Nightlife (Cal Leandros)

With the many books about the supernatural to choose from, how to decide which to read first? That depends on why you read the genre. So rather than just saying that this is a good book, well-written and fast-moving, in the exciting setting of New York, let me give you a few contrasts and comparisons to other fantasy novels, so you can pinpoint whether this is the type you like. First, it's urban fantasy. If you're looking for elves with bows and arrows, woodland fantasies with castles and towers, this isn't it. But if you like the urban settings of, say, the Harry Dresden novels of Jim Butcher (which are probably what this one is closest in character to, even though it's entirely different) or Andrew Swann's gritty Cleveland, then this is the same type of urban action. Then, although there are supernatural characters, the types of them are not quite exactly the same as they are in most genre novels. The elves in here are not nice people, they're neither people nor nice. Referred to formally as the Auphe, they are nasty and no one can stand them, not even other Auphe. Our protagonist is half-Auphe, and this is the basis for most of his problems. There is a troll, but just one, and yes, he lives under the Brooklyn Bridge. And there's a vampire - not a whole bunch of them, though; while this is the same general sort of novel as many contemporary vampire novels are, there's not much vampire action. Our protagonists find out about the vampire in a funny/odd manner, which is different from most of the genre conventions. Vampire novel readers will probably enjoy the book despite the relative scarcity of the vampires. One of the characters I liked best was used car salesman Rob Fellows - who is really Robin Goodfellow, a "puck." This is another case where Thurman's supernatural species are not the same old same old; Goodfellow (and his fellow pucks, although we're never quite sure whether there still are any others) are sort of a conflation of what we would normally think of as fairies, and of satyrs/Pan. It's an unusual version of Faerie, and has its funny moments. There are also a few people who are human, but with special talents/powers, and some who are only human but capable of great things. We have a good balance of supernatural and natural characters and events. (And I haven't even told you about Catcher, who is yet another matter...) The characters in this book, at least those who are human or can pass for human, do other things besides their fantasy gigs; they hold day jobs (or night jobs, as the case may be); some go to school every day. There are enough details about life in the city to know it's New York we're in, although it's not quite as detailed as, say, Tanya Huff's Toronto. All in all, an excellent first novel and a worthy member of the urban fantasy genre, and I'm looking forward to the sequel.

Having grown up with the hippy and new age set, I've always had this dream that I was really something a bit otherworldly - a pookah, or a mage, or even (if I could only become tall and thin) and elf. Something very cool and Tolkien. Imagine if you discovered that you really were an elf, but that far from being the fair folk, elves were down right mean and nasty. I don't mean archly evil, I mean ugly, smelly, critters that like to torture their meals before eating them. That's what happened to Caliban Leandros, and no, being a half-Auphe (or grendel) was decidedly not fun. Cal is the result of a breeding program, his father an Auphe and his mother a hired receptacle. At an early age Cal was yanked into the Auphe dimension. When he suddenly reappeared he was without his memory and the target of monsters everywhere. In company with his brother Niko, Cal has been running and hiding ever since. Whatever the Auphe wanted him for, it was bad news, and being around Cal for a length of time was frequently fatal. Whatever was going on, it was becoming more intense, and Niko and Cal go on a desperate search for answers that has them team up with a beautiful vampire and a faun named Robin Goodfellow. Cal isn't even safe inside himself. If being a creature with dark, malevolent urges isn't enough, Cal's mind is seized by a banshee, a darkling and the reader has the unnerving experience of having the narrator stay the same but his personality shift right into the dumps. Now Niko and Robin's problem is how to save the world and save Cal. A tough act in any case made harder by the fact that the new Cal is all for killing everyone, once and for all. The story is told in that first person, tough and wisecracking style that has become popular lately. The problem with this approach is that it is very hard to do without sounding like a 50's mystery story. Cal and Niko's dialog sounds heavily teenage - more so than you would expect from folks who lived on the edge to total destruction. The story is original though, and my real complaint is the lengths Thurman is willing to go to rewrite the world of the Fae. Bad enough that his elves are all psychotic killers, Darkling is the one and only male banshee (a term that actually means female elf), in written literature. Thurman's problem, you will discover, is not poor writing or plotting, but an irritating lack of familiarity with the Western legends from which he draws his story. I'll still credit this with being a decent read with a lot of original twists, just be prepared for a few winces at the humor and the twisted fairyology.

I must admit that I started this book with a wee bit of trepidation. The summary on the back sounds so much like most of the fare one might find in this genre and how many angsty teen reluctant hero books can one read? So I picked up Rob Thurman's 'Nightlife' prepared for trivial dribble and overdone plot devices. I am most pleased to report that I was wrong. This is a fresh and imaginative tale told by a new author in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy scene. The characters are real and fully-rounded and the plot never lags or resorts to trite one liners. Old mythology standbys are given modern day makeovers. One can tell that Mr. Thurman is as well versed in Grimm as Shakespeare and uses both reference points with ease. Several moments had me in tears, quite a few more made me laugh. But this book does so well what many can't - it made me afraid. A battle with a troll becomes a walk in a nightmare, many preconceived notions about characters and situations are turned on their heads in vicious plot twists, and you feel a palpable sense of growing terror and desperation from the characters as they are thrust into a life or death battle against a truly evil foe. The plot flows, the characters are engaging, and the story seems immediate and real. All in all, this is an exciting start to what may be an incredible new series. A heartfelt welcome to Rob Thurman and his universe. I can't wait for the next installment.

First, I want to say that is one of the most beautiful covers I've seen. Gritty, haunting, ethereal New York, just as is written in Thurman's pages, and the main character, Cal, drawn pretty much precisely as he's portrayed in the story. And does the story ever live up to the cover art! This author has a feel for pacing that you rarely find in fantasy novels. The story rockets along, and yet Thurman never scrimps on powerfully evocative imagery, and backstory is flawlessly woven into the whole. Thurman creates a New York City I'd be a little afraid to visit, myself. :) The mythical creatures that populate it are by turns funny and seriously frightening. Thurman leaves standard fantasy tropes on the shelf with his otherworldly creations--and when he does dust one off, it's to twist it into a whole new kind of disturbing being. I agree with the reviewer who said Thurman's monsters could eat Buffy's lunch--boy, could they! Thurman also has a remarkable eye for the little details that bring characters to vivid life. I fell in love with all these characters, so convincingly human were they all. Even the villains are full-color and some of them are truly the stuff of nightmares. And the secondary characters, as another reviewer mentioned, are fully realized. Robin was one I especially liked and one I'd like to see more of in future novels. I believe he could easily carry a novel, but then so could any character in the book. The main character, Caliban, has personality to spare. He faces the world with wit, sheer stubbornness to survive, and scathing sarcasm. I don't think I have ever seen a truer depiction of the soul of a teenager than here. Cal's voice is distinctive and original, adding a freshness that is a nice change of pace from the stiff, grandiose way some fantasies are written. This is just the story of a couple of tough New York kids trying to survive a fantastical nightmare. It combined the elements of fantasy and reality just brilliantly. I'd give it more than five stars if I could. I can't wait for the next book. I sure hope this will end up being a series or at least a trilogy. I haven't had so much fun reading a fantasy in a long while. You know--I think it'd make a good movie, too, or television series.