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Dec 30, 2007

Lori rated it:

This is the first book in Green's "Nightside" series.

"You can find anything in the Nightside-if it doesn't find you first. John Taylor is not a private detective per se, but he has a knack for finding lost things. That's why he's been hired to descend into the Nightside, an otherworldly realm in the center of London where fantasy and reality share renting space and the sun never shines"

I love this series. John Taylor is the relatively normal one (wh More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Oct 01, 2010

Dan rated it:

After five years in London, John Taylor gets drawn back into the machinations of the Nightside when Joanna Barrett hires him to find her daughter. The trail takes him all over the Nightside and nothing is ever as it first seems...

I've had this on my bookcase for over a year and I finally gave it a read on vacation. It's light and obviously the first in a long series but I dig it just the same.

The Nightside is a pocket dimension that lies in part of London populated will More...

8 comments like (7 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

LJ rated it:

SOMETHING FROM THE NIGHTSIDE – VG
Simon R. Green – 1st in mystery/fantasy series
John Taylor, in search of a runaway girl, was born in Nightside, an area of London “where it’s always 3 a.m. Where you can walk beside myths and drink with monsters. Where nothing is what it seems and everything is possible.”

I loved this book. Green writes with a Raymond Chandler-esq voice while creating a dark world of unique characters.
More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Laura rated it:

I bought this novel beause the dark urban fantasy fans in my book groups had said this series is similar to Jim Butcher's "The Dresden Files" series. I am a major fan of Jim Butcher, and I know the fabulous writing in that series has spoiled me. This Nightside novel is a mildly entertaining book, but not gripping, and not really like the "The Dresden Files" at all. I also found many of the plot twists hard to believe. A good effort, but not interesting enough for me to co More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jan 31, 2009

Felicia rated it:

Very good, I really liked the characters and the world. Similar feel to Dresden Files. Will buy more!

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 15, 2010

Megan rated it:

Our first mention of the Nightside is (in my paperback edition) on page's 10 and 11 where we learn that, "The Nightside is the secret, hidden, dark heart of the city. London's evil twin. It's where the really wild things are."

From that point on, Green continues to write the phrase the Nightside on nearly every single page, often accompanied by a lengthy description of the horrors one will find in the Nightside. For example,

p.12 I considered the matter. How muc More...

5 comments like (10 people liked it)

Oct 01, 2009

Justin rated it:

I liked this book. I enjoyed it for what it was. What it is though, might not be for everyone. Like many others I was pointed to this series because I like Jim Butcher, Butcher himself recommends this series. Something from the Nightside’s main character is John Taylor. John is a private detective with a gift for finding things. He takes a case about a missing girl that forces him to confront his past and enter the Nightside. John Taylor has a serious reputation in the Nightside and he thought h More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 09, 2012

Paul rated it:

by Simon R. Green, published in 2003.

This is the first of a paranormal investigation hard-boiled detective horror series (did I get that right?) by Simon R. Green. And the major action is set, wait for it - in the Nightside.

The Nightside is a hidden dark place at the center of London England where it is always 3:00 AM and is chalk full of nasty monsters and colourful characters. It reminded me a bit of Buffy or Angel with a dash of Lovecraftian horror thrown in for good measu More...

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Jul 08, 2010

Minh rated it:

I have had a grudge against Simon Green for years. It was totally unjustified I'll admit that. I disliked him simply because every time I go to a bookstore I look for Sharon Green. And every time, I see Simon Green. I grew to HATE that name! I only knew it was a guy who wrote SF (or fantasy) and always seemed to be in stock. However, I read a recommendation of his Nightside series, and figured I had to bite the bullet.

The novel is short, but surprisingly brutal. I pretty much love the private ey More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 20, 2009

Anita rated it:

This book is writting like an old-school down-on-his-luck PI mystery, complete with the rich dame that waltzes into the private eye's life desparately seeking his help. There are plenty of bleak monologues, just like you'd expect in that genre. That said, it's a contemporary urban fantasy setting that the author calls the Nightside. The Nightside is like a parallel dimension connected to London through the subway system. All sorts of crazy creatures from various dimensions, times, and planets co More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 22, 2009

Jennifer rated it:

I made it halfway through this book before having to abandon it. I just couldn't get into the story and the characters had me rolling my eyes and impatient to move on to something else.

I have never been a huge fan of hard-boiled detective novels and the cliches of that genre don't appeal to me in the least. Something From The Nightside is very much in the hard-boiled detective frame, only with a fanstasy twist.

I like the idea of the Nightside and that alternate world with More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 19, 2012

Isabel rated it:

Many of the sleek and gleaming vehicles darting through the Nightside had to be new to Joanna; shapes and sizes and even concepts that had never known the light of day; some of them powered from sources best no thought about too much, if you wanted to sleep at night. Taxis that ran on debased holy water, limousines that ran on fresh blood, ambulances that ran on distilled suffering. You can turn a profit from anything, in the Nightside. I had to take Joanna by the arm as she drifted unrealisingl More...

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Oct 16, 2011

Harmonybites rated it:

The very first sentence lets us know we're in the land of noir, that this will be about a "private eye." And boy, within paragraphs we have all the hallmarks. We have the sardonic first person narration of John Taylor--a private investigator complete with grungy low-rent office, bill collectors calling, the expected trench coat, and a beautiful wealthy client, Joanna Barrett, walking in (from the rain of course) asking him to find her missing teenage daughter. I have to tell you, just More...

7 comments like

Sep 06, 2011

Dawn rated it:

This is a story about a man named John Taylor who is a private detective working in modern day London, but John has a gift he can find things, especially in a place called the Nightside. The Nightside is a hidden magical place in London, in this place nothing is what it seems and you can trust no one. John has stayed out of the Nightside for 5 years but a lack of business and a paying client has sent John on a mission to find a missing girl.

Sounds good right, and honestly the book More...

0 comments like

Jun 07, 2011

Zia rated it:

I've had at least the first four books of this series for a long time, courtesy of a high school friend who was just crazy about the books. I hadn't even bothered to remove the plastic cover that keeps it new but one boring summer, I picked Something from the Nightside. And I didn't put it down.

Reading it was easy enough. It was light and thin. But it was just full of imagination. It was fast-paced and never had it got me thinking or saying to myself, 'Move on with it already!'

More...

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May 14, 2011

Barbara rated it:

I'm a big fan of Jim Butcher's wizard/private-eye-in-Chicago series, so I thought I'd give Simon R. Green's Nightside series a try. It seemed to have a similar premise: a man solves clients' cases with a hard-boiled approach and a soupcon of woo-woo powers. Something From the Nightside is the first in the series, and I think I'd have to read more to give Green a fair evaluation. The first one was a little shaky. Green had too many "best if you don't ask/know/think about it" references. More...

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Mar 12, 2011

Krista (One Love) (Critical) rated it:

Creepy, but not as creepy as I was expecting from what others have said! I've never read a book like this before, the whole fantasy P.I. thing, so I wasn't sure what to expect...it's definitely different from anything I've read before, though nothing so original it shocked me. I tend to stray away from books like this because I like books that focus on more than one character, and John was basically the only true character in the whole book. Suzie Shooter shows up for a few seconds, but basicall More...

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Jan 13, 2011

Mike rated it:

I found this book while looking for somthing to keep me entertained untill the next Dresden files book comes out. This is similar and if you enjoy those books you might like this series.

The cons: 1. you will read "in the nightside" after after any sentce, it get reall anoying after a while, like the autor just can give us the bennifit of the doubt that we know where event are taking place. "I scratched my nose, in the night side, du du duuuu", give it a break. a More...

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Dec 11, 2010

Lonestargazer rated it:

I discovered Simon Green's Nightside series via an anthology of short stories including one by Jim Butcher. The protagonist is a detective named John Taylor who has a "gift" for finding things in the darkside, which is effectively a special part of London located in another dimension.
Nightside is an interesting place, with Gods, demons, forgotten gods, aliens, witches and supernatural creatures, elves, and humans. It was set up to be beyond the control or influence of Heaven or H More...

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Dec 01, 2010

Ceil rated it:

If you like fantasy with a dark comic twist, the Nightside novels should be books you will you enjoy. The Nightside is a dark London, peopled with old gods and magic beings. John Taylor is the "hero": a private eye who has a third eye that allows him to find anything, anywhere Of course, when he opens this eye, some things can also find him...things that you don't want to know about.

These novels are short, funny, and action-packed. What I find interesting is who enjoys readin More...

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Nov 05, 2010

Patrick rated it:

Since this is the eightieth review of this book I can surmise that you have probably looked at quite a few other reviews here on Amazon about this introduction to Simon Green's Nightside. A short synopsis of this tale is that London has a diabolical and devious twin that is always shrouded in night and is filled with twisted and perverse magics, wonders beyond recogning and people like John Taylor, a man shrouded in mystery, with a father who was human and a mother who was something else. He has More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 10, 2010

Molly rated it:

This is the first Green novel I have read. Picked it up at half price books, so I don't feel particularly bad about hating it. Or too terribly ripped off.

And I did hate it.
However, I kept reading it hoping that I was missing something.

To me, it seemed like this was the first book (or series) that Green wrote but didn't have it published until after he was established, giving fans more or something.

I got sick of the repeated phrases because, well, I am More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Feb 08, 2010

Melissa rated it:

John Taylor is a private eye with a special Gift - he can find anything. It's a gift that came from his mother who deserted him as a child. Taylor lives in London but he he was born in Nightside a secret side of London that kind of shares the same space as London but is a totally different, magical world. In the Nightside everything is magical, dangerous and enchanting. Taylor left the Nightside five years earlier and swore he would never return but now Joanna Barrett has appeared on his doorste More...

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Feb 08, 2010

Sheila rated it:

Something from the Nightside starts off in London, England, and one of my favorite authors, Jim Butcher, is quoted on the cover, calling the story “thoroughly entertaining." So with England and Harry Dresden to entice me, I had to read.

The opening of Nightside is reminiscent of the old noir detective novels, with hints of paranormal peeping through. The Private Investigator is predictably down on his luck, broke, and struggling to keep creditors from the door. And the client is p More...

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Nov 30, 2009

Bella rated it:

Rambling in the Nightside (3.0 out 5)

“Things aren’t what they seem in the Nightside . . . .” Simon R. Green’s latest work Something from the Nightside constructs an inventive and unusual underworld full of creatures and humans who freely can scare the heck out of you, satisfy your wildest dreams, or both! John Taylor, Green’s main character, is a detective in London in dire need of some income. However, readers soon learn that London is just a place to get away from the dangers of More...

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Sep 19, 2009

Irisheyz77 rated it:

Lately I seem to be picking up books that are part of a series and Something From the Nightside by Simon R. Green is no different. This book introduces the character of John Taylor who is a private detective working in modern day London. John Taylor is no ordinary detective though he is of supernatural origins with a 'gift' of finding things. However, as he tells us repeatedly this gift only works in this mysterious place known as the Nightside.

The Nightside is a secret and hidden pl More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 02, 2008

Cait rated it:

The thing about the Nightside books is that each story has an interesting mystery plot and the series as a whole has an awesome fantasy arc, but far too much of every book is spent on infodumping, in loving detail, all of the fun that the author had worldbuilding. I found I was too jaded to get interested in new settings or characters after the first few books because so few of them are ever seen again, and even the ones that do recur often have only bit parts in later stories.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 04, 2011

Rue rated it:

I picked up Something from the Nightside because I'd been told that it was like Butcher's Dresden Files. There are certainly a few startling similarities, such as <spoiler>the main character's general personality, weakness for strong-but-occasionally-vulnerable women, and mysterious mother, as well as just the basic premise of a down-on-his-luck private consultant who happens to be able to use really powerful magic.</spoiler>

The Nightside is a fascinating place filled wit More...

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Feb 04, 2012

Suzanne rated it:

This was a fun book. I read this without reading the back cover blurb - the title and cover was enough to entice me and I'm glad I read it without knowing what to expect.

This book put me in mind of Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden if he happened to get lost in Gaiman's Neverwhere of London Below. The characters were a motley and funky lot, vivid, scary and amusing,and if anything overly described leaving little to the reader's imagination. The world of Nightside was also vividly brought to More...

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Jun 29, 2011

Brendan rated it:

John Taylor was born in the Nightside, the secret dark side of London where awful things live and awful stuff happens. He has magical powers of badassery, including the ability to find anything that's gone missing. When a beautiful dame walks into his private detective agency, well, you get the picture.

Something from the Nightside is a fine adventure story with lots of P.I. bravado and magical jimcrackery. It's also cut from a very similar cloth as a variety of other books that More...

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