Customer Reviews

Drinking Midnight Wine

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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

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.

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.

I have loved Simon R. Green's work since I first read Deathstalker. I loved his psychopathic characters, the not-so-good good guys, and the not-so-bad bad guys, the same old plot but with some original twists, and the sarcastic twists of humor that he wove within his novels.

When I finally got around to picking up his latest novel, however, I found myself in a world of disappointment. While I enjoyed the characters of Jimmy Thunder and Angel, I found Toby Dexter a rather obnoxious character who couldn't get through his head that when a woman says that she's uninterested, it means that she is uninterested! And I thought that Gayle could have been a lot more intriguing if you got the impression that she thoroughly knew that she could never fall in love with Toby and never did.

The plot failed to hold me, and I hate to admit that I put the book down midway, a first for a Simon R. Green novel considering I read the first three Deathstalker novels within the space of a week. The plot seemed rushed, the characters embryonic and seemed more than anything the author's attempt to escape into a fantasy world through Toby rather than helping us to escape into that world.

I think I'll be sticking to the worlds found in the Deathstalker and Hawk and Fisher novels.

I have to say that I've read lots of the stuff by Simon Green but this one was just not up to snuff. Unfortunately, I found myself getting bored with this one as the pacing is really slow until you're 1/2 way through the book. I thought it was still a fun read but it's just off. It seems like this was the transitional novel to get to the Nightside series. Some of the descriptions of the characters living in the other world become more fleshed out ideas in Nightside.

It's a decent read but I wouldn't be in too much of a rush.

Simon Green's "Drinking Midnight Wine" is a fun read. It is about a regular guy who takes a trip, via a portal to a parallel Earth, into a land of magic. This fast-moving story covers the basics; love, , wimp-become-hero, good-vs-evil, descendants of Norse gods, etc. Green spins an interesting version of this old, yet popular concept. His use of beings from 'our' mythology enables the reader to readily identify with many of his characters. I enjoyed reading it.

Green has been my favorite writer since I picked up "Deathstalker Rebellion" some five or six years ago. Since then, I've plowed through just about every one of his other books and he's been getting better and better.

That said, "Drinking Midnight Wine" is not a favorite of mine. I wouldn't be surprised if this book sets up a new series, as it has that kind of feel to it - everyone needs to be introduced, the worlds need to be explained. Green seems to be in love with Mysterie and Veritie, as he relishes describing them and how they relate to one another. Absolutely no lack of creativity in worldbuilding, but sometimes the worlds take over the story...

The characters are great, well-developed; protagonist Toby Dexter is adorable. The first part of the novel moves at an almost languid pace (I read it during downtime at work - very relaxing) and picks up speed at the end - and yeah, it does feel rushed. Readers used to Green's in-your-face style in the "Deathstalker" series will find a more subdued writer here.

All in all, it was a good read. Can't wait to see what happens next.

Not sure what came first, this or Gaimen's NEVERWHERE.

From a reader's standpoint, NEVERWHERE came first for me, so I rolled my eyes a bit at how Midnight Wine got started.

The pacing is what I've grown to expect from being a fan of the Nightside series.
Let's walk around and visit with lots of entities, without spending too much time on them, to figure out what's going on, and then have a climatic battle scene to resolve the storyline.

That works for me, for the most part, with the Nightside series. Not so much for this stand alone novel.

It's ending makes me think that author was using this story to introduce a bunch of characters, for further use in subsequent books in a series. He certainly didn't spend too much time fleshing them out in this one.

Still, it wasn't terribly written, or painfully dull.
It simply wasn't as good as some of his other work; it read like he didn't spend much time or effort on it, and did not resonate with me as a result.

Although DRINKING MIDNIGHT WINE, a books about a parallel magical world ala Harry Potter, is a real departure from Simon R. Green's space opera DEATHSTALKER series, it is still characteristic of the author. Green's dry, homicidal wit is still in evidence every bit as much with Angel as it ever was with Hazel D'Ark and Ruby Journey. Toby is every inch the bumbling, reluctant hero that Owen Deathstalker was. The additions of Gayle and others only made the book richer and more unpredictable than the DEATHSTALKER books had a tendency to be. This one is a must-read for Simon R. Green fans. Absolutely wonderful.

Toby Dexter follows a beautiful woman through a door that shouldn't be there and finds himself in the parallel world of Mysterie--a world where magic works, gods and werewolves walk, and where a terrible evil is trying to pull both our mundane Earth and Mysterie into a total destruction. Unfortunately for Toby, he has become the focus--the one man on whom the fate of the universe depends. And Toby is far from being a hero. Fortunately, however, he is a man in love--and he is willing to take quite extra-ordinary steps to keep the woman he loves.

Author Simon R. Green's version of the world of magic is intriguing. Although Mysterie may be a world of magic and powers, it is also a world circumscribed by ancient rules. A hero is a hero, a villain is a villain. Progress and change are difficult concepts for Mysterie. For this reason, our mundane Earth is the source of hope for those who seek more than what already is. It is also the source of fear and danger for those who enjoy their current status and wish only for more power. The ancient powers of the universe, the Snake in the Sun, Luna the Moon, and others, battle for the future--but find that that entire future hangs by the slender fulcrum of Toby Dexter.

Green writes an engaging story with a nice surprises and emotional twists. The tortured characters of Hob, son of the Serpent and Luna, and of the Angel in particular, stand out as strong and fine.