Nightlife

by Rob Thurman

Reviewed by Ruby

Cal has always known he wasn't human, not fully anyways.  His mother had always told him -when she wasn't passed out drunk- how she had slept with a creature of the night for money. He had always seen them watching him, following him; Cal was sure it was his father but never was able to talk to him. That all changed when he was fourteen. On the verge of breaking free of their neglectful mother, Cal and his older half brother, Niko, were preparing to leave and never look back. Unfortunately that was when the 'Grendels' took Cal into their world.  Two days later he came back two years older and with no memories of what happened. After that the brothers never stopped running.

It's been fours years since Cal came back and they live every moment with the fear that the creatures are going to take him back. Niko has made it his duty to protect his brother and if that means killing a few things that go bump in the night, then so be it. Cal, on the other hand is sick of running, sick of Niko not be able to have the normal life he deserves, so when another Grendel shows up in New York City, Niko is ready to split, but Cal sees an opportunity to get answers: Why was he created? What did they want with him? Unfortunately, it looks like he is going to get his answers, because the Grendel's plans involving Cal are just about ready to hatch.

I enjoyed this book even though there wasn't much to the plot in the first half of the book. It was mostly explaining the back story and introducing the brothers and other characters. The bulk of the plot wasn't until the end and even then it was character driven. However since the characters are awesome I had no problems with the book what so ever. 

The one thing that I found oddly enjoyable was the fact that Niko is the stronger of the two brothers, even though he is fully human. Usually in stories where there are siblings and the younger one is found to have some gift or ability or power and so forth the older sibling usually becomes almost secondary. Here Niko has made it his duty to keep his brother safe and if that mean knocking his brother unconscious and stuffing him in the trunk of the car, Niko would have no qualms about it. And, no doubt he would be able to accomplish it also.

I can't wait to read the second one, if it is as good as this one.

Grade: B

Coral's Review:

I finally got around to reading these books, based on Ruby's recommendation. And while I did enjoy the book - I liked the relationship between the brothers, the author's style of writing, and everything about the character of Robin - I do wish the story had more in the way of a plot.

I was also a little confused when the POV changed from Cal to Alice and thought that the story got a little muddled from that point on.

Grade: B