Rating: 
Summary: Great Fantasy, Fun Read
Review: Fantastic characterization, a lovable main character, and all the best elements of fantasy.The thing I especially love about this book that made it unique was the focus characters being two thieves working together. The story unfolds in the eyes of the main character Alex who meets up with mysterious Seregil when they are both imprisoned by the same nobleman. Orphan and roamer Alex is dragged through the world on the coattails of this mystery man, travels to faraway lands from his privincial home, and gets embroiled into the midst of great intrigue amidst the first churnings of war between two countries. As the somewhat clueless, awkward young man begins to experience things he's never met up with before, you see a new fantasy world unfold in front of his eyes and your own (including some unrequited (so far!) man-to-man romance, always a plus in my book). Great fun, great read, can't wait for more...
Rating:
Summary: Rooting for the Rogue
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and am enjoying the series. It mixes fantasy, intrigue, politics, romance ... all the right ingredients in the right doses. The characters are excellent -- you may very well find yourself empathizing with characters you didn't think you could ever empathize with. I dislike the cliche' of the rogue epitomizing honor in such stories, and luckily this book doesn't quite stick to the formula. The rogue isn't quite honorable, but he does do the right thing when it counts.
Rating:
Summary: An addictive tale of political intrigue.
Review: I came across Lynn Flewelling's books rather by accident. I was looking for books in the vein of a book I am in the process of writing as a sort of learning experience, and sheer dumb luck from an Amazon.com recommendation based on my searches found me this book. I believe that my tiresome search at midnight truly was a stroke of luck in the shadows, and Lynn has swiftly earned a place among my favorite authors. Lynn's overall style is both descriptive and fluent. She tends to linger on description at points, but in general she doesn't go crazy with the detail and maintains a comfortable pace. I could clearly see what was happening at all times. Her characters are definitely the best part of the book. I found Seregil's enigmatic charm fascinating and Alec's innocent naivete refreshing. I also found Alec's gradual transition from an unworldly, illiterate hunter-boy to an educated, sharp-minded apprentice thief amazing and very realistic. The two of them alone were enough to keep my interest throughout the book and the supporting characters like Micum Cavish and the wizard Nysander add to that. Lynn has a unique way of making her characters believable, interesting, and most importantly of all: Human. Lynn also employs a delightful sense of humor with characters making subtle, but witty remarks and innuendos. Never have I laughed so much while reading a fantasy book. Seregil's verbal jousts with the Thero character are priceless. The plot is an interesting one. Without spoiling anything I will say that the plot in this book involves a lot of political intrigue, scandal, and good old fashioned housebreaking. I've read comments about the presence of homosexuality in the book. The Seregil character is indeed bisexual and he does appear to have a "thing" for Alec. However, the love interests are a trivial aspect of the story. Seregil's sexuality is vaguely alluded to at some points but only once is homosexuality ever discussed directly and that whole discussion takes place in roughly one page, and only a few times are Seregil's feelings for Alec directly expressed through a few lines of internal monologue. In short, it's the plot that gets all the attention and the "love interest" generally sits in the back burner. So simply put: only a very insecure person prone to overwhelming bouts of homophobia would find the presence of homosexuality in the book the least bit disturbing. Now to this book's weakness. The only discernable weak point in this book is how the conflicts are presented. As the story unfolds, the book turned from a fantasy book to basically a Scooby Doo mystery set in a midievil time period, with many conferences between the main characters about discovered clues and plans to uncover "who did it". Not to say this isn't interesting, it is. My main problem is that Lynn doesn't set any particular tone in the presentation of this. Save a few notable exceptions there isn't much suspense. More like "We found evidence A, now we must investigate person B to uncover evidence C, which will lead us to concoct theory D and proceed to break into person E's house to find evidence F". However, the characters will charm you the whole time and the delicious human element makes up for practically everything. In conclusion, I feel I'm lucky to have found this book and give it my highest recommendation, which coming from me is very rare. I'm doubly glad that the night I found this book I decided against only buying one book in favor of getting the whole series at once. I urge you to do the same thing. You won't be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Ho-hum
Review: I would have preferred to give "Luck in the Shadows" two and a half stars. It's competently written, but I just didn't find it very interesting. The storyline was very typical of fantasy novels (with strong shades of a certain other author for a large part of the book), and was definitely the first part of a series, rather than being self-contained. The unanswered questions about the artefact that affected Seregil, those hunting it, and the apparent coming war were very annoying. Is the storyline that suddenly developed of plots against the Queen picked up in the subsequent novels? If not, it comes across as filler. A tighter structure, a less typical storyline, and a greater concentration on what skills a good thief and spy needs to have would have improved "Luck in the Shadows" significantly.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: A magical adventurous fantasy which captures the imagination from the beginning till the end. Delightful, often humourous and rich in characters this is fantasy at its best. I dread fantasy series which goes on forever like the Wheels of Time. Hence I scanned through the reviews of the 3rd book before I decided to buy the series. Glad that I did. It was pure joy reading Luck in the Shadows. The story is so well written that your imagination just runs wild with each scene, each paragraph. Thank you Ms Flewelling for such a joyful read.
Rating: 
Summary: Very entertaining
Review: I found this to be a very entertaining read. The characters are believable (as much so as any character in a sword-and-sorcery novel can be), and I found Alec's progress from hayseed to apprentice thief well done. The settings are well-visualized. Internal consistency (a must for a good fantasy novel) is maintained. On the whole, a worthwhile first novel. I look forward to the rest of the series.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: If you enjoy Mercedes Lackey books, you will like this author. I found her characters to be similar in nature but less whiny than the Lackey books. This series was a fun read that I didn't want to put down.
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Summary: High adventures
Review: This first book in the Nightrunner series introduces us to Alec of Kerry who's been imprisoned for reasons he doesn't understand. He's resigned to his unknown fate, but his cellmate turns out to be a master spy whom Alec eventually knows as Seregil. Seregil rescues Alec and soon finds the younger man to be indispensable in more ways than one. Seregil begins training Alec as his apprentice in many skills: spy, thief, rogue, master of disguise. The two mistakenly steal a magical object, which almost destroys Seregil, but Alec rescues his mentor by bringing him home to RhÃminee, in Skala, where Seregil recovers, only to find himself at the center of a plot to destroy his homeland. And to top it all off, Seregil is beginning to feel attracted to his young student. Seregil must stifle his feeling so that he and Alec can put an end to the danger to Skala, but the danger may prove to have longer fingers than either of them anticipate. "Luck in the Shadows" begins a bit slowly, but soon the reader is in the thrall of the story, speeding along through the adventures. It's an amazing beginning to a trilogy that will send the reader scampering for the next book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent fantasy series
Review: I chanced upon the Nightrunners series while I was ordering for the high school library for which I work. I read all three books and was pleased with the detailed and complex world in which these well thought-out characters live. The books were all entertaining and detailed with a thread of humor that I found very engaging. It was like meeting a new person and feeling as if you'd known them all your life. The issue of the relationship between Seregil and Alec is handled with the same good humor. It becomes simply another facet of these very fascinating characters. I am looking forward to reading more about this world and these people.
Rating:
Summary: Not your average fantasy . . .
Review: Lynn Flewelling's Luck in the Shadows was the first fantasy novel I have read in a while, and I have to say I was suitably impressed. Her plot is engrossing with lots of unexpected twists and turns, and her characters are engaging and believable. She makes you care about what happens to her characters, namely Seregil and Alec, the heroes of the story. She also has several strong minor female characters in atypical roles such as soldiers and generals. The world in the story is carefully crafted with lots of detail, but not so much that the reader is bogged down with too much to remember. Overall, the details make it a very real, three-dimensional world that the reader is reluctant to come back from.
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