt to make up for how harsh the remainder of the book was going to be. But the lighthearted bits were very good, and very well done. For instance:<\/p>\n

Next door to the brothel was a dark and spooky little shop selling reliquaries–the bones of saints, fragments of the True Cross, and the like. Special offer that week was apparently the skull of John the Baptist. Next to it was a smaller skull, labelled JOHN THE BAPTIST AS A CHILD.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you’ve been reading along, then this story is a must read. If you’re interested in starting the series, this is not the place to start.
\nRating: 6\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paths Not Taken (2005) Simon R. Green Okay. Wow. This book certainly took a different turn. And I’m not sure how much I care for the change. In this book John Taylor is, for lack of a better word, a complete asshole. I was going to say jerk, but that’s just not a strong enough […]<\/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":[2,291,16],"tags":[79,78],"class_list":["post-179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fantasy","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-2T","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11189,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11189","url_meta":{"origin":179,"position":0},"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":[]},{"id":332,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/332","url_meta":{"origin":179,"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":4653,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4653","url_meta":{"origin":179,"position":2},"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":212,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/212","url_meta":{"origin":179,"position":3},"title":"Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth","author":"Michelle","date":"March 23, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth (2006) Simon R. Green To be honest, I was less than pleased with the last Nightside book, Paths Not Taken. The story was good, but I had a hard time accepting that John Taylor was really as cold-blooded as he came off. Luckily, Sharper Than\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Sharper-Than-a-Serpents-Tooth.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":889,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/889","url_meta":{"origin":179,"position":4},"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":162,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/162","url_meta":{"origin":179,"position":5},"title":"Something from the Nightside","author":"Michelle","date":"December 5, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"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\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\/2005\/12\/Something-from-the-Nightside.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\/179","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=179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}