Review - A Hard Day's Knight (The Nightside, Book 11) by Simon R. Green (4.5/5 stars)

Reading level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 304 pages
Publisher: Ace Hardcover
Release Date: January 4, 2011
ISBN-13: 978-0441019700
Stand Alone or Series: 11th book in the Nightside series
Source: Bought
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

This is the 11th book in the Nightside series by Green; last I heard there are thirteen books planned for this series.  This book picks up just moments where the last left off and plunges us into a wonderful new Nightside mystery that is more epic than the last couple books and more, like novels mid-series.

John Taylor and Shotgun Suzie discover that the sword-like package that showed up at the end of book 10 is indeed Excaliber and it is here for a purpose.  If only John knew what that purpose was.  Now John has to journey out of the Nightside to London Proper to visit the London Knights in hopes that they will have some insight into what the sword's return means.

This was another great Nightside novel and it gets up back more to the style of the books mid-way through the series.  We are back to a more epic storyline, where John is helping to save the Nightside (and maybe the whole world) from certain destruction.  We get a lot of page space with John and Suzie, which was wonderful.

The main characters dealt with in this novel focus around the London Knights so they are not as quirky as some of John's sidekicks in previous novels, this is balanced by the fact that Suzie is featured throughout the book.  Many events in earlier books are tied in with this book.  There is a lot of action and a lot of things going on.  I enjoyed the evil alternate Earth with the evil Knights of the Round Table and the inclusion of the Arthurian legend throughout.  A lot of events surrounding the Elves are dealt with and the Droods from Green's Secret Histories series are mentioned a few times in passing.

I did miss some of my old favorite characters.  Razor Eddie never shows, and neither do many of the other big players in the Nightside.  They are mentioned in passing, but never given more page space then that.

The book ends well and with a rather large surprise.  It really makes me look forward to the next book in this series.  The plot is engaging and the book moves at a fast paced, those familiar with this series will find it is similar in writing style to previous Nightside books.

Overall a very satisfying addition to the series, fans of the Nightside won't be disappointed.  I was happy that Green went back to a more epic storyline and that John and Suzie get so much page space.  I was a little disappointed that we didn't see more of our other favorite characters, but was happy with how the storyline included a lot of Arthurian legend throughout.  There are surprises in this book and I am excited to see what the next Nightside novel brings.  

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:

- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 100+ Reading Challenge