Luck in the Shadows: The Nightrunner Series, Book I Kindle Edition

This author and series came highly recommended to try. Its written at very poor level. There are pages and pages describing everything around the main characters while simultaneously ignoring any real character development. The plot rushes through with no real connection to timelines, plausibility, or realistic human interaction. It was a struggle to choke down each page and eventually I had to put it down altogether with the conclusion that it's simply not going to get any better. This might be suitable for a young teen.

I just reread this book for...the third time? Fourth? Something like that. Regardless, its place in my short list of all-time top favorite fantasy series remains secure.Luck in the Shadows has good writing, a complex plot, and enticing characters. It combines rogues and wizards, and royals and gutter rats, and places them all in a country standing on the brink of war. The book starts off with a bang, but Flewelling teases us with storylines that take whole volumes to come to fruition. (Which is not the same as a cliffhanger, BTW. This story wraps itself up just fine, while leaving room for continuing adventures in this amazing world Flewelling's built.) There's no doubt I've fallen in love with the two main characters, Alec and Seregil, but the supporting players are rich and nuanced, too. Thero? Beka? Fantastic.Seriously, this book exemplifies just about every reason I spend so much time reading epic fantasy. I think I originally picked it up because it was listed as m/m fantasy, but it can hold its own among the epic standards just based on the characters and the setting and the plot, which is all gritty and wonderful.I haven't told you the best part, though:The romance.OK, I can't believe I just typed that, because seriously? I think sometimes I must not have a romantic bone in my body. Lately, I've been finishing more and more books wishing the authors would have just skipped over the love stories. Some are reasonably well done, of course, but those stories are getting buried in the flood of paint-by-number romances. It's almost like there's a checklist out there, and authors haven't caught on yet that following it isn't doing them any favors. (Insta-love? Check. Otherworldly chemistry? Check. Poor Suffering Martyr syndrome? Check. Traumatic past? Check...) When I finally found a book a couple months ago that didn't have the slightest hint of a romance, I very nearly re-read it immediately just for the opportunity to revel in the lack of formulaic drama. I could swoon just thinking about it.This is not that romance. The romance in this series is barely a twinkle in the author's eye by the last page of LitS; it doesn't take off for real until well into the second book. The characters fall in love slowly, and organically, and...and healthily! BTW, there are several reviews pointing out the age difference between the two mains, but I stand behind my "healthily." (The rest of this paragraph has slight spoilers...which I'd recommend risking if the other reviews about the age gap are giving you pause.) The older character doesn't age the way a human does, so it doesn't come across like he's a dirty old man, and perhaps more importantly, the extremely slow burn gives the impression that Seregil, the older one, has zero intention of taking advantage. By the time they get together for real instead of just in their own imaginations, the power imbalance is gone. It's a relationship of equals. Believe me, I'm really not one for the May/December trope, but this book doesn't come across that way to me.Further, the author doesn't expect the characters to be invested in the romance before we readers are. In fact, she draws things out so skillfully, we're left practically panting for the characters to finally muster up their courage and get on with it already. And speaking of which: don't make the mistake of thinking Alec and Seregil are basing things on lust and chemistry. No, this is the real deal.In other words, the romance in this book is just about the most romantic thing I've ever read, and I – as jaded an unromantic as anyone could probably be – just want to cheer at the sheer sweetness of it all.But don't forget what I said before! This moving, captivating, SLOW love story is stretched out on the frame of really, really good tale. Those looking for a book where the plot is merely a support structure for the love story would probably be disappointed – I wasn't kidding...this first book barely even hints at the love story to come – if it weren't for how finely-crafted a fantasy this is. If you're looking for a book where the love story is secondary to the story-story, or if you're patient enough to let the author show you how satisfying delayed gratification can be, I think you'll probably like this quite a lot. (I have a hard time imagining anyone NOT liking this book/series quite a lot.)As for me, regardless of whether this was the third or fourth time I've read this book, I have no doubt I'll find myself back in Rhiminee on many more occasions.

I just came up for air to write this review. I've been devouring these books and know that I will go into mourning when I reach the end. Thank god there were so many to read! The writing is great and so consistent, each book is as good as the last. They are all different adventures in themselves with a common theme running throughout. This woman knows how to spin a tale. I'm a huge epic fantasy fan, I never get tired of it and the more magic the better. Even though the Nightrunner series isn't overflowing with magic... (normally at this point, if I was reading this review and saw that, I would move on) ...you don't notice because the stories are so captivating and there's enough magic to keep you there. But she makes up for it in the Queen Tamir series which has much more magic and wizards etc. It's all in the same world that she has built up into a fantastic place you don't ever want to leave. She doesn't leave any loose ends and it's amazing how she ties it all together by the end every time.I hope you have many more tales in you Ms. Flewelling! I'm savoring the third Tamir book and hoping I can draw it out long enough that I wont have to wait too long for whatever you might have next...Thank you!

The finest fantasy is escape reading at its best, but good fantasy is a rare and elusive beast hard to find and harder to define but just like pornography I know it when I read it and the Nightrunner series qualifies. Set in a feudal, medieval world with swords and castles straight out of the history books but with the addition of magic and occasional legendary denizens such as elves, centaurs, and dragons. Luck in the Shadows is the first entry of a seven book series released between1996 and 2014 by Lynn Flewelling. It runs over 3500 pages total giving us dedicated fantasy readers with enough time on our hands serious fodder to chew on. The author's strength is in her depiction of two disparate characters,Alec, innocent and untried and Seregil, a charming, multitalented rogue with a mysterious background. Alec is caught poaching and imprisoned by a remote country lord jealous of his territory. Most prisoners are fated to be tortured to death while an occasional 'lucky' one like Alec is destined to be sold off into slavery. A foppish traveling entertainer rounded up by lord's thugs is chained in the cell alongside Alec to moulder until the torturer gets around to him. The fop turns out to be Seregil, who quickly dumps his disguise, kills an informer planted in the cells with them, picks all the necessary locks and heads for the hills. A soft touch at heart, Seregil also drags Alec along with him out of sympathy for the plight he's in. After traveling together for a while their chemistry is good and Alec proves useful, so wouldn't you know it Seregil offers to take him on as an apprentice. Apprentice what? is the question and this becomes more clear as the book progresses with tentacles reaching far and wide. A war is brewing and people with Seregil's surreptitious skills are in increasingly high demand and he can use some help. As Conan Doyle used to say the chase is on. I bought the next book in the series, Stalking Darkness, and am busy reading it, if it proves as readable as the first I have a new, long running fantasy series to fill those wee hours.

Where do I begin. This series is full of wonderful stuff. It's exciting, touching, nail biting, and memorable. I LOVE the characters, the world and the plots. It felt like I soaked into it and never wanted to leave. Still as fresh as when they were first written. Don't miss them, and Luck in the Shadows!!Edit re: Audible Version. This will always be one of my favourite books but the audible version is enormously disappointing. What possessed the reader to introduce all the DREADFUL accents? For some reason he read some of the characters with Scottish or Irish accents. I assume that was his intention, because they are only vaguely recognisable as such. This is a fantasy. There’s no reason for anyone to be Irish or Scottish. Especially if the reader can’t do those accents without sounding ridiculous. It’s horribly distracting. Audible: This is one of the best fantasy series ever written please pay a good,, expressive actor to re-record it. This audible offering does a terrible disservice to the original.

There are a lot of very positive reviews here for this wonderful set of books - so I shan't go back over the storyline again.What I do want to say is, I purchased this book only a week or so ago, started reading it and immediately ordered the rest of the set as I knew I was going to love all the books. To be fair, the world building does go on a bit, and it wasn't until the third book that I really got into the story, but what pulled me in totally were the characters of Seregil and Alec. I love them! I think the most recent two books (shadow's return and The white road)are my favourites, so even if you're not sure - do continue, they're worth it.If you enjoyed Robin Hobb's Farseer, Liveship and Tawny man books - then you will probably enjoy these.

My first impression was that this was intended for a late teenage audience, given the youthfulness of Alec. However, stick with the series and the themes get more mature. If it's romance you're after, it builds up slowly (you'll have to wait until later books), but it's well worth the wait!Alec starts off an honest, straightforward woodsman but on meeting the spy Seregil he's soon introduced to a much wider world of intrigue. Hisingenuous character gives Flewelling the chance gradually to expand themagical and fantastical elements of her well-drawn world. Alec learnsespionage and dissembling from Seregil, against a backdrop ofimpending war and pursuit by evil magics. Soon, he's on first-hand termswith much that he once believed mythical. Seregil is a more mysteriousfigure, witholding much about himself even as he tutors Alec and the bondbetween them grows.

Brilliant series. Have enjoyed all of them. The intricacy and depth of the story lines, attention to detail and development of the characters, the amazing creativity of building her own world and language that really works and is believable. And especially the sensitivity with which LF develops the love and relationship between the two (male) heroes. I mean, who wouldn't want to find his or her tali ....

I won't go into the plot as people have already done that better than I could. I loved the characters in this. I'm usually pretty poor with names, but Alec and seregil are branded in my memory they're so real. I spent ages waiting for the next book to come out, and ages looking for anyone else writing this kind of fiction - a m/m romance with proper plot - for anyone else doing the same, go look at Knight Errant and the sequel His Faithful Squire by KD Sarge.