Customer Reviews

Nightingale's Lament (Nightside, Book 3)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've just read all three Nightside novels by Simon R. Green, and they are totally rocking. The world of Nightside is somewhat similar to Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden world, but there are very significant differences:

In Jim Butcher's world, the wizard Harry Dresden relies on amulets and potions and things he prepares beforehand, as his "magic". Without those prior preparations, Harry is just as vulnerable and defenceless as any human. Harry gets beaten up very often, and after 5 books in the series, is just as unlucky a schmuck as when he began. A constant out-of-his-luck detective type. After five books, I get tired of seeing Harry never being rewarded for his deeds, always being the big loser.

In Simon R. Green's world of Nightside, that square mile in the centre of London where monsters and gods live, John Taylor doesn't do wizard/witch amulet/potion type things. Taylor's has a psychic gift, that allows him to find anything. This doesn't sound like much, but the author explains that Taylor can find any object, secret, exit, and death. So even with an immortal, Taylor can use his gift to find how to kill them. Plus, he can do other things with his gift too. In the really scary world of Nightside, Taylor is a legend. His mother wasn't human, his father was. Unfortunately, he doesn't know what/where his mother is. The augaries at his birth said that he would come into his kingdom, that he would somehow rule Nightside. So Taylor has a very strong psychic power, and the mysterious and frightening power of something even more in waiting. He gets beaten up occasionally, but unlike Harry Dresden, he isn't a wimp, he can fight back with his power and after 3 books, his good fortune grows. I like that, when a good guy gets ahead, shows some positive progress in the series.

Plus, the world of Nightside is truly beautiful/frightening. The author uses very strong imagery, very powerful and evocative. The characters in Nightside are amazing. Unlike many other authors, Simon R. Green doesn't just pick up monsters from regular culture and throw them into his world (like vampires, werewolves, witches, etc.), he makes up his own monsters. Like Sara the Sorrow, who long ago gave up her humanity and is now the Unbeliever, not believing anything she sees, so that if she looks at you, the power of total lack of belief lets her unmake anything, anyone. Anyway, these are great books, and especially if you like detective mysteries, psychic powers, very strange inhabitants of a very strange place, the promise of a prophecy and a would-be king and don't mind gore, this is the book for you.

Dodging the enforcers after accidentally (on purpose) shutting down 12 percent of The Nightside's electricity. John Taylor, the dark world's premier finder accepts a new assignment, to talk to the daughter of a client - singer so powerful that listeners in the audience have been known to commit suicide. Now going clubbing on the Nightside can be fun, exciting, and, if you're not lucky, fatal.

Rossignol is the singer's stage name. Once upon a time her songs were happy ones, but now she works for the Cavendish twins and they want to use the power of her voice. If she happens to kill a few dozen people in the process, it doesn't bother them in the least. It's John and Dead Boy to the rescue as they look for clues to the Cavendish's strangle hold while righting a few unexpected wrongs.

In this third volume in the series, Simon Green finally gets all the bits right. Nightingale's Lament lacks the overblown noir rhetoric of the previous two volumes. This gives the story an easy believability that is critical to the success of dark fantasy. Green's slightly tongue in cheek noir becomes more compelling when the characters behave in a natural fashion. Natural to The Nightside, that is.

As usual, Green spends a great deal of time creating and developing his characters. Besides Rossignol and the Cavendishes, there's Julien the newsman, Dead Boy, who was too mad to die, and numbers of peculiars that only a secret city in the heart of London could play host for. Keep an eye out for this and future episodes in the career of John Taylor, who can find anything, whether you want him to or not.

Nightingale's Lament (2004) is the third urban fantasy novel in the Nightside series, following Agents of Light and Darkness. In the previous volume, Taylor found the Unholy Grail for the Vatican and thereby raised a siege of the Nightside by angels both high and low. His reputation has gone off the scale and the resulting fee was large enough to lease an upscale office, hire Cathy (see Something From the Nightside) as his secretary, and install computers with a superiority complex to take care of the routine stuff.

In this novel, Taylor comes across more as Simon Templar --- AKA the Saint -- than as a tough private eye. First he is persuaded by Walker to work on a case for Prometheus, Inc., generator of twelve percent of the power used within the Nightside. Company equipment is being sabotaged by an unknown --and undetectable -- person or thing. Prometheus is owned and operated by an old acquaintance, Vincent Kraemar, the Mechanic. Walker wants results and Taylor definitely produces some big results, paying off an old debt in the bargain. However, Walker is not really happy with the way Taylor solves the problem.

After that case, while hanging out in Strangefellows and avoiding Walker, Taylor is approached by a man who believes that his daughter has fallen into bad company. Under the name Rossignol -- Nightingale -- she has been acquiring a reputation of her own, but recently she has changed, breaking off relations with friends and family, never answering phone calls or letters, and spending all her time in the Caliban Club where she sings. Moreover, her singing has changed; now she sings only sad songs and her listeners are so moved that some have committed suicide shortly after leaving her show.

All these changes started when Ross signed a new contract with Mr. and Mrs. Cavendish. The client wants Taylor to check into her situation and help her if such assistance is necessary. Cathy confirms the client's portrayal of Ross' career and Alex tells him more about her life and the Cavendishes.

Taylor visits the Caliban Club and talks to Ian, Ross' roadie. Then he visits Rossignol herself and later catches a show. He can't find any indication of magical influence, but Ross is obviously depressed and distracted. During her performance, moreover, someone commits suicide, splashing blood and brains over her shoes.

In this story, Taylor investigates the Cavendishes, including tracking down another promising diva who was previously under contract to them, but disappeared without a trace the previous year. He drops by the Night Times to find out the gossip from the newsies, especially the managing editor (and owner) Julian Advent. He even pays a visit to the Cavendishes, where he is very ill received.

Taylor has always had a compassionate streak, but Rossignol somehow inflames it into an obsession. However he has to do it, Taylor is determined to solve Ross' problem. He even goes so far as to involve the Dead Boy.

Be warned that the author has gone overboard with obscure references. Perhaps not knowing about Bananarama tribute bands is a good thing. However, one hopes that the reader gets the blind Pew wordplay; it is practically in the public domain.

Highly recommended for Green fans and for anyone else who enjoys fantasy noir detective novels with a touch of camp.

-Arthur W. Jordin

This is the third 'Nightside' novel I've read, and they're exactly what you'd imagine: dark gritty PI mysteries set in 'the Nightside,' a part of London that is supernatural and just to the left of reality. It's always three in the morning in Nightside, and the Powers and Authorities of Nightside are often quite hideous, depraved, and full of divine (or demonic) power. Basically, think Charles De Lint on a really dark/grim/gruesome bent, or mayhap Anne Rice without all the lace and frilly stuff, or Laurel K. Hamilton without the mind-numbing repetetive sex.

Our "hero" in the tale is John Taylor (no, not the singer). He's a PI whose mother was something other than human (emphasis on the 'other'). He has a preternatural gift: he can just find things, by opening his third eye/inner sight. Alas, that also sets of a big ol' glow throughout Nightside that says "here I am!" and he has enemies aplenty, so quite often he has to rely on wits instead of his powers.

The plot in this third book is basically thus: A father hires John to figure out what is going on with his daughter, who is a rising-star singer in the Nightside who seems to be causing her fans to kill themselves (smiling while they do so). Are her agents to blame? Did she sell her soul for fame? Can you wash brains out of sling back high heels? All these questions and more are posed in this gritty gruesome bloodbathy fun urban dark fantasy mystery. Mind-candy wise, this is fulfilling, but it's not at all difficult reading or a confounding mystery - I had the villains figured out at first mention. Still, it's okay to pass some time.

'Nathan

I love all of his books, very interesting,exciting. Full of great supernatural characters and situations. Will keep you guessing right to the end. It is very hard to put down while you are reading it, you just want to keep going to find out what will happen next.

If you are done with the Harry Dresden series this is worth the time, otherwise read Dresden.

In this, the third installment of Simon R. Green's Nightside series, the author seems to finally relax and not obsess as much over the reader's understanding how strange the Nightside is in every paragraph. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of new oddities taking up the pages here but it seems we are more in a groove now, going along with John Taylor, the noirish detective who lives in the Nightside, the utterly alien and magical dark underbelly of London. He gets hired to find things, since he has a psychic gift that prevents anything from staying hidden from him for very long. While this makes him a great detective, it also makes him a target for plenty of powerful beings that also reside in the Nightside who consider him a danger.

This story starts out with what amounts to a short story encased in one chapter where Taylor tries to figure out who or what is sabotaging Prometheus, Inc's power station, which provides over 12% of the power to the Nightside. The brief interlude ends with a bang and with Taylor on the run, doing his best to avoid Walker, the representative of the authorities in the Nightside who hired him to do the job because of the trouble he caused by solving the case.
Soon after, Taylor is hired by the father of a up and coming singer, Rossingol, who is being managed and kept under wraps by the Cavendish's, a husband and wife team...or perhaps brother and sister team. No one is quite sure. Her father just wants to make sure she is safe, since things have changed ever since she came under their protective wings. On top of this mystery is the fact that there are rumors floating around that every time Rossingol sings members of the audience are committing suicide.
Missing in this tale are some of the secondary characters we have become aquainted with in the first two books, including Shotgun Suzie and Razor Eddie, but we are introduced to a couple more allies of Taylor's that are definitely interesting. Julien Advent, the Victorian adventurer and present day Newspaper Publisher, and my favorite sidekick thus far of the series: Dead Boy. We also get to see a few other of Taylor's rivals but there is little in this story besides his new sidekicks that will end up carrying over to future stories here.
I felt as if this tale was the strongest so far from Green on Taylor and the Nightside. The descriptions of this small universe buried inside London were still just as vivid as the two previous stories but he is more focused on the story itself without spending exorbitant amounts of time wowing us with the wonders that make up "The Nightside". I also enjoyed the first chapter as something that pretty much stands on its own as its own story separate from the rest of the book. I am growing more accustomed to Taylor and his unique gift, along with his impressive ability to slip in and out of situations without resorting to that gift (his reputation proceeds him for the most part and even powerful enemies show him a great deal of respect and often buy his bluff that he is more dangerous than he actually is). Green knows how to spin a tale and describe an environment so that you feel a part of it.
I am looking forward to further tales from the Nightside, especially if they are as solid as this story.

If I were only rating the last third of this book, I'd give it 4 and a half stars. But it took a while to get there, and the piles of cliches at the beginning nearly turned me off. As well, Green's writing style has some flaws - people don't speak like that! and some of the character names are a little too stupid - and, to some extent, just an "Englishness" that makes his style a little more difficult for me, as an American, to get into.

Even at the end of the book, there are many cliches, although Green hams them up so that we know they're there semi-intentionally: the the villain who must explain his motivations to the hero, at length, rather than just killing him; the back-up help that charges in just *after* they're needed. And there are a few things that are unfair; it's my belief that even fantasy requires consistent rules, and characters should not have new powers that suddenly spring out of nowhere, unportended and unprecedented (such as Dead Boy suddenly revealing that he can bring back other dead.)

That said, there are also many, many great lines of dialogue, and that's a big chunk of what gives this book 4 stars in spite of the flaws. Especially toward the end, I was constantly interrupting my spouse's eating or TV viewing to read out loud a sentence or two.

"I've never relied on magic to get me through the many and varied dangers of the Nightside. I've always found using my wits and being downright sneaky much more reliable." Not to mention, "Condiments. Never leave home without them."

Many other reviews have given you details of the plot and of the kinds of supernatural powers that exist in this particular urban fantasy universe, so I won't repeat them. Instead, I'll just advise you to skim lightly the first quarter of the book, start reading more carefully when you get to Pew, and thoroughly enjoy the last quarter.

This is the third in Simon Green's wonderfully dark fantasy series of the Nightside. The Nightside is a dirty, secret little underbelly of London where it is always 3AM, and where creatues both foul and mythical, mix amongst the dark and dangerous steets. This book begins not long after the events in "Agents of Light & Darkness" and while this book does make reference to those events, it's not necessary to have read that one first, although it does help.

John Taylor has just solved the murder of two friends who died during their own wedding several years earlier and in doing so, destroys the Prometheus power plant, knocking out power to over 12% of the Nightside. This causes much damage and chaos in the Nightside and John finds himself on the run from Walker, the representative of The Authorities, the true power in the city.

John Taylor is a private detective with a gift that allows him to find anything or anyone and is contacted by a wealthy banker to find his missing daughter who ran off to the Nightside to become a singer. Taylor finds the daughter whose taken the stage name of Rossignol working in a night club and under the control of The Cavendish's, a mysterious and wealthy couple. But there's a problem. Seems people have the odd habit of commiting suicide after hearing Rossignol sing and John must not only find out why, but also find a way to free her from the clutches of the Cavendish's who are backed up by the power of Count Entropy.

This book introduces us to yet another of John's sometime allies, the teenage boy know as "Dead Boy", who is dead himself, yet lives on eternally, holding his body together with stitches and duct tape. Dead Boy happens to be the foremost expert on death, and John enlists his aid in order to solve this latest mystery.

With each book, Simon Green begins to reveal just a tiny bit more about the mysterious John Taylor and his inhuman mother. Even when Taylor encounters a group of primal demons, older than creation, he sees fear in their eyes as they know WHAT he is...or will be someday.

DeadBoy was a welcome addition to John's list of friends which include Shotgun Suzie and Razor Eddie. Deadboy behaves much as any teenager does but with a deep sorrow underneath as he mournfully states that the longer he is dead, the less feeling he has for anything in his life/death.

Nighingale's Lament moved at a very brisk pace and Green gives readers little time to catch their breath as Taylor moves from one dangerous encounter to the next. But then that is one of the appeals of the Nightside books. With each one just over 200 pages, these are quick, exciting little diversions from much of the more epic and exhausting fantasies on the market today. One can almost feel that Green has so many ideas bubbling over with what he can do with this unique setting that he throws so much at readers at once.

A fantastic book in a series that gets better and better.

The 'Nightside' books keep getting more interesting as they progress.
I can actually say that at times, this book even made me gasp in shock. I did figure out some of the plot twists from the beginning, but a few really threw me for a loop.
If you're looking for something a little different, more than a little dark and creepy, pick this one up (and the first 2!).