Die Braut In Schwarzem Leder (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
I read other books by Simon R. Green before, and they run between pretty good and lousy. The closer they are to King Arthur alternate-futures, the better they seem to be, and the stories which are Arthur/Guinevere/Mordred In Space tend to be pretty bad.On the other hand, the title and the cover seemed to imply a great story, so I thought I'd give it a try.The story opens with John Taylor looking for something to do, since I read other books by Simon R. Green before, and they run between pretty good and lousy. The closer they are to King Arthur alternate-futures, the better they seem to be, and the stories which are Arthur/Guinevere/Mordred In Space tend to be pretty bad.On the other hand, the title and the cover seemed to imply a great story, so I thought I'd give it a try.The story opens with John Taylor looking for something to do, since Suzie Shooter, the 'bride' in the title through him out of the house while she gets ready for the wedding. Uh oh. There isn't going to be a female protagonist, after all.John crashes a party and talks to people, eats fun food. There's almost a Bedchel moment when two female reporters talk to John (you know, that sounds vaguely smutty) but no, one walks off-scene as the other approaches. On the other hand, a male reporter stays to flirt with both females, so it can't be because reporters never talk to each other.Someone dies! Dramatically! At the party! Obviously, it wasn't done by one of the rich people (oh the horror), so whodunit? Problem solved quickly, and the bigger problem is revealed. Someone wants to shine a light on the Nightside.Sunlight will turn Nightside - into not Nightside.There are a surprising number of women in this story. There's a group of nuns who talk in chorus - but don't actually talk to each other, so another Bedchel moment goes up in smoke.There's a head nurse who tells other nurses Yes its bad, get over yourself, get on with the healing - a Bedchel moment in a sea of all-men-all-the-time.Then the bride takes a break from preparing for the wedding - Suzzzzzzzzie Shooter just took a contract on the groom. Uh, there's better ways of telling your guy that you don't want to marry him after all...I can't say I was surprised by the twist ending, but I was really disappointed in how little scene-time teh BRIDE IN BLACK LEATHER actually had. She's the reason I picked up the book, after all. While all of Green's series are worth the read I find that the dark quirky nature of the Nightside novels and his colourful characters including the dead, misplaced gods, immortals, tabloid reporters and psychopaths the best of his work despite the tendency to milk a gimmick, a stereotype or an attempt at snark or levity long past its best before date. Sadly like watching a comic who relies on the same material too long I found the Bride Wore Black Leather enjoyable but far less than when the Nightside was fresh and well below double digit episodes.
What do You think about Die Braut In Schwarzem Leder (2013)?
Loved it! Going to miss all characters especially Razor Eddy! :-(
—okayoo
