8. The Drawing of the Dark - Tim Powers

First published in 1979, The Drawing of the Dark is one of Tim Powers earliest works and his first entry in the Fantasy genre.  The novel takes place in Vienna in the early 1500's.  Brian Duffy is a soldier of fortune, who after a confrontation along a venice canal with 3 swordsman, is offered a job as a bouncer at the legendary Herzwestern brewery.  It's an improbable start to a fresh take on the Fisher King legend.  Duffy finds himself protecting the leader of the western world against a siege of Vienna from Suleiman 1st, leader of the Turkish Ottoman empire.  Plenty of sword fighting, along with vikings, Swiss mercenaries, and of course lots of beer! 

If you've read Tim Powers before you'll recogonize many of his familiar themes, especially his tendency to keep you a bit confused in the beginning as snippets of remembrances and conversations eventually begin to make sense as the story progresses.  My only criticism of the novel is that Duffy's love affair with Epiphany never really makes a significant contribution to the novel.  It just seems to labor along without adding much to the story.  

This is a great introduction to Tim Powers work and a great story overall.  Highly recommended.

7. Something From The Nightside - Simon R. Green

"Something from the Nightside" is the first in a long running series of novels (I think its up to 9 now) featuring a down on his luck P.I. named John Taylor. The series takes place in an alternate London called the Nightside. In the opening novel in the series we learn that John Taylor grew up in the dangerous Nightside, possesses the gift of finding things, and left the Nightside 5-years ago vowing never to return. Of course, in walks a female client with a lost daughter and Taylor once again finds himself visiting the gritty world of the Nightside.

Much of what Green attempts to do will be familiar to fans of Neil Gaimon's "Neverwhere", Jim Butcher's "Dresden series", or Glen Cook's "Garret files". Unfortunately this first book is too simplistic and not nearly as in-depth as some of the works mentioned above. For most of the novel it is essentially a straight line progression with two characters, neither of which seems very complex. In fact, most of the novel is with the two characters moving in a straight line and giving the readers glimpses of the Nightside landscape as they turn their heads left and right. Characters come and go without really learning much about them.

Having said all of that, if you're a fan of Gaimon, Butcher or Cook then you'll probably enjoy the story and setting, if for no other reason than it's potential. This wasn't a very good book in my mind, but it was good enough that I'm going to read the second book in the series.