Line #1 YMMV/Nightside


1	* BrokenBase: The final crossover novel, ''Night Fall'', has the fans divided on whether or not it managed to live up to the hype of what was supposed to be both a grand finale for the Nightside/Secret Histories books and an epic showdown between the Droods and the residents of the Nightside. Some say it delivers on both fronts, offering an enormous battle between both series' characters and enough twists and turns in the story to make the story memorable. Others feel that [[spoiler: the numerous undignified deaths on both sides (especially in the Nightside camp)]] and the generally bizarre treatment of various established characters [[note]](John Taylor [[spoiler: being repeatedly bossed around and treated poorly by the New Authorities as the current Walker]], Eddie Drood and Molly Metcalf [[spoiler: losing to John in the same kind of lopsided CurbStompBattle that most standard Nightside villains fall victim to]], characters like Count Video being MIA with no given explanation, the Lord of Thorns doing practically nothing, etc.)[[/note]] held the novel back, as did a few promising narrative developments that essentially led nowhere. (such as [[spoiler: Lilith being brought back from Limbo so that the Nightside characters can attempt to set her loose against the Droods, only to reveal that the once-intimidating [[PhysicalGod Physical Goddess]] has settled down in her time away.]])
2	* CompleteMonster: See [[Monster/SimonRGreen here]].
3	* FridgeBrilliance: In ''Bride'', Razor Eddie and Dead Boy fight a giant black centipede [[spoiler: that's actually Rogue the immortal]]. Eddie cuts off several of its legs in the fight. A while later, Harry Fabulous turns up at [[spoiler: John's stag party]], offering a variety of drugs and other exotic delights... including black centipede meat! Might even be a call back to ''Angels'', in which Eddie mentions having sold off the remains of another bunch of his kills.
4	** It's very likely a ShoutOut to ''Literature/NakedLunch''.
5	* FridgeHorror: The Harrowing and their relentless pursuit of John become even ''more'' horrifying if you realize [[spoiler: it was ''all for nothing''. Even if they '''had''' killed him as a child, it wouldn't have done jack-squat to stop Lilith from returning, because A) she already had another child (the Speaking Gun) to tie her to the material world, and B) there'd have been nothing to stop her from saying to heck with it and just wiping the Nightside out at a stroke, with no son (= audience) to drag out the process for.]] So all those many, many friends, protectors, and hapless bystanders whom the Harrowing killed, over the years, died for nothing at all.
6	* FridgeLogic: In ''Unnatural Inquirer'', John's having killed all the {{Elite Mook\|s}} minions of a gang boss is said, [[spoiler: both by John himself and by the BigBad]], to lend greater credibility to the idea that the Afterlife Recording is genuine. Given that John wipes the floor with {{Cosmic Horror}}s on a regular basis, and cultivates a reputation for committing mayhem on anyone who so much as snickers at his trench coat, why would this incident be seen as proof of ''anything'', rather than written off as yet another case of dumb thugs pissing him off?
7	* MoralEventHorizon: The Nightside has whole ''industries'' dedicated to this, ranging from "mere" sexual depravities and torture clubs that are a dime a dozen to the [[NightmareFuel horror shows]] offered by the good people at [[LotusEaterMachine Precious Memories]].
8	** As Even Degenerates Have Standards, some villainies are too abhorrent even for Nightside residents. Whatever went on at the Maxwell Mausoleum was so repugnant that it got the Maxwells lynched, burned and buried in a much-pissed-on grave, and convinced the normally-indifferent Authorities to nationalize the funerary industry so it could ''never'' happen again.
9	* NarmCharm: The series occasionally runs on this. It's probably one of the most gleefully {{troperiffic}} series out right now.
10	* NightmareFuel: Particularly the first book if giant insects aren't your favorite thing.
11	* TheScrappy: Bettie Divine is not well-liked by most fans, due to her relatively annoying personality, lack of actual character development (or real point for being in the story to begin with) and the fact that she ends up [[spoiler: [[DieForOurShip being the one person John briefly cheats on Suzie with in the entire series]]. The latter part is made worse by the fact that she and John are never really served any narrative consequences for it. (Which, given this is Suzie "Oh Shit, It's Her, Run!" Shooter we're talking about, comes off as extremely dodgy to say the least.)]]
12	** AlasPoorScrappy: [[spoiler: ''Night Fall'' has her and Ioreth Drood fall for each other, which ultimately gets her killed when Hadleigh Oblivion comes knocking on the Droods' door. Though some fans [[TakeThatScrappy consider this to be a good thing]]...]]
13	* {{Squick}}: Razor Eddie's fate in the future John sees in ''Something from the Nightside.''
14	** Not to mention an awful lot of the Nightside's offered "entertainments".
15	** In Larry Oblivion's origin-story, he revives from death thinking he's just woken from sleep, complete with an uncomfortable urge for the loo. The morbid truth becomes irrefutably clear to him when he glances down, and realizes [[spoiler: he's just expelled ''a pile of squirming maggots'' into the toilet.]]
16	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: In ''Hard Day's Knight'' John has to briefly leave the Nightside and go back to the mundane world. Instead of exploring what he was up to in the time he spent outside there or how people would react to something from the Nightside, he humiliates a vengeful acquaintance turned murderer and then goes to find the knights. To be fair, it's not actually the first time he's been back since the series started: he commuted back and forth until he moved into Suzie's place, because he felt safer sleeping in mundane London.
17	** ''Night Fall'' is considered this by some. See BrokenBase above for more info.

Context YMMV / Nightside