Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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37 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An aquired taste, but excellent despite it's flaws., January 1, 2003
Traitor's Moon, the third (and currently the last) book in the Nightrunner series, continues the story of Alec and Seregil (who are now full-fledged homosexual lovers). I read this book with certain expectations set by Lynn's previous two books, and while Traitor's Moon is indeed an intriguing addition to the series, it stumbles in places and I feel it really could have been done better. However, even with all it's flaws it's still on par with Lynn's previous work, it lives up to all the standards of the Nightrunner series; it just doesn't surpass them.To begin, Lynn's writing seems to have changed a bit since Stalking Darkness. Her writing style has certainly gotten more fluent, but also more vague. It's as if she decided that since she has two books under her belt, she could relax. With characters moving to entirely different areas in the span of a sentence without much due description, it's hard to imagine the characters surroundings, leaving your mind to fill in the blanks. Exposition abounds. Lynn's notorious habit of having characters stop in the middle of nowhere to give long-winded history lessons is replaced by the narrator stopping in the middle of nowhere to give small history lessons. This doesn't at all interfere with the pace of the book, but it can get distracting. In Traitor's Moon, Lynn takes us to Aurenen, the sacred homeland of the Aurenfaie race, the land from which Seregil was exiled in his youth. Lynn is introducing an entirely new culture here, and I must commend her for the good job she did with it, even if she did go overboard at times. At the beginning you're given lessons disguised as scenes about Aurenfaie culture which are mercifully brief and entertaining, but once the boys reach Aurenen you're thrown into the deep end of the pool, drowning in a sea of Aurenfaie terminology, hard to pronounce words, and overly long names. "Bilairy's Balls, Captain, I haven't understood a word since we got here," one of the characters complains, echoing my own thoughts as I read that sentence. The pace of Traitor's Moon is slow, sometimes painfully so. The beginning drags on and on as if it is building for some spectacular plot twist, which it is, but the going is slow. Don't expect this to be much like Luck in the Shadows or Stalking Darkness, burglary is practically absent from this book and the political intrigue comes much later. The pace doesn't really pick up until roughly 200 pages into the book. "Something interesting finally happened," the narrator comments at around page 200, again eerily echoing my own thoughts as I read that particular sentence. However, once you get the hang of Aurenfaie culture and get past the opening fluff, it's full speed ahead, launching into another masterful tale of political intrigue. Gone is the pitifully cliched "prophecy" of Stalking Darkness (ok, just ignore the Rhui'Auros babble). The juxtaposition of fantasy and "whodunit" mystery is is a refreshing change from the typical fantasy fare, and as usual, Lynn's mastery of bringing her characters to life shines through. The characters are just as real, funny,interesting, and "human" as in her past books. Seregil and Alec are definitely the stars, but it seems they may be upstaged by Beka and Nyal if they don't watch out. Overall, this is an excellent book, if a bit slow and hard to get into initially. I recommend you read the first two books before this one, though, as they are the faster and more gripping parts of the series. The book looses a star because of the flaws I listed above, still you'd have to be a fool to dismiss this book.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Welcome Return to Flewelling's World, April 20, 2004
Continuing her well-received Nightrunner Series, Lynn Flewelling's Traitor's Moon picks up two years after the end of Stalking Darkness. Lovers Seregil and Alec have spent the intervening time in a self-imposed exile in the wilderness of Skala, but while they have been far from the intrigues of court life, the bitter war with the Plenimarans has continued unabated. Skala is facing almost certain defeat, and the dying Queen Idrilain sees only one hope for salvation. They must renew their alliance with Aurenen, the mysterious and mystical land to the south.The Queen is sending her youngest daughter, Princess Klia, along with one of her best military leaders, Beka Cavish, but they need an escort, someone who understands this strange land in which outsiders, or Tirfaie, have not been welcomed for centuries. That's where Seregil comes in. He is an exile of Aurenen, forced to leave as a young man for a crime of which he has never spoken. Idrilain has negotiated his return on very strict conditions, and Beka manages to convince a very reluctant Seregil to accompany them back to his homeland. Alec, who is part Aurenfaie, is thrilled to be journeying to Aurenen, Seregil is decidedly less so. The land holds many memories for him, both happy and dark. As Alec learns more about their shared heritage, he learns much about his lover's hidden past as well. He needs to learn quickly however, because things are very different in Aurenen, and Klia will need all the help she can get on her diplomatic mission. The Aurenfaie live very long lives, so they see things quite differently. They take longer to make decisions. The problem is Skala doesn't have a lot of time. Things are getting worse on the battlefront daily, and a decision must be reached soon. Ancient intrigues threaten to sideline their work, and when a Skalan delegate is found dead, it's up to Seregil and Alec to work their master spy skills to save the mission-and Princess Klia-from certain doom. Traitor's Moon is the third book in this series, and it differs from the first two in several significant ways. Seregil and Alec are finally a couple after their cautious and awkward courtship that spanned the first two books(...). Flewelling compensates for this well by exploring their untested relationship as they journey into Aurenen together, and by throwing in a new dose of romance with Beka and a suspicious Aurefaie guide. This book is also less action driven and therefore reads a little slower. It feels more like a political thriller than the swashbuckling adventures of the first two installments. Still, it was such a pleasure for me to return to old friends like Seregil and Alec that I loved every minute of it. Flewelling is a masterful writer and her world building skills and character development are on a par with the best in Fantasy. I was sorry to see the book end, and I'm already looking forward to the next book, to be released hopefully in 2005.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful, beautiful, enchanting, August 7, 2006
I admit that I first picked up this series because I knew there was a love story, and I can't resist a fantasy novel with a good love story. The first book, Luck in the Shadows, was good, filled with a story that took me by surprise, and had me buying the second book almost before I'd finished the first. Stalking Darkness was another hidden gem, and at the end, I thought nothing could beat the wonderful, touching story that filled it. Still, I wanted to continue on with the characters' stories, so I picked up Traitor's Moon.
I was a bit wary of the book; I've heard of it being the lesser of Ms. Flewelling's works. But just a few chapters in, I knew it was the best.
Yes, the story is mostly political intrigue, but that line has been building since the first chapter of the first book. Yes, Ms. Flewelling's writing style has changed, but, I think it has made a turn for the better. Her prose takes on an almost poetic tone as Alec and Seregil venture into the heart of Aurenen. My favorite line? 'Like the moon, I'll hang close to you through the night, reflecting your brilliance by virtue of my own dark surface.' Who can resist someone who writes as beautifully as that? The scenes she describes are equally as breathtaking, and most of them are just enchanting. I find myself smiling as I read through her descriptions of Sarikali, Akhendi, and all the other delightful places her creative imagination has come up with. The exchanges between her characters are as passionate and full of life as ever, if not more.
As our beloved character continue on their journey, a new language begins to develop, and things might become a bit more confusing. But compared to the other books, where whole sentences were spoken in unknown tongues and went untranslated, the new words here are easy enough to follow, and each is carefully explained. The long names are not difficult, either, if you're willing to take a few extra seconds to puzzle them out. The similarities between Aurenen names can become confusing sometimes, I admit, but I must say I've read far worse.
All in all, I would say that the flaws in this book are minor things, mostly changes in style, and any true, avid fantasy reader will appreciate the world and culture that Ms. Flewelling has brought to life for us. This is a jewel to be discovered, the best book of them all. Of course, I strongly recommend that you read the Luck in the Shadows and Stalking Darkness first; knowing the characters makes you love and appreciate them all the more. But when you've finished with them, don't hesitate to pick this book up. You will be missing out on something lovely if you don't.
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