Recent Reading: Luck in the Shadows

[rocky41_7]

I really hate to give up on a book, but sometimes, there are too many other tempting things on the horizon to keep ploughing through an active read in the hopes it gets better. Today I put aside Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling. While I would have liked to have gone all the way to the end before making a judgement, there just over 9 hours still to go on the audiobook and the book has simply not given me enough to power through that.

 

At nearly 9 hours in (about halfway) my overall feeling towards this book is indifference. Towards the plot, towards the characters, towards the setting. It's very generic fantasy and just doesn't give much to bite onto outside of that. The first half of the plot has some fun adventure elements, but when the mentor-figure, Seregil, becomes incapacitated partway through, the youthful protagonist Alec is simply not enough to carry the story. The second half of the story is more political intrigue, and I can't help but compare it to The Traitor Baru Cormorant which I'm also currently reading, and that comparison does Luck in the Shadows no favors. 

Seregil and Alec's escapades are fun, and it's interesting to see the creative ways they go about their tasks, but for me it's not enough to make up for the lackluster plot and detailed but unremarkable worldbuilding.

 

There's a disappointing dearth of women in the story, although one of the fantasy kingdoms in which the second half of the story takes place has been ruled by a succession of queens for centuries. There is some casual queerness in the story which I liked, but when I looked for more reviews on this to help me decide if it was worth pressing on, I learned (SPOILER) that Alec and Seregil become a couple later on. Given that Alec is barely sixteen at the start of this book, and Seregil is a middle-aged man, I'm just not here for it.

 

This is the first book of a series (the Nightrunner series), but my general feeling on series is that it's a cop-out to rely on later books to make up for weaknesses in earlier books. Particularly here, where each book gets longer, the author is asking for me to take a lot on trust that this story will get better with time.

 

I really wanted to like this book, as I really want to like all fantasy novels, but it's just not worth the amount of time investment needed. Also, in general, not looking for stories about adults falling in love with teenagers. Disappointing, but there are other things to move on to.

Crossposed to books 

Comments

[chestnut_pod]

DOn't be sad, be proud! It takes strength of character to close a book with prejudice.

[rocky41_7]

It helps when I have a whole list of other, more-interesting-sounding books to tempt me away from one that's just not cutting it for me. Already moved onto something new 😎

[pauraque]

I can almost never DNF a book no matter how little I'm enjoying it, and I admire people who can!

[rocky41_7]

I definitely used to be firmly in the "if I start it, I'm finishing it" camp, but as I've gotten older and stingier with my time I've relented a little...having an actual TBR helps too because I can look at all the stuff I'd rather be reading XD I like to feel I've at least given the book a solid chance though, and if I'm at 50% still waiting for it to get good...girl it is not happening.

[kaffy_r]

I've been lucky in my fiction reading. I can't remember the last time I didn't finish a novel. I do have novels that I need to reread because I read them when I was young and arguably unable to enjoy them because of that. Samuel R. Delany's Dhalgren tops that list.

On the other hand, I remember actually throwing David Friedman's The Machinery of Freedom across the room when he suggested that slavery was an agreement between enslaver and enslaved. Jesus H. Christ ....

[rocky41_7]

That is an insane take and I also would have chucked that book.

I've gotten more willing to take risks since I got another library card, since I won't be out any money if I don't like the book, but I do occasionally get some duds. I probably would have finished this one anyway except that there were another nine hours left on the audiobook and it was just NOT worth it.

[kaffy_r]

Yeah, David Friedman is the son of that major libertarian economist Milton Friedman, so I should have known. I think one of my at-that-point-libertarian-leaning friends gave me the book. I'd already disliked the first little bit of the book, making notes in the margins (bad, I know, but I was fired up) about what I considered ridiculous failures of logic ... and then I ran into that. Great baby pickles ....

I love my library card, although I can forget it for too long, then go on a borrowing spree.

[alaterdate]

Oof! Yeah, years ago I bought this book cuz I heard the series is good, but I had a tough time with it too! I don't even remember if I finished reading it. There's one point where there's like a song written out and at that point I was already suffering and begging like please don't do this to me, I'm not strong enough lmao.

[rocky41_7]

I didn't hate it I just...felt nothing. And it's not short! Obviously the author put a lot of thought into her world I just didn't care about it :') And then hearing about the Alec/Seregil romance I was just...no thanks. Fortunately, we have a lot more options for queer fantasy today so I don't have to stick it out with this one.