island_of_reil

Source.
 

I've finished Casket of Souls. There's one scene…

( spoiler, but not a plot ruiner )

And then there's this follow-up, a few scenes later…

( Also a non-plot-ruining spoiler )

As for the book in general? I liked it much, much better than any other book in the series since the second, Stalking Darkness. That said, the first two — taken as one, because that's how Flewelling wrote them — would always be better than any sequels, no matter how well written. It's got the "save the world" plot of heroic fantasy, necessarily with evil that subsequent books can't touch, no matter how evil their villains get. It's got some superbly rendered character arcs. And it's got the UST between Alec and Seregil.

The seventh and final book, Shards of Time, comes out April 1. I hope it's as good as Casket of Souls. That said, Flewelling is wise to end the series there, hopefully tying up the last loose ends of various minor-character stories, before it jumps the shark completely.
 

Third Heart by island_of_reil
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Nightrunner Series - Lynn Flewelling
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 12,205
Archive Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings (but please see Content Note below)
Category: M/M
Relationship: Alec í Amasa/Seregil í Korit
Characters: Seregil í Korit, Alec í Amasa
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Implied/Referenced Mind Rape, Implied/Referenced Torture, Light Bondage, Soul Bond, Nightmares, Healing Sex, Bathing/Washing, Hair Washing, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Summary: The wounds in Seregil’s soul have barely begun to heal when it becomes clear that those in Alec’s still fester. Talímenios drives both of them to want more than Alec can yet bear. After another year of adventure, danger, and rough living, Seregil may have found a way to for them to fully consummate the bond — if it doesn’t immerse him in painful memories of his treacherous first lover.
Content Note: Alec is 17 or just shy of it when this fic begins; by the end of it he’s 18. In canon, 16-year-olds are considered sexually “of age.” Therefore I chose not to warn for “Underage,” but please bear the above in mind if the subject is a sensitive one for you.

Cross-posted to rarelitslash.

Read Third Heart at An Archive of Our Own.
 

Based on sineala's recommendation, I will definitely will be reading Hild at some point. But, before that, Knight's Fee, the rest of Roman Britain, and probably the fourth Matthew Swift book (The Minority Council) as well.

Right now I'm working my way through Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner series. I'd never have considered it were it not for novembersmith's Yuletide fic "Back on the Horse," in which the first-time scene between Seregil and Alec is fantastically hot and intensely loving.

I'm about halfway through Luck in the Shadows, the first book. The writing itself is a mixed bag; Flewelling can write very good descriptions and dialogue, but then she'll switch POV abruptly in the same scene, or she'll do a little too much telling rather than showing. Her geography has a faux-Tolkien tweeness to it, at least in the North, and it's jarring when set next to the real-world roughness of the narrative — graphic violence, profanity, openness about sex.

( here be some spoilers )

What I like most is the characterization, followed by the plot. Seregil is a fascinating, often hilarious, character, and I hope the eventual revelations about his past live up to all the hints dropped about it. While Alec seems the prototypical Innocent Young Fair-Haired Boy, Flewelling subverts the trope from nearly the beginning: He's skillful, observant, and smart as a whip. As his friendship with Seregil deepens, you also see loyalty and grim determination surface in him. I'm right at the point where Seregil is acknowledging to himself that he finds Alec attractive, so the UST, which has been muted so far, is probably about to kick into high gear.

The supporting characters are also distinctively rendered. The Bad Guys are really, really bad, though. Going by the nomenclature and physical descriptions, it looks like Flewelling is coding them as Assyrian or maybe Phoenician, but the other peoples of the continent are much fairer-colored. It has … uncomfortable implications, to say the least. I rather hope that at least some of the characters from that nation turn out to be sympathetic ones.