The Nightside series by Simon R. Green


Something from the Nightside



Taylor is the name, John Taylor. My card says I'm a detective, but what I really am is an expert on finding lost things. It's part of the gift I was born with as a child of the Nightside. I left there a long time ago, with my skin and sanity barely intact. Now I make my living in the sunlit streets of London. But business has been slow lately, so when Joanna Barrett showed up at my door, reeking of wealth, asking me to find her runaway teenage daughter, I didn't say no. Then I found out exactly where the girl had gone. The Nightside. that square mile of Hell in the middle of the city, where it's always three AM. Where you can walk beside myths and drink with monsters. Where nothing is what it seems and everything is possible. I swore I'd never return. But there's a kid in danger and an woman depending on me. So I have no choice - I'm going home...


Agents of Light and Darkness

I'm John Taylor. I work in the Nightside—the gaudy, neon noir, secret heart of London, where it's always three in the morning, where gods and monsters make deals and seek pleasures they won't find anywhere else. I have a gift for finding things. And sometimes what I'm hired to locate can be very, very dangerous indeed. Right now, for example, I'm searching for The Unholy Grail, the cup that Judas drank from at the Last Supper. It corrupts all who touch it—but it also gives enormous power. So I'm not the only one hunting. Angels, devils, sinners and saints—they're all out there, tearing apart The Nightside, seeking the dark goblet. And it's only a matter of time until they realize that the famous John Taylor, the man with the gift for finding things, can lead them straight to it... ​

Nightingale's Lament

The name's John Taylor. I work the garish streets of the Nightside—the hidden heart of London where it's always three A.M., where inhuman creatures and otherworldly gods walk side by side in the endless darkness of the soul. I have a talent for finding things. People...property...no problem. But now I'm after something different. A local diva called the Nightingale has cut herself off from her family and friends, and I've been hired to find out the reason. I'm also wondering why her suicide-prone fans think she has a voice to die for. Literally. To get the truth, I'll have to lend an ear to the most enticingly beautiful and deadly voice in all of the Nightside—and survive.​

Hex and the City

John Taylor is the name. I work the Nightside. Only in that dark heart of London where it's always three A.M., where human and inhuman can feed their darkest desire, do I feel at home. Probably because I was born here. What I do is find things—people, objects—and in this case, the truth about the origins of the Nightside. That's what Lady Luck has hired me to investigate. But the more I dig, the more I discover, not about the Nightside, but about the great question in my life: exactly who—and what—was my long-vanished mother. Paying jobs are one thing. Personal quests are another. And I've been warned that uncovering the facts about dear old mum could be a very bad thing, not just for the Nightside but for all of existence. Still I can't stop... I'm John Taylor. Finding things is who I am. It's what I do. Whatever the consequence... ​

Paths Not Taken

I'm John Taylor. I was born in the Nightside, that square mile in the hidden center of London where it is always the hour of the wolf, where gods and monsters walk side by side and where every dark question ever asked can be answered - for a price. I left for a while, but I did come back, to make my living doing what I do better than anyone else: finding things - lost or stolen, real or imaginary. Recently, I found the most dangerous thing of all: the true identity od my long-gone mother. Turns out she's a being who's been around since before he dawn of history. Then, she created the Nightside - and now, for her own warped reasons, she intends to destroy it. To stop her before she even gets started, I've got to do some hard traveling - back in Time, through endless eons, into the very distant - and probably deadly - past...​

Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth

My name is John Taylor. I'm a PI for hire in the Nightside, the dark and corrupt city within the city of London. Where the sun never shines and where pleasure and horror are always on sale - for the right price. Not a nice place to visit or a nice place to live. So you wouldn't think I would care that it was about to be destroyed, by none other than my very own long-missing, not-quite-human mom. But I do. I was born here, I live here, and I got friends here. They might not all be acceptable in polite company, but they're my friends, nonetheless. I know that I'm the only one who can stop her. The trick is, how to do it without fulfilling this prophecy that say whatever action I take, not only is the Nightside doomed, but the rest of the world will soon follow...​

Hell to Pay



I was recommend the series after exhausting all the Jim Butcher books at my local library The main character is reminiscent of Harry Dresden but with distinct differences. The Nightside of which he is part of is like Diagon alley if it had had a mad orgy with H.P LoveCraft , Vincent Price, Terry Pratchett and Jim Butcher on a Spaceship.
May I say this, the Nightside is awesome that a description of a dwarf in a full nazi SS uniform is a throw away line. The first books ending is just as good as Storm Fronts was, which is to say it wasn't bad like, Butcher he gets better with each book. If you need your Dresden fix this is the place.

Edit: BY FIRE BE PURGED.. Text was too small. ​

 

While I love the Nightside series, it doesn't come within a mile of the Dresden Files. The melodrama, like in everything Simon Green writes (e.g. the Deathstalker saga), is too loud.

Since warez means v&... I'm not linking anything here. Go search the library instead. The books aren't bad for a diehard Dresden fan, as madeye said.

Edit: You missed the latest one, madeye: The Unnatural Inquirer.

I'll also recommend Simon Green's The Secret Histories series. While Taylor or Dresden are the magical equivalent of Phillip Marlowe, these books are closer to James Bond. The two books currently out aren't bad, and they lack the hints of repetition in the big Nightside series.

 

Sweet, did a lil searching and found 1-7 online, can't wait to dig into em .

 

Mind tossing me a link? Good fiction is worth its weight in gold.

 

Why don't you buy it then?

I'll take a look at the series. Need something new to read desperately and I like series - the more the better.

 

Wow, you'd think that if they're that good, they could have chosen better covers lol.

Eh, I might look through these next time I visit a bookstore.

 

I started reading this series based solely on the recommendation here. I just finished the third one, and I'd have to say I like them. They definitely aren't as good as the Dresden Files, but they are entertaining. Very interesting world.

For anyone who has read all the books, has his mother reappeared yet?

 

I'll just leave it as a yes, his mother reappears, and that's what the next 3 books are about. (I'll leave it to others to yell about necro'ing)

About the books, just finished them, and they are pretty awesome. Not approaching the level of Dresden, but still a really fun read.

What separates it from Dresden, I think, is the detachment from reality, as well as the melodrama. Maybe it's just me, but I think that the Nightside being the way it is, takes a whole lot of momentum out of Taylor being a 'good guy'.

Plus, Taylor seems to rely most of the time on threatening people, and it goes on a lot about his reputation, whereas in Dresden, while Dresden is powerful, there's still plenty of those who are way more powerful then him, while it seems like by the latest book, everyone is afraid of Taylor.

 

Well, got the books, let's see what is it about...

 

Read all of them, waiting for the next one. Honestly though, I liked the Nightside series better than the Dresden. That is because despite having more melodrama, Taylor doesn't bitch about and pity his life as much as Dresden does.

That and a couple of things about Taylor I can relate to, makes Nightside better for me than Dresden.

 

I've just finished the first book in the series "Something from the Nightside".

In my opinion it is not Dresden Files caliber, but an enjoyable read nonetheless.
After the first book there is a hell lot of things unexplained, hopefully they will be in further books...
We know that Taylor has a Gift, lived in a dangerous place with capital D and as it turns out, there is no backing out from Nightside.

Something to read till april I guess. By the way, is Green's Deathstalker series any good?

 

Read the first book out of bored desperation. Read the rest of them with only the most reluctant of pauses for food and sleep. I love these for, among other things, John's reputation, which seems to have a life of it's own, and the delightfully dysfunctional relationship between John and Suzie. Très magnifique.

 

In the middle of Book 3 right now. I like 'em a lot, but Dresden is definitly better.

Maybe it's just me, but I think Taylor has much less personality then Dresden, which was one of my favorite aspects of the Dresden Files. That's probably the main reason I don't like Nightside as much.

 

I've yet to actually finish the first book.

I'll be honest. I don't like it. It reads like terrible fan fiction.

The writing... is just sub-par, in my opinion. The melodrama just kills any sense of enjoyment I can get out of it. :/

 

I'm on the latest one, The Unnatural Inquirer. I've enjoyed the series so far. I just have to figure out what I'm going to read after this.

Any suggestions?

 

I finally got around to reading the first one and while it doesnt come near some the better Dresden Books it is easily on par with the lesser books in Dresden. I honestly cant understand how he has gained such a reputation at only 30 years old but I can let that slide since I have only read the first one.

 

I read these awhile back, but I found the writing seriously bad.

The Felix Castor books are far and beyond a better series.

 

Under the assumption that the readers here read Dresden files because of the large amount of non-human girls involved and a weak hero who slowly gets stronger -and is hated by the people he is trying to protect, then I would suggest:

Dragons of babel (go to demonoid.com and type it in and you can download it)

It seems to have elf-girls to cow-girls to centaur girls (yeah weird), but the main character is a good guy even if the people he keeps helping end up stabbing him in the back.

This story is Mature for a reason, graphic content.

Enjoy