Drinking Midnight Wine [Paperback]

Simon R. Green (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2002

Toby Dexter is a slave to his own daily grind-nine-to-five at the local bookstore. But one evening he gets a reprieve in the form of a beautiful woman riding the same train...

A woman who opens a door that wasn't there a moment before...

The door to Mysterie..

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of the popular Deathstalker series (Deathstalker War, etc.) offers another wildly fantastic extravaganza bound to please his many fans, even if it won't win him new ones. Toby Dexter, a bored 33-year-old clerk at Gandalf's bookshop in Bradford-on-Avon, becomes an unlikely hero when he follows a woman (the mysterious Gayle, at whom Toby has often gaped during his daily commute) into a doorway she creates by pointing at a wall. Suddenly, Toby finds himself in Mysterie, a fantasy world chock-full of gods and devils and coexistent with Veritie, our mundane world. Gayle warns him that she is beyond mortal love, and is instead preoccupied by a power struggle between Good and Evil with the latter being represented by the Serpent in the Sun, who seeks dominion over everything. Even worse, Gayle says, is that Toby is a "focal point" who will ultimately decide "the fates of people and the world." It's a tall order for a little guy, but Toby's up to it. Magical characters abound and enthusiastically cross the borders between the real and the fantastic: there's the immortal PI Jimmy Thunder, a descendant of Thor; Leo Morn, a bitter and alienated werewolf; the evil Angel, who is restored cleansed; and many more. Green obviously doesn't want to lose favored heroes, so the one loss is Nicholas Hob, son of the Serpent and Luna, Gale's ditsy sister (though Toby himself is shot dead temporarily). Green often pauses to discuss local history, but remembers in time to continue the action and ultimately serves up a happy ending.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

When bookstore employee Toby Dexter follows a beautiful woman through a strange door in a wall, he enters Mysterie, a magical realm that coexists with the real world. Here, he discovers his integral part in a battle against evil that pits him and his newfound allies against a fallen angel and a demonic creature known as Nicholas Hob. The author of the "Deathstalker" series presents an engaging cross-world fantasy that transforms a small English village into a realm of wonder and nightmare. Fans of the urban fantasies of Charles de Lint and Tanya Huff should enjoy this multilayered tale. For most fantasy collections.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 290 pages
• Publisher: Roc Trade (February 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451458672
• ISBN-13: 978-0451458674
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,083,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Simon Green is the author of the bestselling DEATHSTALKER cycle, the New York Times bestseller ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES, and many other novels. He lives in Bradford-upon-Avon in Wiltshire.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mythical England in the 21st Century, November 21, 2002

By 

Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Drinking Midnight Wine (Paperback)

Drinking Midnight Wine is very similar to Shadows Fall in ambiance and tone, but otherwise differs greatly in characters and plot. It is almost traditional in approach, with Faery coexisting with the mundane world and with some persons in each who can move between the worlds.

Toby Dexter, a bookshop assistant, lives in Bradford-on-Avon and works in Bath. Over a period of time, he has become attracted to a woman who also rides the commuter train between the two towns. On one particularly wet evening, he is behind the woman as she gets off in Bradford and sees her make a doorway in a wall and walk through. He follows her and finds himself in bright sunlight.

Although very similar to his Bradford, the town is somehow different. The people are also familiar yet different. He is told that he is now in Mysterie rather that Veritie. He meets the mysterious woman, Gayle, and finds himself hopelessly in love. They discover a plot to destroy Mysterie and conquer Veritie and together they work against it.

The plot involves the Serpent in the Sun, the Serpent's Son Nicholas Hob, and Angel, who is an angel of some kind. Arrayed against these plotters are Gayle, Toby, Gayle's sister Luna, Jimmy Thunder the godling, Leo Morn and his friend Brother Under the Hill, the Waking Beauty Carys Galloway, and the Mice.

In reading the prior reviews, I notice that the Americans seem to have read only the Deathstalker and Hawk & Fisher novels, although one mentioned Blue Moon Rising. Green has written at least 20 novels to my knowledge. Almost all of them have action plots and the majority are sword and sorcery works, but this is not the first novel largely given to character exposition and urban settings. His novel Shadow Falls reads like an Amber work, but with a different mythology.

Several reviewers compared this novel to Neverwhere. While agreeing with the similarity, one should consider that Gaiman was dealing with traditional fantasy elements in his novel. Others have walked through doors or mirrors into Wonderland.

This novel is a coming of belated age tale. If ever a person is a case of delayed adolescence, it is Toby Dexter. In Mysterie, he is forced to examine his comfortable life and reevaluate his priorities and, in so doing, he changes others as well.

This novel is vintage Green with a new twist and an excellent example of urban fantasy. Hopefully, Green will make this a series; Mysterie has sufficient unrealized possibilities for a sequel.

-Arthur W. Jordin

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Getting it...or not, March 7, 2004

By 

John R. Ivicek Jr. "proditor2" (Catonsville, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Drinking Midnight Wine (Mass Market Paperback)

I've seen a few reviews compare this to a comic book, to which I can only say, you don't "get it". That's fine, there is nothing wrong with that, but my belief is that those who loved Deathstalker, don't necessarily get Green's other work. Green's mastery is as a wordsmith. His genius is in the use of character. It's a bit incorrect to say a Norse god gets modern and becomes a Private Detective, it's a lot more accurate to say that a guy who can't find his place in the world (And who also happens to be the great to the 13th or so power removed in lineage from the Norse Gods) finally finds a nitch that works for him. That's what makes Green readable, you can always find something to identify with in his characters. The human condition is prevalent and strong in Green's writing and that is what links you to his characters. Whether that's Jimmy Thunder or his superlative Hawk and Fisher, they all have something that tugs at you. They all have something with which you can draw a parallel. And along the way you get the best banter in the business short of Brust. I wholeheartedly recommend Drinking Midnight Wine to pretty much everyone. Keep an open mind, relax, enjoy.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A lot of fun to read, October 19, 2005

By 

Corina Laraway (South Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Drinking Midnight Wine (Mass Market Paperback)

For those looking for heavier urban fantasy, please pick up Gaiman's "Neverwhere", which will sit more like a heavy meat and potatoes meal to the reader.

This is a lighthearted, thought-provoking, creamy and zippy concoction that is more like a light summer entree rather than a heavy winter meal.

I loved "Something from the Nightside" so much, I grabbed up all the Simon R. Green I could find, and so far my small library doesn't carry much, but I did find this book there. It was a blast! My husband zipped through it, then my best friend, and they wouldn't leave me alone until I had read it also, all within 2 days of me checking it out.

I enjoy most of the characters (Luna is particularly memorable), and I did not find it pat or cutesy at all. There are cute parts, and lots of parts that had all of us laughing aloud, which really makes me want to own all this man's books, but there is a lot to roll around your thoughts once you put the book down, as well. Especially as a budding novelist! :D

If you want intellectually heavy, go somewhere else. This may not be for you. I am an English teacher and not by any means an intellectual pygmy; I can read and understand heavy prose and epic poetry and write intelligent essays critiquing them. But when you want something to make you smile, laugh, and think thoughts that take you out of your everyday rut, I'd recommend Simon R. Green for the majority of people, especially for my friends and family.