[Review] Paths Not Taken by Simon R Green

Paths Not Taken
Nightside #5
Simon R. Green
August 30th, 2005
Ace
262 pages

Amazon/Book Depository/B&N

John Taylor just discovered his long-gone mother created the Nightside—the dark heart of London—and intends to destroy it. To save his birthplace, he will have to travel back through a very distant—and probably deadly—past.

"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 of my long-gone mother. Turns out she's a being who's been around since before the 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...."

 


Chris here again with the fifth book in the Nightside series, Paths Not Taken.

This time our intrepid hero is facing one of the most powerful individuals in the Nightside. He's begging a favor from Old Father Time, a being who is the very concept of time and controls it as easily as you would set your watch. His request of the great man? He wants to go back to the origin of the Nightside and see its creation.

Old Father Time agrees to this request and does send him back in time, but things aren't as easy as that for our heroes. John Taylor, Tommy Oblivion, and of course, everyone's favorite, Shotgun Susie, find their trip interfered with and they have to hop backwards, making stops at various events in the history of the Nightside. And in doing so, they ensure the present they know comes to pass.

Simon R. Green continues to bring his unique sense of humor to the pages of his books as his characters face down powers and dominations across the span of history. I found myself routing for them as they faced life and death challenges and laughed at the jokes despite the time they were told in. The pace of the book was about the same as the others in the series, nice and steady.

Over all I've got to give this little tale a 4 out of 5 laser pistols, it's out of this world.