Saturday, December 27, 2008

"Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth" by Simon R. Green


If I didn't already know that there are more John Taylor tales out there, I would have easily believed this to be the end of Green's Nightside series. It finally ties up the story of his mother, Lilith, and John's quest to deal with her without destroying the world, a prophecy that many have feared since his return to the Nightside. Where is the Nightside, you ask? London, but not on any map. It's a no-man's land where neither Heaven nor Hell are able to interfere, and where it's always 3 a.m. It's a place of magic and mayhem, and where John Taylor is most at home, even though it seems there's always someone out there trying to kill him. And this time is no different...

The usual cast of characters show up in this installment: Suzy Shotgun, Eddie the Punk God of the Razor, Tommy Oblivion, John's secretary Cathy, Dead Boy, and, of course, Walker. No wonder I thought it could be the end - the gang is all here. It's a fight to the death, but not the destruction, of Lilith. If she can't be vanquished, then John and his friends are all doomed, as is the entire world as we know it. To say much more is to delve deeply into the plot, and that seems silly, given that these books are fantastic and you're probably reading them anyway, right? Of course you are.

I will say that this is probably the bleakest of the Nightside books, and with good reason; Green could have decided to end the series here and gone on to other things. As it is, there are other books after this one, and he has gone on to other things, namely his new Shaman Bond series, which I've also reviewed. Basically, Green is a very good writer and I like his work, regardless of who he's writing about. Check him out for yourself in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of your local library/book store today.

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