Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... Nightlife (Cal Leandros, Book 1) (edition 2006)by Rob Thurman
Work InformationNightlife by Rob Thurman
Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Was waiting for a hook to keep me interested in and it just never was there. Once I finished there really is no draw to pick up the second book. Characters felt one dimensional and throw away to fill a role for a chapter or two. ( ) I am in love.... with this writing!!! I simply could not put this book down. Now I am a bit particular when it comes to urban fantasy and truth-to-tell had yet to read one written by a male author other than Butcher. Butcher is amazing but Thurman? Just plain awesome. I liked his characters and I loved his twists on "classic" monsters (aka trolls elves ect) and adored his sense of humor. So if you want something a little different than your so-called butt-kicking strong female lead (which few can actually pull off imho), give this series a try. Nightlife is a bog standard urban fantasy book that has a lot of common genre elements such as vampires, werewolves, banshees, psychics and such, but also some unique elements like in universe grendels which are basically robots whos only program is "do while(true) kill;". Unfortunately, the book focuses a lot on rambly internal monologue of the protagonist. The banter between him and his brother is great but after a while you notice its the same jokes. The world building and supernatural elements I mentioned before are interesting -- but there's not enough meat. I think this is intentional, as it may be a potential setup for what I think is future books plot strings, but this leaves the main plot not quite enjoyable because the more interesting parts are in the background. For instance, the vampire lady sub plot is interesting, but so much of it was told so dryly. It wasn't shown but rather told to me -- and although I don't have enough literary expertise under my belt, when the author just tells us a characters backstory instead of actually showing it I find it a cop out of exploring the character and actually diving in. Another example of this is the main characters ~2 years trip to grendel hell, which was told posthumously and consequently felt boring squared to the googol-th power. However this isn't why I settled on 3 stars, being upset some characters didn't get their limelight is nonsense as it is deliberately told in a single characters perspective (except banshee switcheroo at end). It's just average. The good parts are met equally with bad or boring parts. Perhaps the following books in the series would do this series more justice, but there are better urban fantasy books out there and I am unlikely to explore this universe before them. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to SeriesCal Leandros (1)
Fantasy.
Fiction.
HTML: In New York, there's a troll under the Brooklyn Bridge, a boggle in Central Park, and a beautiful vampire in a penthouse on the Upper East Side. Of course, most humans are oblivious to this, but Cal Leandros is only half-human. His father's dark lineage is the stuff of nightmares-and he and his entire otherworldly race are after Cal. He and his half-brother Niko have managed to stay a step ahead for three years, but now Cal's dad has found them again. And Cal is about to learn why they want him, why they've always wanted him... .No library descriptions found.
|
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813Literature English (North America) American fictionLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Penguin AustraliaAn edition of this book was published by Penguin Australia. |