Nightlife...

[fajrdrako]

Finished reading Nightlife by Rob Thurman. Back on Feb. 19, you'll remember, I was griping about how I couldn't find a good list of fictional bisexuals, and I was looking for more. khavrinen pointed me towards Rob Thurman's books, where a significant character is bi. Urban fantasy. I was... intrigued. I don't usually like urban fantasy, even if it's by Neil Gaiman, unless it's a comic book. And often not even then. I'm not sure why this is, because I like the idea of urban fantasy, but when I actually read one, well - I've yet to meet one that was as good as I'd hoped. Jim Butcher was a colossal disappointment. Enough to rankle a little. Not his fault I had expectations.

So I got and read the first Thurman novel, Nightlife. Urban, yes. Set in New York. Can't blame it for my previous problems with the genre; this has certain points in its favour. I could make a checklist: first person narrative, personable narrator, a good streak of originality despite the setting and genre, a good sense of humour and action. I'd have liked something a smidgen deeper in theme, but the emotional involvement of the main characters and the moral tone was quite perfect. It was a vivid world: I could picture it clearly, for all the darkness that permeates it.

The situation: we have two brothers. The older brother has always been protective and loving to the younger - in loco parentis. The younger has been bedevilled since birth by a mysterious demonic presence. This presence eventually took him to hell and back - after killing their mother in flames. and burning their home. They have to find and destroy that being before it gets them.

Oops, sorry, that's a synopsis of the Supernatural TV show.

But it fits, well enough. There are enough differences that Nightlife feels both parallel and different, partly because of the strong voice of Cal (short for Caliban), the younger brother, who is seventeen when the story starts. The older brother, Niko, is a dedicated martial artist. Cal is half-human, whose mother was a Greek Gypsy fairground fortune-teller, and whose father was an Auphe, or Elf, or demonic supernatural monster bent on causing suffering and destruction. Nightlife is about their attempts to fight Cal's father before he can destroy Cal, and before the Auphe can overwhelm the world we live in.

There are delightful characters along the way, including Robin Goodfellow, who is the immortal bi character khavrinen pointed out. He's fun; but he's secondary to the protagonists, and I wished he were the hero, or, better, that Cal or Niko was the bisexual character. At least Robin isn't a villain. Perhaps my quest should shift a little: I am looking not just for bisexual characters, and not just for bisexual characters who are not villains, but, significantly, for bisexual protagonists - and heroes.

Other characters I liked included the beautiful vampire whom Niko loves, or Cal's dream girl, a psychic who is an island of goodness in a dark world. Not to mention the Darkling, a villain too entertaining to fully hate.

I maybe finished it with a sense that something I was looking for was missing - but I can't put my finger on it.

Oddly enough, I am by complete chance simultaneously reading Terry Pratchett's Lords and Ladies, another book full of evil Elves. Must be the time of year or something.

Cal's voice, which permeates the novel, is a good one: at times overblown, but great fun all the same. For some reason I found myself liking Niko more than Cal: because he reminds me of Dean? Because he's the martial artist, and I somehow relate more? Because he's the one who likes to learn, to meditate, to eat health foods? On the other hand, Cal is the dark-haired one.

It's all good.