Customer Reviews

The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny (Nightside)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Walker has always been a central force in the morally grey Nightside -- he'll do just about anything, good or bad, to maintain the status quo.

But all that changes in the eleventh Nightside book, along with a lot of other stuff in the mystery zone between good and evil. Unfortunately "The Good, The Bad and the Uncanny" is a mixed bag of supernatural plots: it seems less like a cohesive book than a trio of interlaced short stories, and two of them suffer from some severe issues with pacing... but the subplot about Walker and John is tragically, horrifically brilliant.

As usual, John has weird cases -- first he has to get an elf lord (nicknamed Screech) from one of the Nightside to the other... and Walker is determined to stop him (cue werewolves, Neanderthal bikers, etc). As payment, Screech has some mildly freaky news for him. Then John is hired by Larry Oblivion, a zombie detective who wants to find his brother... except John can't find him. Oh yes, and his brother Hadley Oblivion, the terrifyingly divine Detective Inspectre, is back in the Nightside.

Finally, John is contacted by Walker, who reveals that he's terminally ill, and wants John to be his successor in the Nightside. Of course, John refuses -- and as he investigates the whereabouts of Larry's brother, Walker keeps popping up to show John the good, the bad and the uncanny about his job. The problem is, he isn't revealing everything to John -- and John starts to realize that Walker is more dangerous than ever before.

"The Good, the Bad and the Uncanny" is probably the wobbliest Nightside novel thus far -- it's basically a novella with two short stories twined around it, with very little connecting them. The central story about Walker is absolutely brilliant, a dark gem about temptation, fanaticism and mortality, but one of the side-plots is never really finished (except for a "to be continued" at the end), and the other is wrapped up rather hastily.

Fortunately the Nightside is as weird and deliciously freaky as ever; Green dabbles in a mansion dragged into hell, a transvestite super-heroINE in a fluffy pink car, the ultimate drug den, and a lobotomized Argus who can see the entire Nightside. And his writing is as vivid ("she grinned back at me like a shark scenting blood in the water") and clever as ever (when a trio of witches start yelling "All hail John Taylor, who shall be king hereafter!", he just says, "Alex put you up to this, didn't he?").

And there's a brilliant climactic scene with John and Walker, reminiscent of Christ being tempted by the Devil with all the kingdoms of the world... except this is the Nightside. On the other hand, some sections are stretched out -- there's a thirty-page car chase, and a forty-page flashback that has little to do with the plot.

Snarky anti-hero John Taylor is in some unpleasant situations here, especially since his gift sometimes doesn't work right, and we see how rock-hard John's principles can be. And Walker is a tragic, frightening figure here, a fanatical man who has sold his soul to maintain the Nightside, and is faced by the question of what will happen when he's gone. The Oblivion Brothers aren't quite as engaging -- often they seem like pallid copies of Dead Boy and the Walking Man.

John Taylor sees "The Good, The Bad and the Uncanny" in the eleventh Nightside novel, a wildly uneven affair that leaves one door open for mayhem in the next outing. Worth reading, but flawed.

I loved my first Nightside books - they were quirky and engaging. Now - they just seem tired (or am I tired?). John's constant internal dilemmas have gotten old. I've begun to wonder, "does it make sense that anyone can be ethical and good in a place that is so black and pridefully foul?" ...yes I think I've just gotten tired of Nightside and probably won't read anymore.

The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny is the 10th volume in the always strange Nightside series by Simon R. Green. The strangeness is at an all-time high as the Nightside is still reeling from the events of Just Another Judgement Day, which was one of the quickest volumes and more of an interlude than anything else. I read Just Another Judgement Day right before this one, which lays the ground work for the crux of Uncanny.

If you haven't read the other Nightside books do not skip ahead to this volume as it would ruin everything that happened prior. Green does nothing if not build off everything that is seemingly unimportant from past volumes and he is still not scared of killing off some fairly prominent characters. The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny shows that Green is still able to push the envelope with John Taylor as he hasn't lost the touch of putting him in situations that seem unwinnable just to somehow sucker punch his way out of. The series formula has not wained on me at all, which is especially telling of such a long running series.

Flying carpets, biker neaderthals, twisted religious men, hot pink transportation, and the truth about the running of the Nightside are all covered this time around. To start we get a nice little almost novella of Taylor taking a case to get an Elf to the otherside of the Nightside, which from what I can remember is the first such instance of this race having a role in the Nightside. Green takes it from the angle that Elves and their ilk should never be trusted and rightly so. In typical style Taylor enlists aid for the trek. This time around from the little seen Ms. Fate who is a kind of like an Emma Peel drag queen superheroine. She is much more likable than I was expecting. At first I was missing Deadboy, but Ms. Fate more than holds her own with her dialogue and battle skills. After Taylor clears up that trouble he is accosted by Larry Oblivion to help find his brother Tommy who has been missing since the Lilith War saga. We get Larry's origin story from his point of view, which was nice for a change of pace. A lot of closure happens this time around as things come to a head for many characters including Taylor who gets a 'best of' tour of sorts from Walker in his attempt to have Taylor better understands what it means to be Walker.

Fans of the series will not be disappointed as a real showdown with Taylor and Walker finally happens. Through it all you gain a deeper insight into the underpinnings of the Nightside and the growth of John Taylor. The one flaw in the series is the constant repetition of some lines such as "in every way that matters." Yet Green certainly moves the story along at a fox's pace. This is setting everything up for the penultimate volume in the series as Green has said he will stop at the twelfth volume. The groundwork has been laid to give the series a strong show stopper.

Well, how to start.

If you have read this far in the series, you probably are one of two types of people: You will read anything the author puts out in this series and love it, or like me, you thought it was neat at first but that the series has devolved into little more than cliche after cliche in a nauseatingly endless sequence of trope spewing. I really believe at this point that the dialogue could be written by a computer program a la mad libs. (Insert clever pun bad guy) says, "Taylor, your time has come!" And it was the easiest thing in the world to use my gift and find their (Insert related weakness here) and rip it away. Then Walker comes out and they exchange banter which, if you really read it carefully, doesn't even make much sense as they just trade one liners in what is really just a format for delivering one-liners and plot be damned. He creates and discards cool character ideas at such a rapid pace you begin to resent his lack of depth and development. This is a great example of a series which is nothing more than easy money for the author, grown past any real literary value and put out to feed those who will keep buying books in a series long after the real stories are all used up. At least the Robert Jordan cash cow put in a ton of effort to keep you buying. These feel insulting at this point.

As you can guess, I am pretty sick of reading this series, I am a little, no a lot insulted with how lazy the author seems to be getting. I am pretty sure he turns these out in like one weekend. This will be my last S.R.Green purchase. If you like this stuff, Jim Butcher's Dresden series is a great example of what this could have been like if the author put in the work. Great concept, great potential, great characters, so little ability to create and fill out good stories, and apparently little respect for the reader other than as an ATM.

Good reading everyone.

This is the second most recent in Simon R. Green's Nightside series, about a private Eye, John Taylor, who happens to be Lilith's son and inherited truly serious magical powers as a result. Taylor does his work in the Nightside, an under belly to our world where anything works, from alternate histories to old fashioned magic. To be honest, this is not one of the better books in the series: it seems burdened by two many plot lines from previous ones. Still, I grab every book in this series as soon it comes out and I read them before more serious stuff, even fun stuff, that sits on my shelf of current fiction. I like this series even better than Jim Butcher's Dresden series. This latest novel has some interesting, and disturbing, revelations to deliver about Green's staple crop of Nightside characters, and it's ponderous in tone. But it's still great fun, and I know I'll read Green's upcoming novels as quickly as I can get them. Green's Nightside novels are the equivalent in fantasy writing of Lee Childs's Jack Reacher novels in adventure fiction.

The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny (2010) is the tenth Fantasy novel in the Nightside series, following Just Another Judgement Day. The initial work in this series is Something from the Nightside.

In the previous volume, John and Chandra tried to talk the Walking Man out of killing Nightsiders, but he claimed that none were really innocent. He destroyed the Temple of the Unspeakable Abomination on the Street of the Gods. Then the Walking Man decided to skip the small stuff and went after the New Authorities. Taylor found the Speaking Gun and took it to the final confrontation.

In this novel, John Taylor is a private investigator. He is the son of Charles Taylor and Lilith. Taylor has quite a reputation in the Nightside, partially from his prior deeds and even more from his heritage.

Suzie Shooter -- AKA Shotgun Suzie -- is a bounty hunter. She is also Taylor's girlfriend, although they are still working out issues from her childhood abuse.

Henry Walker is the chief administrator of the Nightside. He used to work under the Authorities, but they were wiped out by Taylor's mother. Now he works for the New Authorities. Walker is dying and wants Taylor to replace him.

Cathy is Taylor's secretary. He had saved her from a carnivorous house. Now she operates all his technological devices.

Larry Oblivion is dead and owns his own detective agency in Nightside. His brother Tommy had disappeared while under the protection of Taylor.

Hadleigh Oblivion is the older brother of Larry. He was the Man for the Authorities before Walker. Now he is the Detective Inspectre.

In this story, John is out and about taking a walk. He is feeling unsettled about something. Then he encounters a flux fog.

People are ducking into buildings and alleys to avoid the fog. Strange things are happening to those entering the billowing clouds. They are changed or cast into other times and places. But the fog goes around Taylor and then disappears.

John receives a phone call from Cathy. A new elvish client wants to meet him at the Dragon's Mouth. At one time, Taylor had partaken of the various addictions of the club, but escaped before it killed him.

John doesn't trust elves. Even elves don't trust elves. They have their own agenda.

The entrance to the Dragon's Mouth is shaped like its name. The inside is huge and filled with people experiencing every conceivable -- and inconceivable -- form of addiction. Mother Connell is sitting right at the bottom of the entrance steps behind a Restoration desk.

The top of the desk is covered with currency, gold, jewels. and credit cards. Connell is counting the take. Then she recognizes Taylor and welcomes him back.

John finds Lord Screech, Pale Prince of Owls, in the smoking section puffing on opium. The elf is surrounded by open space, for nobody trusts elves. He lazily blows a perfect smoke ring at Taylor.

Lord Screech (probably not his real name) claims to be carrying a treaty from Queen Mab to Oberon and Titania. Walker doesn't want the treaty to pass through Nightside. The elf asks Taylor to escort him to the Osterman Gate.

Later, John stops by Strangefellows for a drink. Larry appears out of nowhere and steps into the booth with Taylor. Larry wants to find his brother Tommy and feels that John owes him for loosing the Existential Detective.

Tommy had been half-buried by a fallen wall during the Lilith war. The panicked crowd had attacked Larry and Taylor had lost track in the mob. John had tried to locate Larry with his Private Eye, but could not even find his body.

This tale takes Taylor into the darkest corners of Nightside looking for Tommy. The dying Walker keeps trying to convince John to take his job. And Hadleigh keeps popping up.

This novel differs somewhat from the previous volumes. The initial story is much longer than usual. And the plot has much more action.

The conclusion of this story brings significant changes. The next installment in this series -- A Hard Day's Knight -- will put Taylor in a somewhat different role.

Recommended for Green fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of supernatural shenanigans, magical combat, and clever detectives. Read and enjoy!

-Arthur W. Jordin

John Taylor is back, trench coat and reputation in-check. This time, he's working with an elf, which is even more incredible than it sounds, considering that elves rarely deign themselves to seek out human aid. But this elf has a secret. And that secret leads to another revelation: Walker, emissary of the Authorities--those beings, mostly benevolent nowadays, who run the Nightside--is dying. And he's tapped John to replace him. Can John undermine his entire life spent fighting the System in order to save the Nightside from itself?

If "The Good, The Bad, and The Uncanny" has a major flaw, it's that there are far too many subplots running through here. The story gets more and more convoluted, even by "Nightside" standards. But it's still a solid entry in the series. No one is ever going to accuse Green of being a great prose writer--there are so many cliches and repeated words/descriptions in here that one gets the sense this is a first draft, with few if any revisions made to it--but he's certainly got a brilliant imagination, and it is this latter that keeps the series running strong. John Taylor is becoming predictable, like the books he's featured in, but for the time being he's still a great anti-hero, a good guy doing mostly good things for typically (though not consistently) good reasons. This latest entry is sure to satisfy fans, though none of the volumes has yet equaled the brilliance of "Something From the Nightside," the series' first installment way back when. If you haven't read any of the books before now, dedicate a week of your life to reading them (they're short), then pick up this one.

A fog of change descends upon John Taylor at the outset of Simon Green's latest installment in his Nightside series, The Good, The Bad, And The Uncanny. While John feels no immediate effect from the fog, you just know it is foreshadowing what is to come for our somewhat Hero. However, the change that does come is one of the most significant developments in the series, and will certainly inform what is to follow.

I really enjoy the Nightside. Simon Green is a very entertaining author, and while many of his adventures may seem similar at times, he never fails to impress me with his crazy imagination. The latter part of the series has been unable to ascend to the heights it reached in the Lilith War, but after Just Another Judgement Day, and new interesting events in The Good, The Bad, And The Uncanny planting seeds for the next books, I have hopes that it still has the potential to do so.

Unfortunately, while I do have high hopes for the next novel, I cannot say that the 10th Nightside book is one of my favorites. While there is a lot that I like about the story, and I think it is a very enjoyable read, there are just several things that I am disappointed with, mostly in the characterization of Walker.

After nine books and a Secret Histories crossover, I like Walker every bit as much as John, and barring something in future novels that addresses it, I just feel his character is marred in this book. I also feel that the ending feels too short and hurried, it could have used another chapter to resolve things properly. After all this time, I just feel this book and the events that form the ending should have been more epic, more memorable, and not as disappointing. Perhaps that is the weight of my own expectations coming back on me, but, alas, I WAS expecting more.

The story is quite strong though, and the structure is an interesting change from some earlier novels in the series. John is tasked with helping an Elf, as well as The Dead Detective, Larry Oblivion. Green treats us to the usual sojourn through the Nightside formula that all the books have, and he pulls out all the crazy imaginative beasties that we expect, as well as plenty of John Taylor butt kicking that we demand. Even feels quite like the last book, with the Detective Inspectre filling in for The Walking Man.

What is unique about this story is Green actually spends time in another characters head for the first time. Larry Oblivion actually takes the reigns for a chapter, and it is a fun and interesting little story he tells. This book also contains some significant moral quandaries for John that were not as prevalent in previous installments, as well as some excellent conversations between John and Walker.

I can say this for The Good, The Bad, And The Uncanny: even if I feel it is somewhat disappointing, with the events that take place, and the seeding for future stories, I am eagerly anticipating what will happen next in the Nightside.

275 HC pages 4 out of 5 stars

Simon is winding the series up. The end is near. Tying up loose ends. Not as entertaining, we have heard most of this before.

It's an entertaining crime noir meets modern fantasy fiction series but after ten other books, some of the descriptions are frustratingly repetitive. This far into the series, I think we all know about the dark nature of the Nightside and we don't need to be reminded about all the various forms of sin and suffering over and over again. A lot of the descriptions felt like a copy-and-paste from previous books and a little like filler.

Also filler-ish was the first job Taylor takes on in this installation, seeming to be more about needing to round out the page count rather than really forwarding the ongoing plot lines.

Towards the end, things wrap up pretty quickly, suddenly and with a bit of a jolt - and then the book ends on a one-liner clearly meant to draw you into coming back for book 12.

Still a good series for light reading. There's never been high-brow literature in here but not every book needs to have such lofty goals. An enjoyable story and characters should be appreciated for their entertainment face value. I just wish there was a little bit new and less rehashed in future Nightside novels but I fear the very nature of the series and setting may work against such freshness from happening.