Shards of Time by Lynn Flewelling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
There’s only one reason you’re reading this review: you want to know if the last (for now) book in the series is worth it. If you liked the series previously, you’ll like the last installment. Seregil and Alec are up to their old schemes–they may not be in Skala the entire book, but they have to deal with some pretty nasty magic, and there are some heartbreaking moments interspersed with witty banter along the way. As opposed to quite a lot of fantasy novels out there, the title makes sense pretty quickly.
Per usual, Seregil and Alec manage to find themselves in the middle of a magical catastrophe that might just engulf their world in unending darkness. I’m not sure if it was just the fact that I’ve read a lot of fantasy so I picked up the clues quicker, or the author was being a little more blatant about the plot, but I felt like everything was laid out clearly and I picked up the twist as the points were revealed. Apparently S&A are suckers for the darker magics coming after them, but you should expect that type of story by now. New readers will probably enjoy the plot anyway, but there are lots of details a veteran will appreciate. I reread the whole series before reading this one, and I’m glad I did, because I caught all those little tidbits for the true fans. I also realized just how much the author puts her characters through; it was particularly hard to read the parts of SHARDS where the characters are going hungry (or worse, thinking they’ve eaten something truly horrible), and there are plenty of wounds, both physical and mental, that must be healed.
I went through this book pretty fast, and felt that the ending was a satisfying way to cap the series. This book won’t change anyone’s mind about the series, but it’s a good solid fantasy read. I enjoyed the interaction between S&A and the other characters; everyone seemed to have a reason to be there in the middle of all the magic, and they acted as realistically as they could when confronted with ghosts and darker things. The end of the book is open, though not a cliffhanger. Readers will have to believe that our heroes will go on with their lives, happy. If you like the series as a whole, you should read this one and finish the Nightrunner experience.
Received as a free digital ARC via Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.