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A review by rkaufman13
Shards of Time by Lynn Flewelling
4.0
Where does ‘Shards of Time,’ the last—no really, the last—book in the Nightrunner series rank?
On the con column, it isn’t Luck in the Shadows or Stalking Darkness.
Also in the con column, Thero doesn’t get bitten by a dragon on the scrote.
In the pro column, no Sebrahn?
So I need to preface this by saying that I loved Luck in the Shadows and Stalking Darkness. They are two of my favorite books EVER. I thought Traitor’s Moon was just okay.
Shadows Return was so awful that I threw it across the room and never finished it, and when I read the blurb for The White Road I was like WHAT IS THIS, SUPERNOPE. I’m super not into the ghost demon baby kid or whatever he was.
And then Casket of Souls was…not throw-across-the-room awful but a little repetitive.
So how thrilled am I that Shards of Time pulled a Star Wars 7 (appropriate, huh?) and shuffled most of the first two books’ original themes and elements up? PRETTY DANG THRILLED, MY FRIENDS.
Prophesies! Dyrmagnoses (Dyrmagni???) and dra’gorgoses! Or maybe dra’gorgen! Who knows!?! Lynn Flewelling probably explained it somewhere in the book and I didn’t notice because I was too happy that this book had a PLOT, and ADVENTURES, and Seregil and Alec and Thero and Micum! Hell, there are even echoes of the same bits of dialogue. To continue the Star Wars metaphor, I guess “don’t worry, I’ll hit the bitch” is Flewelling’s “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” And I don’t even mind. Remixing the successful tropes from a great book is going to get you a not-half-bad book at worst, and I think this is better than not-half-bad. (Also, Thero engages in a serious conversation about farts. Win.)
Seregil and Alec are no longer angsty around each other. Seregil has mellowed the hell out over the last few books, and the two of them act like an old married couple at this point—like, they’re just COMFORTABLE with each other in a way I didn’t see in the earlier books. It’s so sweet and charming even if it’s not the squeee-able early romance of the first two books.
My one complaint is that (and again, I skipped two books so maybe I missed something crucial) we had a VERY well built world here, with necromancers and wizards and centaurs and dragons and oracles, and suddenly there are GHOSTS OUT THE WAZOO. Like, where did these ghosts come from. Also,
A sequel is (almost) never going to be as good as the original, and so with that in mind as a caveat, this is about as good as a sequel can get. I can wholeheartedly recommend this as a great way to wrap up the series. Can’t wait to see what else Lynn Flewelling turns out.
On the con column, it isn’t Luck in the Shadows or Stalking Darkness.
Also in the con column, Thero doesn’t get bitten by a dragon on the scrote.
In the pro column, no Sebrahn?
So I need to preface this by saying that I loved Luck in the Shadows and Stalking Darkness. They are two of my favorite books EVER. I thought Traitor’s Moon was just okay.
Shadows Return was so awful that I threw it across the room and never finished it, and when I read the blurb for The White Road I was like WHAT IS THIS, SUPERNOPE. I’m super not into the ghost demon baby kid or whatever he was.
And then Casket of Souls was…not throw-across-the-room awful but a little repetitive.
So how thrilled am I that Shards of Time pulled a Star Wars 7 (appropriate, huh?) and shuffled most of the first two books’ original themes and elements up? PRETTY DANG THRILLED, MY FRIENDS.
Prophesies! Dyrmagnoses (Dyrmagni???) and dra’gorgoses! Or maybe dra’gorgen! Who knows!?! Lynn Flewelling probably explained it somewhere in the book and I didn’t notice because I was too happy that this book had a PLOT, and ADVENTURES, and Seregil and Alec and Thero and Micum! Hell, there are even echoes of the same bits of dialogue. To continue the Star Wars metaphor, I guess “don’t worry, I’ll hit the bitch” is Flewelling’s “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” And I don’t even mind. Remixing the successful tropes from a great book is going to get you a not-half-bad book at worst, and I think this is better than not-half-bad. (Also, Thero engages in a serious conversation about farts. Win.)
Seregil and Alec are no longer angsty around each other. Seregil has mellowed the hell out over the last few books, and the two of them act like an old married couple at this point—like, they’re just COMFORTABLE with each other in a way I didn’t see in the earlier books. It’s so sweet and charming even if it’s not the squeee-able early romance of the first two books.
My one complaint is that (and again, I skipped two books so maybe I missed something crucial) we had a VERY well built world here, with necromancers and wizards and centaurs and dragons and oracles, and suddenly there are GHOSTS OUT THE WAZOO. Like, where did these ghosts come from. Also,
Spoiler
Pretty sure Irtuk Beshar and necromancer Vargul Whatshisface had trouble summoning like one dra’gorgos at once. This ghost queen lady wearing the other lady’s skin had a bazillion dra’gorgens, and yet our heroes were still able to kill her. Admittedly, not without effort. But Rhazat is clearly ONE. POWERFUL. LADY.A sequel is (almost) never going to be as good as the original, and so with that in mind as a caveat, this is about as good as a sequel can get. I can wholeheartedly recommend this as a great way to wrap up the series. Can’t wait to see what else Lynn Flewelling turns out.