Shards of Time

by Lynn Flewelling

Reviewed by Ruby

Alec and Seregil have been sent to Korous. There has been some unrest there since it was handed back to Skala after the war. Many of the residents are still loyal to Plenimar and were not happy when the sacred island was given back. Now the new Governor and his mistress are found horrifically murdered with rumors of ghosts and demons being behind it.

Along with Princess Klia and their friends, Thero and Micum, Alec and Seregil must discover what has happened and quickly. There are people disappearing every day and ghosts are being spotted everywhere. To make matters worse an evil that has been slumbering for hundreds of years has woken up and is now seeking revenge on the descendants of the royal house who trapped her in a world of the dead. Unfortunately the only way to get to her is to pass through tears between the two worlds and only the dead can walk with the dead.

For a book that is supposedly the final book in the Nightrunner series (maybe), there was something seriously lacking in it. There seemed to be an awful lot of time spent on a buildup and the resolution was just kind of dealt with in the last two chapters. On top of that, there were very few actual consequences to the “final epic battle” and, as a result, there was little to no emotional repercussions. I felt nothing during the book and that sucks because I love these characters. There were even scenes that were apparently supposed to be emotionally charged but they fell flat for me.

Even the end had a very "happily ever after" feel that doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the series. I was very disappointed. This series started on such a high for me, where I have seriously read the first book over and over again because I loved it so much and it had dwindled into this emotionless generic fantasy book.

And is it too much to ask for one book (one!) without continuity errors?

Grade: D

Coral's Review

Though I have never been as much of a fan of the book series as Ruby has, I did enjoy the earlier books in the series. It is always frustrating when a promising series starts to decline in quality and even more so when it ends (though in this case it may be just “ends for now”) on such a low note.

This never felt like an ending to the series. There was no finality to it, nothing that wrapped up the story in a way that is satisfying should the author choose not to go back to it.

The main mission of this book was disappointing. After all the build up I felt the resolution was too easy so that it negated everything that happened earlier. Seriously their solution ended up being what two thirds of the book they tried to avoid!

It was an underwhelming end to say the least.

Grade: C