A little side project I have been pursuing is diving into fantasy series from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s, to see if I can dredge up some hidden gems to recommend. I don’t often see many series from these decades recommended to me and I thought I might do the generous work of sifting through the slop to find a couple of worthwhile series. The pickings have been bad. It is becoming quickly apparent why not many series from these years are touted. There are definitely some standout winners, but most of the options you will find are desperate Lord of the Rings knockoffs trying to mimic its success with little substance. Most of my top picks from this era so far are the rare books that try something new or go in surprising directions, even if they still feel like they are in that LotR style. Nightrunner, by Lynn Flewelling, is one such series.
Nightrunner is a seven-book series that begins with Luck in the Shadows. I have currently read two out of the seven books and I already feel confident enough to say that this twinkfest is not like the others. If you were to turn to the back of Luck in the Shadows you would see a synopsis something like the following: The slipper star of our show, young Alec of Kerry, has been taken prisoner for a crime he didn’t commit. Staring down the trap door of a gallows, Alec is very sure his life has come to an end but he finds himself a strange bedfellow in his cell. Seregil of Rhiminee, a hot elven noble rogue, is a man of many talents (appetites) and he doesn’t have plans to stick around. When he offers to take Alec with him as his apprentice, things may never be the same for either of them. Soon Alec is traveling roads he never knew existed, toward a war he never suspected was brewing. Before long he and Seregil are embroiled in a sinister plot that runs deeper than either can imagine, and that may cost them far more than their lives if they fail.
There is a lot of plot that happens in these books, but at their core, they are always about the relationship between Alec and Seregil. The first two books cover a lot of ground, introducing us to a vast political apparatus that spans a globe and has multiple factions with clear objectives. Seregil is part of a fairly dispersed organization that seeks to keep stability in the world but does it as a sort of side gig like the National Guard. The lifelong pursuits of defeating the big bag, the clear-cut forces of darkness, and the prophesized hero are all here in some form but they are muddied almost beyond recognition as Flewelling plays with identity and builds complex characters that have layers to their lives and actions. Seregil spends just as much of their time conning nobles, attending brothels, and helping friends establish a ranch as they do fighting a doomsday necromancy cult that threatens to destroy the world by summoning an undead god. By the end of book two the cult that I thought would pervade all seven books is functionally dealt with and we are moving on to new and other interesting conflicts. The result is a book with the atmosphere of a busy middle-aged professional, trying to live several lives at the same time and accomplish an impossible-to-do list. Originally I found this angle a little off-putting but I rapidly converted to the biggest of fans.
One of the side effects of such an eclectic character story is that the pacing in the book is quite abnormal. The story arcs don’t feel like they are mapped to their individual novels and exist outside the bounds and constraints of mere page counts. Conflicts come and resolve with a strange cadence. There are entire leisure side quests that serve to enrich the characters and their relationship but don’t move the plot at all. Side characters get their own unexpected vignettes that come out of nowhere. The result is a book that doesn’t quite fit into your stereotypical structure (which some might hate), but it uses this structure to really get you into the very interesting headspace of Alec.
Speaking of Alec’s headspace, it is important to note that while this series has a lot of elements to its experience, it is absolutely romance-forward. More excitingly, it is a gay romance that was published in the mid 90’s which feels extremely ahead of its time. Alec and Seregil are both bisexual and see themselves involved with a number of romantic partners in just the first two books alone, but this very much feels like the story of how they end up together. There is a small hiccup with this as Seregil is much, much older than Alec. I mentioned that Seregil was elven earlier which isn’t entirely accurate (though it works well as a shorthand). There aren’t actual elves in the series, but Seregil is a part of a rare race in the world that lives for hundreds of years. Flewelling actually does a very good job diving into the implications and impacts of having such a long lifespan when surrounded by regular mortals. We see how the unaging in the book have to watch their friends and lovers age and die and the toll it takes on them. We see how they have odd prioritization and perspectives because their lease on life is so much longer which leads to different forms of character. But, all of this still makes it hard to watch a much older Seregil hit on a seventeen-year-old Alec. I like that the romance is a very slow burn so it feels like the best version of an age gap, and I very much do buy their attraction and love for one another, but I still don’t like it.
The result of all of this is that Nightrunner stands out in the crowd thanks to all its little details. Seregil and Alec feel like complex friends, not just words on paper. I genuinely don’t know the direction their story and romance is going to take, and that excites me. The series is a wonderful evolution of the genre at the time and Flewelling was making big moves to build something new. When I do eventually write my recommendation guide to fantasy to these decades of old, you can be sure that Nightrunner will make the cut. If you are looking for something a little older, and a lot gayer, I recommend checking it out.
Recommendation: Nightrunner Series – 8.5/10
-Andrew
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