Luck in the Shadows

This was the second time I have read this book. And once the year is over and I allow myself to reread books again, I'm going to read it first thing. Because it is amazing. Let me elaborate.

Let's start with the basic plot, shall we? It takes the basic fantasy storyline and adds a few twists in that make it fairly original, or at least as original as a fantasy story can be.

It opens on bad guys, doing bad things, though we can't really tell what they are doing. After two pages it switches to the main character of the story, Alec, as he sits in a jail cell, having just been tortured for information he does not have. He wants to die, but knows that his captors are purposely leaving him alive so that they can sell him to slavers eventually. Great. More fun. Luck is on his side however, and a man is thrown into his cell who helps him escape. Seregil claims to be a bard and offers to take Alec on as an apprentice. Alec has no where else to go because he is an orphan (stop groaning, I already warned you it follows the basic fantasy storyline) so he follows Seregil around, learning all he has to teach. It turns out Seregil is more than just a bard, but also a Watcher. Not like the Buffy kind of Watcher, more like a spy. He works for a wizard named Nysander (who, if you would like to continue on the Buffy analogies, is actually more like a Watcher. A Giles type Watcher. Not a Seregil type Watcher. You catch my drift) who accepts Alec as a Watcher as well. However, Seregil and Alec are getting in further over their heads than they know, and it is obvious that trouble is brewing.

Over all, this is one of my favorite book series. It is unique enough to keep you into it yet standard enough that you can follow it. Some of the background characters have similar names so it is slightly hard to keep track of them to begin with, but in the end, that does not detract from the overall enjoyment or ability to understand it.

My one complaint is that it was slightly difficult to get into the first time I read it. The beginning is fairly uneventful because they need to set so much stuff up, and it gets slightly tedious. The second they meet Nysander, however, this all changes and the book is nearly impossible to put down.

When I read books, I immediately begin to think about which famous actors or actresses I would cast in the different roles. This book is the only exception I have found. The characters are so real, that they seem like real people to me. I cannot picture anyone playing them, because I can picture them so clearly as is. She has painted a near perfect image of these characters, and forgive the cliche, but I feel like the literally jump off of the page. I feel like I could really know them, and actually be friends with them.

I definitely recommend this book. Plow through the beginning, and don't give up, because, in the end, it is definitely worth it.