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A Hard Day's Knight (Nightside #11)

4.09 of 5 stars 4.09 · rating details · 2,849 ratings · 124 reviews

John Taylor, P.I., has come into possession of the legendary Excalibur. To find out why, he'll have to consult the Last Defenders of Camelot, a group of knights who dwell in a place more frightening than the Nightside: London. John has been there in years-and there are good reasons for that...

ebook, 304 pages

Published January 4th 2011 by Ace Books (first published December 3rd 2010)

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Jan 19, 2012 Colleen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy, whodunit-supernatural

I'm going with 3 stars on this one as a sort of average rating.

My biggest issue with this installment is that it's lacking some of the wit and humor and general cleverness* of some of the better installments and, also - and this is the biggest issue - that John has just gotten too powerful. Between his Sight and his gift and his heritage, and the fact that he always has some uber-powerful weapon that he needs for the current crises, there's just not that much in the way of suspense or tension a...more

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Sep 29, 2011 Kathy Davie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, urban, young-adult

Eleventh in the Nightside urban fantasy series taking place in a neighborhood not near you…thank the gods for that!

The Story
Excalibur has shown up on John Taylor's doorstep and…sh-t…destiny beckons…again. It's never good when destiny shows up and demands a response and Suzie Shooter is quick to encourage John to throw the thing out.

Naturally, nothing is ever easy in the Nightside and Julian Advent is quick to grab John before he can head off to London proper. After all, it is John's fault that t...more

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Jun 07, 2011 Bookmole rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-2011

I really must stop reading whole series in one complete gulp of readiness. Given I am just finishing up the Meredith Gentry series, this may be hard for me to do - there's something about not having to wait for the next book that makes series reading very enjoyable.

However, there is a downside.

And Simon Green ably demonstrated just what that downside is in his Nightside series.

Repetition, folks. So, so noticeable when you read one book straight after the other.

Really - if we haven't read all the...more

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May 03, 2011 Savion rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The night side is the night side inside the night side....Boo

Thank you once again, Simon R. Green for making me dislike your book.

Here's the reason's why.

First, I will never understand, how books like this get published and pass the his editor's table with error's that are clearly visible.like seeing name of the main character being writing down a billion times in a span of a few paragraphs(Like the reader's was dumb enough to forget his name ready? nope)and there are part's in the previous book...more

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Mar 21, 2011 Dark rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As with all the previous Nightside books, this one has a clever titles with a pun. Nice introduction that tells the reader what they need to know before reading the next book in the series; orients new readers well.

For those who haven’t read the series, John Taylor, the main character, is a supernatural private investigator/detective who works in an area of London called The Nightside, which is basically a parallel universe that exists alongside the real version of London. His power is the abil...more

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Jan 23, 2011 Shelly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, nightside

The most recent release from the Nightside series, Green doesn't disappoint with this book. The book before this; The Good, The Bad and the Uncanny, failed to impress me. However, with A Hard Day's Knight, Green has completely ensnared me in this series again. Excalibur has come to the Nightside- to John Taylor. John has to deal with his new found position of power within the Nightside, he also has to contend with an impending Elvish civil war.

Suzie is heavily present in this story, and she as...more

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Jan 04, 2011 Alexey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, story-driven

One thing to say about Simon Green is he always could write epic stories with Humanity's fate at stake and it actually feeling real. Mostly due to the bigger than life characters which all have their own good sides and bad sides and not just cardboard archetypes.

I liked the book, I actually finished the book in 3 hours, which does say something but I can't say it's the best in the series. The book is tightly packed with action but my feeling is that in recent books it's all about the plot rathe...more

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Jul 24, 2011 lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

i think this is the best nightside book in a while. it's not that i didn't like the good, the bad and the uncanny, but this book was much more cohesive in its overall delivery of the plot as well as the development of the peripheral characters as well as the further development of john taylor and suzie shooter. perhaps the weakest part of this book is the part that is previewed by the synopsis--that john has to return to London Proper after leaving there five years ago (i also think this is the...more i think this is the best nightside book in a while. it's not that i didn't like the good, the bad and the uncanny, but this book was much more cohesive in its overall delivery of the plot as well as the development of the peripheral characters as well as the further development of john taylor and suzie shooter. perhaps the weakest part of this book is the part that is previewed by the synopsis--that john has to return to London Proper after leaving there five years ago (i also think this is the first time in a while that green has dated how long it's been since john's return to the nightside, but i'm not sure). anyway, i think the moral of that part of the story is...john made the right decision in returning to the nightside and i don't know, perhaps that is also supposed to be saying something about his decision to become the new Walker and Voice of the Authorities. whereas the good, the bad, and the uncanny felt very much like a transitional novel, this book really moves the story of the nightside and john taylor forward, and i appreciate that as a fan of this series. i usually consume these books in two or three days, and again, the last three or four books haven't been the best in the series and so i have read them a bit more quickly possibly to just get through them, but i kept reading this book because i really wanted to see what would happen next. i was definitely more involved and invested in this book. also, i haven't been reading the Drood/Secret Histories series, but for those people who have been, there are several references to the Droods that would probably be fun for fans of both series.

oh, and by the way--i don't know if i'm just hyper-aware of this because i was reading this book during SD Comic-Con 2011 where Doctor Who had a panel, but there seemed to be a lot of Doctor Who references in this book. At one point he talks about a club being bigger on the inside than the outside, he mentions Space and Time, and John even points out to Suzie that the watch he inherited from Walker is a Portable Timeslip but that it's not a TARDIS. i don't know. i love Doctor Who and it's apparent to me that if green doesn't love it too, then he's definitely exploited it in his own fiction to please readers who are fans.

anyway, good book, and i'm looking forward to the next and hope it's as good as this one. (less)

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Dec 27, 2011 David rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved the book and look forward to each new addition to the series. It's amazing to think about the length of the series and how the characters continue to change and yet remain familiar and true to form. This series is a wonderful departure from the Wheel of Time / Song of Ice and Fire trend in fantasy where you need a thousand pages to get to the point.

In this book John Taylor get's Excalibur delivered to him in the mail and typical Simon R. Green adventure ensues. Shotgun Susie accompanies...more

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Nov 10, 2011 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Welcome back to the Nightside...

And we're back to everyone's favorite underside of London, where it's always three in the morning and love is always available -for a price. This time around, though, the stakes are higher and the characters are wilder.

At the end of the last novel, The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny, the Nightside was left without The Authorities, and our favorite private investigator, John Taylor, is left in charge of the Nightside. He's not alone though, along with his girlfrien...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Krycek rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy-paranormal-whatever, series-out-of-order

I had been wanting to check out this series for some time. As I tend to do, I grabbed this one out of order. I saw it at the library and it was an impulse grab. Sometimes it doesn't matter in what order I start a series. I don't think it should. Good stories should be able to be enjoyed independently, but some stories rely on knowledge of previous events. Even though this is the 11th book in the series I didn't have any problem with getting a grasp of the setting. But still, I should have starte...more I had been wanting to check out this series for some time. As I tend to do, I grabbed this one out of order. I saw it at the library and it was an impulse grab. Sometimes it doesn't matter in what order I start a series. I don't think it should. Good stories should be able to be enjoyed independently, but some stories rely on knowledge of previous events. Even though this is the 11th book in the series I didn't have any problem with getting a grasp of the setting. But still, I should have started at the beginning, book one. I'll get to why in a bit.

John Taylor, a PI residing in a London "pocket universe" called the "Nightside," finds himself the recipient of the legendary sword Excalibur. Now he and his leather-clad shotgun toting girlfriend Suzie have to figure out what the heck to do with it. Meanwhile, from the events occurring in previous books, Taylor has become the new top dog in the Nightside, so he has quite a lot of new power to manage.

So it's a promising start. Unfortunately, that's pretty much it for me. After about midway through the book I was mostly reading on autopilot-- and I get the feeling the author was writing on autopilot. And this is why I think I should have started with the earlier books. After ten volumes in the series I got the feeling that Green was losing steam in this one. Now, I can't verify that until I read some of the others, but that was my impression. The plot felt a little meandering. The witty repartee and comedy I mostly found tedious. And there were episodes in the plot that gave me déjà vu feelings, like this event, or something similar, had just happened a hundred pages before. There were also instances in which it seemed like the author just pulled something out of his ass to save Taylor (like when Taylor pulled flashbang grenades out of his trenchcoat pocket to use against some thugs. Does he normally carry them around? Maybe, but it seemed contrived). By the time I got to the end I was underwhelmed and a little disappointed.

But it's not all bad, really. Simon Green seems to have a knack for creating macabre and fantastic imagery. And there were instances when the humor succeeded. (For some reason I laughed aloud when King Arthur said, "The Nightside? What the hell am I doing in that disgraceful shit hole?"). This novel hasn't turned me off. I still want to check out the first one. And those who are already fans, I'm sure, will get a kick out of this one. But it is not a good introduction to the series and just passable as a stand-alone novel. Like I said, though, it hasn't discouraged me from the others. It's just that this one felt to me like Green was just going through the motions.(less)

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Mar 18, 2011 Robert Stadnik rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I've read all eleven books in the Nightside series and enjoyed the first few books. But as I read the next book in the series, I couldn't help but feel I was reading the same book over again, but I put that notion out of my mind as I was committed to reading this series. But my dissatisfaction with the repetitive writing grew. Book #11 was such a rehash of the previous books I could barely finish it. For those who have read the series from the start get the same message hammered into them: John...more

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Feb 13, 2011 Traci rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Welcome to the Nightside. For those foolish enough to seek it out, it's a literal tourist trap, populated by beings, human and otherwise, who have never seen the sun rise. A place where your dreams can come true - as long as your nightmares don't get you first. My name is John Taylor. I'm a PI with a special talent for finding lost things. Which was more than enough for me - until recently, when fate offered me a job that I couldn't refuse. So now I'm the new Voice of the Authorities, who run th...more Welcome to the Nightside. For those foolish enough to seek it out, it's a literal tourist trap, populated by beings, human and otherwise, who have never seen the sun rise. A place where your dreams can come true - as long as your nightmares don't get you first. My name is John Taylor. I'm a PI with a special talent for finding lost things. Which was more than enough for me - until recently, when fate offered me a job that I couldn't refuse. So now I'm the new Voice of the Authorities, who run the Nightside. And I'm also the reluctant owner of a very special - and dangerous - weapon: Excalibur, the legendary sword (which isn't what you think it is, and never was). Excalibur chose me, and no-one knows why. To find out, I'll have to consult the last defenders of Camelot, a group of knights who dwell in a place that some find more frightening than the Nightside. London Proper. It's been years since I've been back - and there are good reasons for that...

Just like Taylor says, things aren't what they seem to be. For example, this 12th installment of his popular Nightside series. I thought the majority of the action was going to take place in "London Proper", which would have made it a very interesting read indeed; the infamous John Taylor would have had to play it cool so as not to draw attention to himself in the world of us mere mortals. He does go to London, but only for a very brief chapter or so, then it's right back into the Nightside.

Most of the usual gang is here, including John's girlfriend, Suzie Shooter, aka "Oh Christ It's Her, Run". Alex, barkeep and owner of Strangefellows, is also on the scene, as is Julien Advent and a few others. It's like visiting old friends, and of course, we meet new ones, namely the London Knights (who aren't really new as they've appeared before, but we learn a lot more about them this time). Then there's the man himself, King Arthur; that was truly a treat for me, being a huge fan of all things Arthurian back in the day. There are nasty elves, too, and of course, lots of fighting.

I thought this book was much like the others in Green's series: a good, solid read. The Nightside books are short and cover familiar ground each time, with John getting himself into trouble and relying on his friends to help him save the day. And while I like the relationship he has with Suzie, the end of this book gives one quite the shock, taking that pairing into territory I'm not entirely sure I'm ready to enter. Guess I'll just have to wait for the next book and see what happens. The Nightside is a fun place to visit, and I'm glad that Green writes about it. But I'm with Taylor - I don't think mere mortals such as I were meant to stay. (less)

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Mar 18, 2012 Mike rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Wait. You've got principles? We'll have to update your file."

A Hard Day's Knight is the penultimate book in Simon R. Green's Nightside series.

John Taylor has once again been "blessed" with a duty he'd rather leave to someone else. Actually this time there's two: possession of the legendary sword Excalibur and a new job thrust upon him due to the events in The Good, The Bad and The Uncanny. To accomplish one (and momentarily skirt the other) John will return to London proper for the first time...more

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Mar 28, 2012 Dana rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A Hard Day's Knight is not for everyone. I never thought I would read a book that was so fantastical that I didn't like it. This book went to the extreme in almost everything and the entire time, I was very aware that I was reading a story as opposed to getting lost in the plot. It was over done in every chapter, there was no suspense or intrigue, and the comedy just wasn't to my taste. Now for some people, I'm sure this is the perfect novel, but it was lacking any sort of wit that I tend to enj...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Darth Sparhawk rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The best Nightside novel after book six and I am curious that it is not the last - it looked that way from the final chapter. It is a well-written and surprisingly beautiful story, considering the bloody battles, which, as always, happen very often in the Nightside. John Taylor, the (in)famous PI and current Walker receives an expected, but scary gift - the legendary sword known as Escalibur. In order to learn what to do with it, he has to go to the Knights, descended from the Heroes of the Roun...more

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May 12, 2013 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Book 11 and this series is finally drawing to a close, this is one of the better of Simon R Greens nightside stories, and is suitably in the process of tying up several loose ends, John Taylor has come into the possession of Excalibur, the legendary sword of King Arthur, and he has no idea what to do with it, this leads to a trip to try find out why its been given to him, and of course includes several people trying to take it for themselves, this nicely leads into some of the story surrounding...more

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Mar 01, 2011 jD rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1_library-yes, different-and-strange, fantasy_sf, series_paranormal, 2011-read, 2011_5-stars

Simon Green writes an entertaining book. I love both the Nightside and the Drood family series. His wit is quick and his stories move at breakneck speed. John Taylor is one of my favorite characters in science fiction, yes, I consider him and Harry Dresden Science Fiction. Green, like Butcher, have fun with their characters and the lives of those around them. Sure there is death and destruction but we have so much fun watching it all happen.

I can't recall ever feeling let down by any Nightside s...more

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May 04, 2013 Wickedshizuku rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Paranormal fans, Sci-fi fans, UF fans, Horror fans

Recommended to Wickedshizuku by: Goodreads

Shelves: 2013, paranormal, reviewed

I was consistently distracted and bored to tears with this one. Now don't get me wrong this series is fantastic in an uber sick way. This installment seemed forced yet necessary for the continuing plot. I was fairly amused with the door mouse in this story. I'm happy that his character appeared in the series again.
I am starting to miss John Taylor taking on alternating partners; instead he's taking Suzy Shooter along for most of his cases. One thing that I certainly was expecting that John was...more

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Aug 24, 2012 Meg rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: noir-fusion

A Hard Day's Knight
OR
My Sword Is Bigger Than Yours

Lots of playing with King Arthur mythos in this one, in a very refreshing way. I'm always cautious with King Arthur stories, it's not a mythology I'm very comfortable with. But this one played with it in a number of ways that were fun and made the characters feel alive to me.

You can really feel the series winding down in this book, though. There's a lot of wrap up that gets shoved into this book. Don't really like how Suzie and John's relationsh...more

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Feb 13, 2011 Karissa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is the 11th book in the Nightside series by Green; last I heard there are thirteen books planned for this series. This book picks up just moments where the last left off and plunges us into a wonderful new Nightside mystery that is more epic than the last couple books and more, like novels mid-series.

John Taylor and Shotgun Suzie discover that the sword-like package that showed up at the end of book 10 is indeed Excaliber and it is here for a purpose. If only John knew what that purpose was...more This is the 11th book in the Nightside series by Green; last I heard there are thirteen books planned for this series. This book picks up just moments where the last left off and plunges us into a wonderful new Nightside mystery that is more epic than the last couple books and more, like novels mid-series.

John Taylor and Shotgun Suzie discover that the sword-like package that showed up at the end of book 10 is indeed Excaliber and it is here for a purpose. If only John knew what that purpose was. Now John has to journey out of the Nightside to London Proper to visit the London Knights in hopes that they will have some insight into what the sword's return means.

This was another great Nightside novel and it gets up back more to the style of the books mid-way through the series. We are back to a more epic storyline, where John is helping to save the Nightside (and maybe the whole world) from certain destruction. We get a lot of page space with John and Suzie, which was wonderful.

The main characters dealt with in this novel focus around the London Knights so they are not as quirky as some of John's sidekicks in previous novels, this is balanced by the fact that Suzie is featured throughout the book. Many events in earlier books are tied in with this book. There is a lot of action and a lot of things going on. I enjoyed the evil alternate Earth with the evil Knights of the Round Table and the inclusion of the Arthurian legend throughout. A lot of events surrounding the Elves are dealt with and the Droods from Green's Secret Histories series are mentioned a few times in passing.

I did miss some of my old favorite characters. Razor Eddie never shows, and neither do many of the other big players in the Nightside. They are mentioned in passing, but never given more page space then that.

The book ends well and with a rather large surprise. It really makes me look forward to the next book in this series. The plot is engaging and the book moves at a fast paced, those familiar with this series will find it is similar in writing style to previous Nightside books.

Overall a very satisfying addition to the series, fans of the Nightside won't be disappointed. I was happy that Green went back to a more epic storyline and that John and Suzie get so much page space. I was a little disappointed that we didn't see more of our other favorite characters, but was happy with how the storyline included a lot of Arthurian legend throughout. There are surprises in this book and I am excited to see what the next Nightside novel brings. (less)

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Jan 29, 2012 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy

Another great story from Simon Green, very fun to read and i was able to knock it off in a couple of days. Not that the book was short but rather that I could get so caught up in the story and didn't want to stop. Besides the main story Green has also thrown in quick looks at past stories from his previous books, all the way back to his first book. John Taylor draws upon these memories as part of this story in a very nice way, the reader gets to see how all of his past experiences have made him...more

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Oct 15, 2012 Jessa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

This is the 11th book in the Nightside and just when we thought things couldn't get any crazier John Taylor finds himself in possesion of the legendary sword Excalibur. The only thing left to do is find out why and the only way to do that is to search out the London Knights of Camelot, in London proper.

This was one of the darkest books in the series for me and while some of the descriptions were hard to read, I really enjoyed it. This is the books where we see alot of threads from throughout the...more

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Jun 13, 2013 Isabel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“Hello, London Knights. I’m John Taylor. From the Nightside. I need to talk to you concerning something that’s a lot more in your line of work than mine. If it helps, Julien Advent vouches for me. If it doesn’t, I never met the man. Look, this really is something you want to know about. It’s Arthurian as all hell, and the words deep shit and approaching fan should be taken into consideration.”
Still nothing. Arrogant bunch of pricks. I was considering the soothing properties of giving the wall a...more “Hello, London Knights. I’m John Taylor. From the Nightside. I need to talk to you concerning something that’s a lot more in your line of work than mine. If it helps, Julien Advent vouches for me. If it doesn’t, I never met the man. Look, this really is something you want to know about. It’s Arthurian as all hell, and the words deep shit and approaching fan should be taken into consideration.”
Still nothing. Arrogant bunch of pricks. I was considering the soothing properties of giving the wall another good hard kick when, almost without realising it, my hand rose and took a firm hold on the invisible hilt rising behind my shoulder. And the moment my bare flesh made contact with the ancient bone ... old, old words came to me.
“I bear Excalibur, the Sword of Morning, the Hand of Albion. In the name of the Lady who has granted me her power, and in the name of the man who last wielded it, the once-and-future King, I demand audience with the last defenders of Camelot.”

After a suspiciously sword-shaped parcel is delivered to his house, somehow bypassing the extremely thorough (not to say lethal) security system, John Taylor finds himself in possession of Excalibur, much to his surprise. As Merlin's death means that there is no-one left in the Nightside who can tell him what he is supposed to do with it, and Julien Advent suggests that he should leave the Nightside and go to London Proper to seek the advice of the London Knights, the spiritual descendents of the Knights of the Round Table. , where he meets someone he last met when he time-travelled 1500 years into the past in search of the origins of the Nightside.

John Taylor and Suzie Shooter find themselves in the midst of an Arthurian adventure featuring Excalibur, Knights in armour, a civil war between the elves of two rival Unseelie Courts and the Merlin Satanspawn from a parallel world known as Sinister Albion, who has made his world a hell on Earth and intends to do the same to the Nightside. I liked the story a lot and would say that this is one of the most exciting books in the series.(less)

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Mar 24, 2012 Carly rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: detective-hb-noir, world-within-world, urban-fantasy, muf

I had this recommended to me as a story similar to Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, but personally, I found the story somewhat disappointing. The world was fun and imaginative and the concept was engaging, but I couldn't relate to characters and found it simply impossible to suspend enough disbelief to get into the plot.

John Taylor, from the Nightside, is the hero.
You can tell.
He has a magic sword and he wears a white trenchcoat.
So what if he kills tons of people with no remorse in the first 30...more I had this recommended to me as a story similar to Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, but personally, I found the story somewhat disappointing. The world was fun and imaginative and the concept was engaging, but I couldn't relate to characters and found it simply impossible to suspend enough disbelief to get into the plot.

John Taylor, from the Nightside, is the hero.
You can tell.
He has a magic sword and he wears a white trenchcoat.
So what if he kills tons of people with no remorse in the first 30 pages and decides to use their bodies to grow fruit trees?
White duster.
Magic sword.
Seriously worthy good guy, clearly.

Although I was constantly told John and his homicidal honeybun, Susie Shooter, were the good guys, from the first few pages, where he gets hundreds of people murdered in his front yard (he has landmines buried there), I lost my ability to empathize with him. It seems to me that in hunting the monsters, Taylor has become one, writing his own rulebook and enforcing it with blood. This is a book late in the series, after John has apparently undergone character development. Although it's possible he started out with more humanity, I rather doubt it. When Taylor runs into old acquaintances, they pretty universally want to murder him. I can sympathize. My issue with him is not that he is an antihero, but that he seems to to totally lack introspection. Might seems to make right in both the world and the protagonist's moral compass. When the characters show no humanity and let others die without a second thought, why should I care about them?

Since our good guy murders without compunction, our bad guys have to outdo him by (literally) bathing in blood, decorating their castles with flayed human bodies, running around stark naked with only blood and gore to cover them, threatening to destroy the world for fun, etc. I'm a wimp when it comes to gore, so I found the pages and pages of lovingly detailed descriptions of these atrocities absolutely repulsive and unreadable. Unfortunately, my disgust probably carried over in my evaluation of the characters. I found them unconvincing, from the knight who switches back and forth between fighting for God to making deals with the antichrist to the cheerful baddies who destroy universes for the giggles. I felt the story lacked subtlety and character development and could muster neither sympathy nor curiosity for the fate of the world. Part of the problem came from the ease with which Taylor defeated his opponents. Taylor is a complete badass and who can defeat any opponent without any trouble (although, unfortunately for my psyche, not without a great deal of graphically described mess). No villain lasts more than 30 pages after the first mention of them, and no battle is even particularly tough for him. Taylor takes on (and takes out) a couple of antichrists in the space of thirty pages. His opponents were simply too easy for him to defeat for the story to hold my interest.

The world itself is quite entertaining and engaging. Basically, the Nightside is Terry Pratchett's Ankh Morpork on steroids. And maybe LSD. It's a mishmash of every sci-fi and fantasy trope out there, thrown together in a crass, crazy, urban maelstrom. The descriptions are fun and relatively creative, and although I'll pass on the "variety bar" where the vampire waiters eat the customers, I would absolutely love a bonsai dinosaur.

Overall, I think my stomach was simply not strong enough for the series and my tastes were ill-fitted to the story. I felt that John Taylor, rather than being complex and sympathetic, was simply an action hero superman who ran around killing anyone who disagreed with him. Rather than messing around with all that soppy stuff like character development and moral ambiguity, the story tended to focus on bloodbaths, battle, and constant action. Perhaps I simply chose the wrong story in the series to try, but I think that I'll keep my fictional rambles out of the Nightside.(less)

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Jun 30, 2012 Grete added it · review of another edition

Shelves: tony-read-reviewed, no-longer-owned

Review originally published at http://www.bookthing.co.uk

This review contains spoilers for the series, but not really for this particular book.

The eleventh, and apparently, penultimate Nightside book, A Hard Day’s Knight finally sees a return to form for both Simon R. Green and John Taylor.

One of my complaints about the last two Nightside books, is that Simon R. Green insisted on describing Nightside locations over and over again, that we’d already seen a hundred times. I felt that John Taylor n...more Review originally published at http://www.bookthing.co.uk

This review contains spoilers for the series, but not really for this particular book.

The eleventh, and apparently, penultimate Nightside book, A Hard Day’s Knight finally sees a return to form for both Simon R. Green and John Taylor.

One of my complaints about the last two Nightside books, is that Simon R. Green insisted on describing Nightside locations over and over again, that we’d already seen a hundred times. I felt that John Taylor needed to get out of the Nightside for a time, for both his benefit and ours as readers. In A Hard Day’s Knight, he does just that, visiting London Proper and alternate realities and worlds, and it absolutely gives us a breath of fresh air.

Excalibur has come to the Nightside, John Taylor isn’t worthy but for now, he’s wielding the Sword that isn’t a Sword and Never Was and woe betide anyone who gets in his way. The inhabitants of Sinister Albion want the sword and the death of everyone in the Nightside, the Elves are edging closer to a civil war that threatens all of life on our Earth, and John Taylor is Walker (it’s a job title you see, not a name). The book sets off with a reasonably relentless pace and a sense of humour we’ve not really had for some time. We pick up the story exactly where book 10 left off, and Simon gives us a brilliant domestic scene with John and Suzie that really shows how far they’ve come.

The characters are all interesting, London Proper is good, the London Knights are engaging and we meet a few old friends along the way. Sinister Albion is terrible and cruel and inhumane, and provides a grim backdrop to more development for John and Suzie’s relationship. Nothing is wasted, nothing feels like padding. There are still some minor continuity issues that are hangovers from the last two books (how exactly does John come to have Walker’s watch, baring in mind how Walker died), but they are truly dwarfed by the action, the prose and the dialog.

I was moved emotionally several times throughout the story and at times I felt that there was genuine peril. It’s clearly too far gone in the series to kill John, but perhaps you never know, and I did wonder if Green would rip out his heart by killing off Suzie.

It’s pulpy, lightweight stuff, no more or less than you would expect from the previous good Nightside books, but it’s well written, well paced and it delivers at all the right moments. This is the book I had been waiting for. John is finally himself, powerful and angry, but with a sense of honour and his love for Suzie is clear. I feel the loss of Walker as a reader, but John fills up that space as well. The Nightside is a minor character, not taking over the story as in previous books. The other supporting characters aren’t exactly deep, but they are interesting, dialog is good, and we see lots of old threads coming back into focus, which is always something I enjoy.

If you’ve enjoyed any of the previous series, you should definitely pick this up. After all, who can resist King Arthur, Excalibur, Golden Elves and an Evil so sinister it doesn’t need to wear any clothes. A Hard Day’s Knight finally delivers the kind of Nightside story the material and Green are capable of. It’s heroic, noble, despicable, detestable, kind, funny and cruel in spades. John Taylor wades through fields of mud and blood to fight an evil that deserves no less than death, looking for a sword he is not worthy to wield so that he can ultimately save the Nightside. That’s a little like how it felt reading books 9 and 10 to be honest. But we both made it, and here we are, near the end of all things, enriched and better for the experience. The pay-off was worth it.

I’m looking forward to the final instalment, hopeful that we get the Green that wrote A Hard Day’s Knight, and not the guy who put out Just Another Judgement Day and The Good, the Bad, and the Uncanny.(less)

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Mar 05, 2012 Mike rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-books, horror, urban-fantasy, reviewed

Simon Green's Nightside series is a fun sometimes graphic ride through the darker side of city life. In a city where everything imaginable is for sale, you really have to read the fine print and watch your bottom line. Here P.I. and offspring of an immortal abstract being, John Taylor makes his home with a wonderful woman, who's liable to shoot first and not really bother with questions at all. And what should he find in the mail one day...Excalibur...yes, that one...John didn't have to pull it...more Simon Green's Nightside series is a fun sometimes graphic ride through the darker side of city life. In a city where everything imaginable is for sale, you really have to read the fine print and watch your bottom line. Here P.I. and offspring of an immortal abstract being, John Taylor makes his home with a wonderful woman, who's liable to shoot first and not really bother with questions at all. And what should he find in the mail one day...Excalibur...yes, that one...John didn't have to pull it out of a stone or get it from a petite in a pond. He just noticed a brown paper parcel out by the mailbox.
John's job is simple, give it to Arthur, yes, that one...King of the Britons. The only wrinkle is: No one knows where Arthur is. Even the London Knights, and order founded to maintain the dream of Camelot. Oh, of course, every would be world dictator is also looking for it and nothing in the Nightside is ever that simple.
The Nightside books often examine the line between good & evil. This book is no different. John is tasked with giving the sword Excalibur to King Arthur, of course that would require finding him. So John goes to the one group of people likely to know. They claim to uphold the dream of Camelot, of justice for all, highborn or low, but do they? Are they as righteous as they claim? Could they be? Could anyone be? I'll let you decide.
Something in the books that gets me every time is John Taylor's adamant assertion that he is one of the monsters. I'm sure that he feels that way because he's made some mistakes. But my point is that we all have. Some pretty bad ones. OK, so most of our mistakes won't probably lead to the end of all life on earth, but that doesn't make them any less earth shattering. What about that boyfriend or girlfriend we treated poorly, lying, cheating or manipulating. What about co-workers, friends, family? We all do things we aren't proud of and that hurt others especially the ones we love, but does that make us monsters? No, that makes us flawed and imperfect, but not monsters. Recognizing our flaws and working on removing them is what people do. Monsters are the ones who don't care about who gets stepped on, who gets hurt.(less)

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Jan 13, 2011 Oflo rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This latest installment in the detective-urban fantasy-noir series leads John Taylor straight towards the ever popular British myth/legend of Excalibur and Arthur. Not one of my personal favorites but Green manages to cap it with his usual darkly humorous flair.

I appreciated the action but it's begun to give me pause. In each story there is ENDLESS action and Taylor never gets a break or a pause. There is NO downtime or mention of downtime. It feels like this series has been on a wild bender for...more

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Mar 08, 2011 Eric Moreno rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, twistedfiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 29, 2011 Patrick rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

So I love this series, but I wasn't wild about "A Hard Day's Night". There were some interesting parts in the book, but the story seemed forced in some parts and the ending left me a bit bored.
Things I did like:
Instead of the first chapter reviewing the basic premise of the book in case a new reader jumps in at #10, there was a 1 page Thing you should know by now summary. Nice touch. By now we know all the details and most people don't start on the newest book in a series.
The concept was cool.
Th...more

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About Simon R. Green

Simon Richard Green is a British science fiction and fantasy-author. He holds a degree in Modern English and American Literature from the University of Leicester. His first publication was in 1979.

His Deathstalker series is partly a parody of the usual space-opera of the 1950s, told with sovereign disregard of the rules of probability, while being at the same time extremely bloodthirsty.

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Books by Simon R. Green

Something from the Nightside (Nightside, #1)

Agents of Light and Darkness (Nightside, #2)

Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth (Nightside, #6)

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A Hard Day's Knight (Nightside #11)

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