Nightside Series Books 1 & 2 Review

Something from the Nightside and Agents of Light and Darkness are the first two books in the Nightside series by British author, Simon R. Green. The books were published by Ace in 2003 and are collected in an omnibus edition in the UK called Into the Nightside from Solaris Books. The best way to describe these books would be a bit of a mixture of Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden set in Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere.

The Nightside series follows private investigator, John Taylor, as he takes on and solves cases in a hidden dark inner city part of London called Nightside. The Nightside mixes past and future with the strange and fantastical. It is possible to run into vampires, werewolves, sorcerers and aliens in the Nightside. The baser instincts are indulged there and you always have to watch your back. To help, most everyone in the Nightside has an ability.

John Taylor’s ability is that he can find anything. He uses this skill as a private investigator to locate missing items for his clients. The skill, when used, appears as a special power that John taps into to find what he is seeking. In Something from the Nightside, John is searching for a woman’s missing daughter. In Agents of Light and Darkness, he is looking for a mystical chalice. 

Throughout both of these books, the reader follows John as he moves through the Nightside running into friends and enemies from his past as he tries to solve the case he is working. The books are enjoyable and for me, combined some elements of stories I have liked in the past in a somewhat new way. As we follow John, he relies on his ability and resourcefulness as well as support from several of his friends to get the job done. The characters John works with are interesting, like one friend, a bounty hunter named Suzie Shooter. She likes to shoot things with shotguns.

As I read the first two Nightside books, I noticed several similarities between John Taylor and Harry Dresden. I also liked the setting of a hidden area within London that you might fall into if you made a wrong turn while taking the train. However, some of the elements seemed a little rushed and would have been nice to have them unfold with a slightly slower pace to build suspense. Additionally, a couple of the plot elements were clear very early on, which made their pay-off when revealed a little less satisfying than they could have been. That is likely due to these being the first two books in the series and I expect the intricacy of the story and characters to develop as the series continues.

In the end, I give the first two books of the Nightside series 3 Mick Happies each. They are a fun read, familiar if you like urban fantasy and combine several elements of the genre in unique ways. I read them books on the iBooks app and can recommend them in that format as well. If you happen to pick one of these books up, enjoy your trip to the Nightside.