 | |
 View Larger |
Hex and the City (Nightside, Book 4) By Simon R. Green ( Ace )
Release Date: 2005-02-22
Average Customer Rating:
List Price: $6.99
Price: $6.99
Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
|  Add to Cart |
|
|
Product Description
Lady Luck has hired John Taylor to investigate the origins of the Nightside--the dark heart of London where it's always 3 A.M. But when he starts to uncover facts about his long-vanished mother, the Nightside--and all of existence-- could be snuffed out.
|
|
 The beginning of the Nightside ( ea_solinas )
Simon R. Green spent the first three Nightside books dropping hints about John Taylor's mother, and what horrors might come if he found out who she is.
Well, fortunately he didn't keep readers waiting for TOO long. The fourth book "Hex and the City" dispenses with the hard-boiled detective story-of-the-week material that John has dealt with before, and expands into a much darker, more grotesque adventure story. Many questions about John Taylor -- past and future -- are answered, and we get taken into the most rank, horrific corners of the Nightside.
After a disastrous auction where the chaos butterfly attracts some unwanted bidders, Lady Luck herself -- who exudes luck both bad and good -- hires John for the ultimate "find" mission: discover the origins of the Nightside itself. If he can do that, then she will give him the information he desperately wants, about the missing mother whom he can't even remember.
So John joins forces with the Madman (who can reshape reality) and Sinner (rejected by both Heaven and Hell), only to discover that there are a lot of people who don't want him to succeed -- including Walker, the Reasonable Men and the Harrowing. But as John tries to uncover the Nightside's oldest residents, he has a vision of his greatest, most desperate enemies -- and what might happen to the world if he does find his mother.
The past couple Nightside books have basically been Raymond Chandler mysteries through a Neil Gaiman world. But "Hex and the City" is where Simon R. Green's fantasy world suddenly expands into far, far more than just a dark detective story, with epic consequences and a history spanning back to the very roots of time. It's a brilliantly haunting story -- and it's obviously just the beginning.
And Green hasn't lost his knack for creating a weird, slightly bizarre other-London where restaurants serve imaginary creatures and homeless old gods huddle in shantytowns. He can pile on the macabre and the bizarre (such as the gruesome origins of the Harrowing), as well as some truly wacky humour. Example: a bunch of singing lemmings escape from a kitchen ("Look; that one's got a parachute! That one's hang-gliding! Go, little fellow, go!"). There's even a Dr. Who homage.
But Green also adds new dimensions of horror to his story, with a glimpse of what might happen to John's friends and a acquaintances if he finds his mother's identity -- including a ghastly version of Shotgun Susie. And a certain poetry has entered his prose as well, such as when the eerie ghost of Merlin Satanspawn waxes nostalgic about the days of King Arthur.
Hard-boiled, snappy John Taylor has always been slightly annoying -- he'd just say "I'm John Taylor" and people would fall apart. Fortunately there's little convenience here -- he's faced with the full horror of his possible actions, and the hatred that even his friends may develop for him. As for Sinner and Madman, they're amazing -- one is indestructible and has a succubus "girl-fiend," while the other can reshape everything around him (including turning a fight into a samurai action film, complete with katana).
"Hex and the City" is the blossoming of the Nightside series, where the biggest questions are answered -- and epic struggles begin. Definitely a must-read.
|
Entertaining read, story isn't as contained as in previous books ( karissa35 )
This is the 4th book in the Nightside series by Simon Green.
John Taylor is commissioned by the Lady Luck herself to find something near and dear to John's own heart. Lady Luck wishes to know the origins of the Nightside, John suspects that his own mother is linked to the Nightside's origins. John joins up with Madman (who has seen things no human should and, as such, randomly changes the reality around himself) and Sinner (who has been rejected by both heaven and hell and as such cannot be killed) to venture into deeper and darker places beneath the Nightside than have ever been breached; at least ever been breached by people who later lived to tell about.
This book was fast-paced, fun, and very creative. I loved Madman, Sinner, and Pretty Poison. They are wonderful characters with a lot of depth and creativity in their personas.
This book answers some questions about Walker, the Authorities, the Nightside, and John's mother. It was nice to get come closure around these questions. That being said this was a departure from the previous stories in that it is not a self-contained story and adventure. The end of this book leaves you desperately waiting for the next book to find out what happens.
On one hand I kind of liked the transition of this series to something that is larger than one book; on the other hand I miss the self-contained detective story with a mysterious over-arcing storyline. This story was just structured differently from previous ones and whether that is good or bad...well, only the next book will tell.
That being said I really liked this book. I found it extremely amusing, as well as extremely disturbing. I can't wait to get my hands on the next one.
karissabooks.blogspot.com
|
Deepens with every book
Simon R. Green's fourth Nightside installment, Hex and the City, continues the trend of the first three: the overall story line gets better with each book. The writing is getting better, but there are still some of the same flaws: he still relies too much on stock phrases and poor attempts at hardboiled wit for humor. Fortunately, the characters are much more interesting, and though there are some of the old overpowered characters in this one, they are much more interesting; John's quest in this is to find out the origins of the Nightside, which it turns out relate to the identity of his mother and his role in the potential future destruction of the Nightside and the entire world, as glimpsed in the first book. His allies in this are the best part of the book: Madman and Sinner, two people who are in one way or another impervious to harm, who he brings because he can hide behind them when things get nasty. And though there is a surprise appearance by Suzie Shooter, and some annoying parts with Alex the bartender, the book overall was a lot of fun to read.
The ending kinda sucked, though. Either a cliffhanger or just a lame attempt to maintain John's persona as the tough guy/sad victim of the world's vicissitudes. Not good, whichever it was. But then, it was only one line in a 250-page novel, so the read was definitely worth it, and we'll hope the next installment saves the series from the potential downfall of John's last words.
|
Finally, a payoff!! ( vorlonagent )
Ok, lets be honest: these books are not Shakespeare, nor are they meant to be. In fact, the writing can be downright cheesy at times, but it is hard not to get sucked into the world and the characters that Mr. Green created. In this one we finally get some payoff to the story arcs that have been building since the first book. One thing about this series, characters and themes tend to pop up again and again, and Mr. Green won't leave you hanging. Overall, this is a nice diversion from real live, but don't expect too much.
|
 Nightside stories ( jamieteevee )
Simon Green has invented a nasty little piece of work called The Nightside. You will be reminded that it is called the Nightside on practically EVERY PAGE. He will not let up with repetition so get used to it. Strangely enough, he has created some strong and interesting characters. Then he kills them. Lines them up and shoots them down ( or rips their limbs off ). For a pulp serial fiction, they are rather entertaining, just be sure of the correct order to read them. Each book usually contains an individual story line but there will be occurances in each edition that will be brought up again in later novels. Unfortunately, there is no sequencing published on the cover and little listing available inside.
The series in a nutshell:
Cliche Private Investigator with supernatural power solves cases in a grim "otherworldly" location congruent to London. Mix liberally with time travel and forces of Good and Evil vying for supremacy and add a dash of zombie horror snuff film and Voila! You have THE NIGHTSIDE.
|
|
|
