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Well, half of one at least and for him and his ninja-trained older brother, half is plenty. Especially when the non-human side of Cal’s family tree has been hunting him down for four years, no matter how fast and far the two brothers run to escape them. You see, the real monsters have a big plan in the works and Cal is the key to it all — whether he likes it or not.

Trolls and elves…but not the way you were thinking.

Despite it’s supernatural/horror inspired title and the short appearances of both vampires and werewolves in it’s pages, “Nightlife” is much more of an Urban Fantasy, complete with a troll under Brooklyn bridge, bogles eating muggers in Central Park, a banshee enjoying a stay in an upscale New York hotel, and the infamous Robin Goodfellow himself selling used cars.

But where the names behind the creatures are familiar, the creatures themselves are not. “Nighlife” eschews the traditional concepts of elves and faeries that permeate the fantasy genre and goes for a more monstrous, demonic take that fits well with the dark and quirky atmosphere of the novel. Elves are not high-brow, pointy-eared aristocrats armed with swords and arrows, but red-eyed, sharp toothed bringers of mayhem and evil who dwell a in hellish sub-dimension of suffering. The troll is a terror of suffocating tentacles and the overwhelming reek of rot and death. The resulting effect is a compelling mix of familiarity and newness; you feel like you know this world, but you don’t.

The narrator of the story, Cal, is a sharp and sarcastic teenager with the duel afflictions not knowing when to shut-up and an attitude problem that may or may not be related to his half-demonic heritage. He blames himself for the life his brother, Niko, left behind him to protect him and is eternally grateful for that love and protections, but this doesn’t stop him from nettling big brother to death. He’s had a shitty life and doesn’t entirely like himself (courtesy of a mother that hated him and the fear of the monster he could become) and despite that, struggles fiercely to survive.

In short, Cal is a smart-talking bundle of ass-backwards coping mechanisms and black humor, but he makes for a fun read.

Niko’s controlled, almost prissy, manner and biting humor is a perfect counterpoint to Cal’s wit. Unfortunately, in the earlier chapters of the book, you get the impression that this is the only reason he’s there; the banter between Niko and Cal is so perfectly timed that it feels like a scripted variety show. Luckily though, this improves as the story goes on. Niko begins to stand out as more of a character and their relationship is believably portrayed as siblings who’ve only ever had each other to depend on. Admittedly, Niko doesn’t develop much further past “ass-kicking ninja who likes books, eats obsessively healthy, hates stupidity, and can snark his little brother into submission”, but given that this is ultimately Cal’s story and he is self-centered teenager, it’s minor issue.

Several other eye-catching characters also make appearances to help or hinder the duo. Robin Goodfellow (or Puck, or Pan; they’re all pretty much the same beast), is a vain, randy fellow with a mouth that won’t stop and a hidden heart of gold; George, a teenage girl who’ll read your future in exchange for a milkshake; Raffety the healer and his dog-that-really-isn’t.

In the latter half of the story, the narration makes an abrupt shift and becomes from the point of view of one of the villains.

The concept itself is exciting and different, but the execution was a little shallow. The villain is one-dimensional — and he’s supposed to be. He is literally an embodiment of evil, arrogance, self-indulgence, and destruction. As a conventional fairy-tale style bad guy, this is just fine. As the main narrator of a novel with lots of gray areas, it made immersion into his part of the story a little difficult. His actions of destruction and thoughts of murder and chaos were so casual to him that instead of going “oh no, he’s really nasty!”, I felt more like I was reading about a normal guy changing the oil on his car. I would have enjoyed to see a little more “conflict” between his personality and Cal’s, or even more of Cal’s morals mixing in with his. It was still entertaining, but not nearly as engaging as the rest of the book.

Taken for what it is, “Nightlife” is a delight. It addresses many familiar concepts — what it means to be human or a monster, devotion to family, the loneliness that comes with centuries of life, be happy with the moment you have — in a fast-paced, off-beat setting, with clever, snappy narration that is bound to inspire a snicker or two out of you.