Customer Reviews

Paths Not Taken (Nightside, Book 5)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In HEX AND THE CITY John Taylor found out the identity of his mother. Or at least the identity she wants him to think. Now John is convinced even more that he has to protect the future of the Nightside. To do so he decides to go back in time to the original creation of the Nightside so that he might learn something that can be used against his mother.

Traveling back in time is very dangerous and only a few could make it happen. But as John prepares for his new quest, he has a case thrust upon him involving a man being hunted by alternate versions of himself. But even this case ties in to the growing problem of the Nightside's future and John's role in it. Finally John begins his journey and the reader is taken to some very interesting places where new and old characters are met.

This book does a very good job with time travel and its paradoxes and pitfalls. John reveals more determination and skills as he tries to protect the ones he cares for and the Nightside in general. This book should not be read without reading HEX AND THE CITY. It is good to have read the others but HEX is a definite requirement. At the time this volume was released, Simon Green had already turned in the eighth and ninth volume in the series so there is plenty more to come.

Paths Not Taken (2005) is the fifth urban fantasy novel in the Nightside series, following Hex and the City. In the previous volume, John Taylor finally discovered the identity of his mother when she visited Strangefellows, but quickly regretted the knowledge. Walker and his minions invaded the bar to destroy Taylor, but are defeated by Taylor's friends and relative.

Bad Penny stabbed Taylor and was permanently banished from Strangefellows and everywhere else. Merlin even nullified the Speaking Gun. Then Taylor tipped his mother out of the bar back the way she had come.

In this novel, Taylor has a visitor at the office. Unfortunately, he is actually present at the time. When asked his complaint, Eamonn Mitchell says that he is being hounded by other versions of himself. Then such other versions appear, armed with change wands, and make a mess out of Cathy's carefully filed paperwork [snigger]. Taylor and Tommy Oblivion -- another Nightside PI -- track down the man behind the plot and reason with him.

Taylor is impressed by Tommy's talent and invites him along on a trip back through time. Suzie Shooter invites herself into the party. Old Father Time sends them into the far past, but not quite far enough.

In this story, Taylor and associates find themselves in the Nightside of sixth century AD. Taylor figures than Lilith has interfered with the time transfer and gets VERY angry. After he cools down enough, they decide that their best chance to go further back in time is Merlin Satanspawn.

Failing to locate Merlin at the Londinium Club, they next try the current version of Strangefellows. Taylor recognizes the exterior view of the Avalon from a prior experience. They find Merlin inside and shortly thereafter Nimue the witch appears.

Nimue is a bubbly little golddigger. A former Druid, she had run away and then convinced Merlin to teach her real magic. Now Taylor talks her into helping them, but their plans go dreadfully wrong. Despite all this, Taylor and Suzie go back further in time, but not quite far enough.

Taylor finds someone, or something, else to send them even further in time. Finally Taylor gets back to Nightside's origins. It's not much like his expectations, but he does have a confrontation with his future mother.

This story parallels the previous novel. He meets people, or things, that he had encountered in the previous novel during his excursions back in time. Naturally, these persons or things have some memory of Taylor when they later -- or earlier -- meet him in the future.

Highly recommended for Green fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of tough detectives, various magics, and a personal quest through time.

-Arthur W. Jordin

The Nightside is London's darkest place. Existing as a shadow for thousands of years it's where worn out gods, dominions, and powers come to relax and place. Only the desperate can gain admission, and for most, there's no way back to the light. This place where the worst desires can be satisfied, where everyone is a victim and a user, and it will only cost you your soul.

John Taylor made it out once, but now he's back, working for a living as a finder, a detective who can recover things that didn't even know they were lost. But not long ago taylor found too much, he found that his mother was Lilith, who once created The Nightside and now wants to bring it down. John will either discover a way to stop his mother, or he will preside over the end - damned one way or another.

Accompanied by Suzie Shooter and Tommy Oblivion, Taylor heads for the past, to the days of The Nightside's birth, where he hopes to find a weakness that can stop Lilith as she was stopped before. But it's a trip with no hope of return and all the magic in the world seems determined to conspire against them. And all along Taylor is haunted by visions of what may come - the ruin of the few things he cares about.

Simon Green's tale is told in shades of sarcasm and bitterness. How often does a man set out to seek his heritage only to discover he is heir to a goddess who plans to destroy the world? How often does a man find he love with a woman who can't bear to be touched? Taylor fights back at a world designed to be unfair using his natural bravado and dark wit and we can't help but find his anti-hero act endearing.

This is the fifth in the series and, despite Green's efforts, the plot is wearing a bit thin. Paths Not Taken uses a small set of devices, those of a frustrating quest back through time that takes place in the most exclusive club in The Nightside and the oldest bar in the world. While the story is still quite readable, the loyal reader will experience a touch of déjà vu as this story bridges the way to what is probably going to be the last volume in the series. Even so Green has found a winning combination worth following.

John Taylor is back, and in fine form. The man who can find anything (and sometimes 'anything' finds him) is determined to travel back in time to discover the origins of the Nightside and to stop his mother from destroying it in the future.

John Taylor remains an interepid and entertaining hero, but this book provides a larger window into the heart and soul of the character. There is more opportunity for John's emotions and hidden strengths to shine through accompanied by his trademark wit and healthy dose of danger. The novel opens with John heading to his new office (the first time he's ever been there). Cathy makes a cameo appearance and the new case that walks through the door is as fun as any in the previous novels.

The main plot of the novel, however, is a journey through Time -made all the more complicated because there aren't many people in the Nightside who wouldn't like to see John Taylor dead, or worse. Along with Suzie Shooter and Tommy Oblivion, John travels through the dark past of the Nightside moving ever closer to its origins and its creator. Several loose ends are neatly tied up as the series hurtles toward a final showdown between the forces of Bad and Worse.

Though clearly not the conclusion of the series, 'Paths Not Taken' is a grand adventure that displays Simon R. Greens talent for the macabre and his tendancy toward noir. There are several references to Shadows Fall, a town created in his book of the same name that are entertaining to those who have read it but will not phase those who haven't. All in all a well-written chapter in the 'Nightside' saga, and one that promises great things to come.

It is always interesting to see what directions an author takes a series as the series goes on. Sometimes the characters grow and change as people, and sometimes the characters always stay the same, it's just the situations that change.

It is nice to see that the Nightside series is one where the characters will grow and change as people as the story progresses. There is a LOT of character development in _Paths Not Taken_, and a lot of philosophical discussions and dilemmas as well.

Brief synopsis of _Paths Not Taken_: As the Authorities get more and more convinced it would be easier to just get rid of John Taylor, John is getting more and more desperate to avoid the future version of the Nightside that he has seen in a timeslip. After briefly getting diverted by a client (who was meant to be a diversion), John goes time-traveling with Shotgun Suzie and Tommy Oblivion. They are searching for the origin of the Nightside. It takes them a while to get there, and along the way they encounter an earlier Merlin Satanspawn (before he lost his heart), an earlier Herne the Hunter (when most of England was still wild), and they make multiple visits to the Londinium Club and Strangefellows (even back before it was called Strangefellows). They do finally get to see the origin of the Nightside (in a very good climactic scene) and then they go back to present-day time.

As the story progresses, we see the results of increasing stress on John Taylor. John has always considered himself to be a cold-hearted bastard and has cultivated a reputation for that, but underneath he is really quite soft-hearted. But after seeing what a future self will do to the Nightside and especially Shotgun Suzie in a possible future timeline, John vows to never let that future occur. As he frantically tries to stop it from occurring, he runs into the question that haunts most truly desperate people - how far will you go to stop that which must be stopped, and how much of your honor, compassion, & morals are you willing to lose along the way? There are also the time-travel conundrums about changing the past, and a philosophical discussion about what happens to free will when there is no good and evil.

The first couple of Nightside novels were more strictly let's-kick-butt-and-take-names detective stories. While there is still PLENTY of butt-kicking in _Paths Not Taken_, readers looking for the simplicity of the earlier novels will be disappointed. Those who don't mind some romance and a bit deeper writing with their mayhem, like _Beyond the Blue Moon_ (with Hawk & Fisher) or the Deathstalker series, should be very happy with _Paths Not Taken_. I got it this afternoon and couldn't put it down. A very good book.

For those who might be picking this up as their first Nightside novel: it's still a good stand-alone story, but you're going to miss at least 30% of what is going on in any given scene if you don't read the other Nightside novels too.

Simon Green takes us back once again to the Nightside, that hidden city within London where it's always 3 in the morning and gods roam the streets. The dark, twisted, neon lit streets that lead to darker places where John Taylor runs his private eye office. Taylor finds things but to use his third eye, his private eye, allows his enemies to track him down. Taylor is looking to get to his quest of saving the Nightside from the apocalyptic future he witnessed in a timeslip that frequents the Nightside. First he must deal with client Eamonn Mitchell who wandered into the Nightside by accident. Dealing with multiple alternate versions of himself, Eamonn seeks Taylor.

After finishing with Eamonn, Taylor takes up with bounty hunter Shotgun Suzie and Tommy Oblivion (another private eye). Tommy's gift is the existential logic that he uses to talk people into things. They meet up with the entity Old Father Time to travel back through time to the creation of the Nightside, born of Lilith - Taylor's mother and Adam's first wife. Through the trip we receive the secret of Merlin's stolen heart, the birth of Lamentation, history on Strangefellows & the Londinium Club, piss off Poseidenis, meet some angels, and join Herne the Hunter for his favorite pasttime (my favorite part of this book).

This addition to the Nightside books starts a little slow but picks up towards the end. If you haven't read the other books, you might get lost with a number of the characters that made appearances in those books. None-the-less, you can read it without the others. This is the dark entry that deals with character development of Taylor and Shotgun Suzie and sets up the future battles in the next book(s). The entity characters are always great in these books and Taylor's abilities continue to make you enjoy his character. Paths Not Taken is a welcome addition to the series and hopefully we will get more of the same.

John Taylor had never known who his mother was, though Nightsiders would tell him she was powerful. In "Hex and the City", we find out who she is. "Paths Not Taken" is primarily about the steps Taylor has to take to destroy her. A journey through time is in order, to the very beginning of the Nighside. Several stops along the way, we find out about some of the background for some of the Major Players in the Nightside. Suzie Shooter is right; Time really is a circle. "Paths Not Taken" is a background book, a setup for things to come. Though it may not have the noir of the previous books, it has just as much emotion. We see glimpses of who John is fated to become. Taylor is extremely haunted in this book, as his oblivion to who he actually was is shattered. Suzie Shooters destiny is also being fufilled in many ways and it couldn't scare John Taylor more. Read this book. It's a key link to what is to come and it will leave you salivating for the next Nightside novel!

This series that must be read in order and is not for the faint of stomach. It is for those who enjoy action and fantasy. Personally, I'll admit I'm a bit disappointed in the path the series has taken. The first two books were truly a PI in a fantasy world. Now, Taylor is on a quest and each book is a bit more of the same. Taylor and his friends are engaging characters, but the story seems to be stuck on a theme. The story moves well and doesn't lack for excitement, but I'd like to see this thread wrapped up and John get back to fighting crime in Nightside.

John Taylor, private eye extraordinaire, son of the very Being that created the Nightside, has done some crazy things in his life, most of them resulting in bloodshed. Never, though, has he tackled time travel. Now, he has no choice but to travel back to the past, where it all began, and confront his mother. It is a quest that may only have two possible outcomes: Taylor's death...or the destruction of the Nightside.

The Nightside is truly one of the most unique literary environments ever written of. Full of man-eating cars, radioactive nuns, demons, angels, and things better left unsaid, it is a place where it is always 3 in the morning, and nothing is as it seems. And John Taylor is definitely one of the most engaging heroes around. A wise-cracking, butt-kicking, quick-thinking private eye, he is the epitome of the hard-boiled detective...with enough sensitivity to make him likeable. The two together is a unique combination, captured by Simon R. Green's quick and to the point writing style. "Paths Not Taken" is the latest installment in what is truly a unique series, which seems to be approaching a climax of unimaginable proportions. Where it will go from here...well, we'll find out when we get there. We may not like it...but that's life. That's the Nightside.

Now. I would insert a summary here, but this is one you will simply have to read yourself. To make it short, John joins up with Tommy Oblivion and Shotgun Suzie to take a hop back in time, where they run into a lot of familiar faces from before they were familiar.

The most fascinating part of this book is the fact that SO many things are explained...the only thing is, you won't realize they needed to be explained until they are. The twists were interesting, the surprises unexpected (and there was a lot that wasn't expected)...but the story's ending itself is what will make you either love or hate this book- and I'm not about to put it here!

I will say I was disappointed. Not in the writing, but in a certain main character.

If you've read the others, you already know you have to read this one, and you'll be left anxiously waiting for the next- if only to figure out how John will get himself out of THIS mess!