The Griffin or the Agate

There are a few authors whose new releases I eagerly await, whose novels are barely on the shelf before a copy is in my hot little hands. Simon R. Green, author of the fabulous Hawk and Fisher series and, in the scifi world the Deathstalker series. His latest offering, Drinking Midnight Wine, is independent of his previous series and hopefully isn't the beginning of a new one.
     Green's characters are usually quirky and amusing, and the hero of Drinking Midnight Wine is no exception to the first trait but fails to achieve the latter. Toby Dexter is introduced as a miserable, close-minded shop clerk with no self esteem and few social skills. He follows a beautiful woman from a train and becomes the focal point upon which the fate of humanity rests. Suddenly, Toby is accepting of all sorts of odd people and events, and doesn't hesitate to throw himself at the incredibly beautiful woman that he's been too shy to even speak to for months.
     The supporting cast of Drinking Midnight Wine is even less believable, and the secret identity of the aforementioned beautiful woman is no secret to anyone even vaguely familiar with mythology. The antics of Jimmy Thunder - descendent of Thor - are mildly entertaining at first, but quickly dissolve into predictability. Then there's the werewolf, who we meet briefly towards the beginning of the story (and who has the most believable personality in the book). He gets a couple of chapters, and then we never hear from him again until the final battle, where he shows up to help save the day just in the nick of time.
     Post-battle, Green makes another departure from his usual style - and not for the good. Instead of loose ends and people going off to live their lives - some happily, some not - we are left with a neat little package of happy endings. Not that I have anything against happy endings, but I prefer the realism of Green's earlier work - people die, things are said that can't be taken back, not everyone ends up with a song in their heart and a bounce in their step. Of course, maybe those neat little endings mean that we won't have to visit the world of Toby Dexter again - which would be the happiest ending of all.   §

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