RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Media What Are You Reading?

Agents of Light and Darkness by Simon R. Green: He seemed cool at the con I went to, so I picked up this book, in hopes of getting into the series. It was decent, with a lot of interesting concepts and ideas, but the actual narrative left something to be desired. As far as I'm concerned, he committed three major sins:

1) Needless exposition. At random times, he'd offer insights into supporting characters that either weren't necessary or weren't wanted. Example of the former: one character, Suzy Shotgun, goes into a long history of her sexual abuse to explain a dream she had and her hatred of being touched by men. If this was done during a quieter time, I'd be fine. But it comes during an action scene, so all I wanted was for the story to move along. Example of the latter: the character who is in possession of the "Unholy Grail" goes to lengths to explain why he isn't a snivelling shit but, rather, is a misunderstood and lonely collector (think comic book geek amped to 11). I don't like the character, I'm unsympathetic towards him, and I just want to get to the upcoming "final battle" at this point. The explanation for why he went on this rant is lame, too.

2) Deus Ex Machina: Characters are randomly introduced specifically to die for or help out the main character, then disappear. I hate that. It's lazy writing.

3) Beating A Dead Horse: The last line of dialogue from the novel sums up my point: "But, please, don't come back. You guys are just too disturbing. Even for the Nightside." The Nightside is where this novel takes place. It's a section of London where it's always 3am, weird creatures live, and weird things happen. And the reader gets bludgeoned with this info. The Nightside - no mortal could ever visit. The Nightside - where demons and vampires and other creatures dwell. The Nightside - a darker section of the Twilight Zone. The Nightside - where Nowhereman and LLance can consummate their love. You get the idea the first couple of times you read it and, by the halfway point, you wanna scream "OKAY! I GET IT! THE NIGHTSIDE IS A SCARY WEIRD PLACE! SHUT UP ALREADY!!!" And it happens in other places, with other topics, like the main character's mother.

Of course, it didn't help that I figured out who the mysterious client is the moment he was introduced. I'll try a second novel, just to see if he hits his stride. I want to like this series. But we'll see.