MADreads

Monsters among us

September 10th, 2008 Jane J. - Central Library

I’m a fan of urban fantasy, which probably won’t surprise many of you.  In general though, I tend to stick to the women - kickass gals solving their problems with a little help from their friends.  That being said, something about Rob Thurman’s book Nightlife just spoke to me (so much so, I bought a second copy when I left the first behind in a hotel).  It’s about as kickass as you’ll find as brothers Cal and Niko Leandros battle boggles, trolls and evil elves.  All good.  Right?  But what touched me and had me coming back for books two and three in the series was the relationship between Cal and Niko.

Caliban (don’t call him that!) Leandros is half-human and half-elf.  Doesn’t sound too bad, if you’re a fan of Legolas.  The problem is that the elves of his world are really the Auphe and they are about as nasty and evil as you want to imagine.  They’re not evilly scheming and plotting.  We’re talking ‘torture and cannibalism and a burning desire to rid the planet of 99% of humanity’ evil.  Cal has always struggled with his Auphe side.  And in the fight with him is his brother Niko.  Cal describes it this way:

“There are monsters among us.  There always have been and there always will be.  I’ve known that ever since I can remember, just like I’ve always known I was one.  Well half of one anyway.  And regardless of what inherited nastiness I might have on the inside, on the outside I was all human.  In fact Niko had said, and pretty damn frequently, that I had more human qualities then I had good sense…If I wanted to beat up on myself, I’d have to go through him first.”

And that’s a perfect snapshot of the relationship between the protective Niko and the wisecracking Cal as they battle the demons - both physical and mental - in their lives.  And battle they must since the Auphe plan to use Cal as their weapon to destroy humanity.  Non-stop action, snarky dialogue, and the great central relationship had me quickly ordering the next adventures of Cal and Niko.

Entry Filed under: Fantasy