The White Road [Mass Market Paperback]

Besides nightmares and fresh scars Alec and Seregil brought along another souvenir from their adventures in Plenimar. Sebrahn might look like a little child, but he was created in a dark ritual with Alec's blood, sweat and tears. Such creatures are called rhekaros, but neither Alec nor Seregil know exactly what a rhekaro is and what they can do. What Sebrahn has shown them is scary enough. He can kill with a song, heal wounds with his blood and he has called Alec back from the dead. The two nightrunners don't know what to do with their little charge, but there are many who would love to take their decision away from them.

THE WHITE ROAD might not be the best book that Lynn Flewelling has ever written, but it's an improvement to her last Nightrunner novel. The story is tighter and more suspenseful. Stuff happens - interesting stuff even. We get to know more about the rhekaro, the Hazadrielfaie and Alec's family. The goal of the main quest isn't world shaking or groundbreaking, but Alec, Seregil and Micum face enough challenges for it to be entertaining.
I also liked the characters more than in Shadows Return. Seregil seems to be more confident, Alec doesn't go as easily into a snit and they work as a couple again. Their personality, their chemistry isn't as vivid as in the early books however. Then, a simple glance could be more potent than a love scene in THE WHITE ROAD. All in all I'd say Flewelling has problems with emotional depth in this novel. A lot of stuff happens, but the author flits almost too fast from one scene to another, from POV to POV. For example I was never quite sure how Alec felt for Sebrahn. Sure, we are told that he is important to him and that he loves him, but I never quite got the impression from his actions. Alec treats Sebrahn too much like a pet or a doll that he puts in a corner when he doesn't want to play anymore. I had a similar problem with another POV character. I don't want to spoil too much, but he starts out as an enemy but has a change of mind, which is important to the plot. Again, I couldn't gain a clear emotional picture. I could follow the logic, but didn't feel it.
The main reason I'm not too fond of this novel is the ending. Alec and Seregil are back in an old situation. The events of Shadows Return and THE WHITE ROAD may have left them more scarred and a little bit wiser, but otherwise it's as they've never happened.

THE WHITE ROAD is good enough to keep on reading, but I'm not really excited about this series anymore.

This is the fifth book in the Nightrunner series (following Luck in the Shadows, Stalking Darkness, Traitor's Moon and Shadows Return), and I sincerely recommend starting at the beginning of the series with Luck in the Shadows. It's an excellent series and well worth your time, unless male/male makes you uncomfortable (have it be know that there are no detailed sex scenes in any of the books so far, so whether you find that positive or negative, you have been told).

The White Road (read an excerpt on Lynn Flewelling's website) follows directly where Shadows Return ended, and centers on the issue of What to Do with Sebrahn. (If you don't know who Sebrahn is, you need to read the other books and not the rest of this review.) For fear of any spoilers, I won't say too much more.

Having been unable to sit down and really enjoy a book for a few months, once I settled into this book I devoured it. It's more fast-paced than Flewelling's other books, which had more calm, introspective moments. While I enjoyed the action, I missed some of the character-developing reflection. It felt as though certain parts of the book had not been completely finished, or fully edited. I thought some of the action might have been more tense if the moments before had received more detailed attention. Not that the writing isn't descriptive, but I felt there were some key scenes that ought to have been slowed down instead of being interrupted by a fight sequence. I'm not saying that the fighting should be held off until all emotional issues have been resolved--damn inconvenient ambushes!--but I AM saying that perhaps not all of these moments had to be interrupted. I think it left out the usual thorough character development, and some of the newly introduced characters were not as fleshed-out as they seemed in the past.

I love this series. It's one of my favorites. And I love the characters. But I sincerely miss the focus on nightrunning. I know not all the books can be focused on it, but it has not been so prevalent in the last two books (or even Traitor's Moon). I did get to have my book signed by Lynn Flewelling at Comic-Con this year, which was very exciting, and I asked her about upcoming books. She said, with seeming certainty, that there would be two more Nightrunner books (I'm not sure if this includes the upcoming collection of short stories entitled GLIMPSES). Based on the ending to The White Road, it seems like there will be more actual nightrunning, and I look forward to it.

So overall I seem a little lukewarm on this book. But I really enjoyed reading it, and if you're already a fan of the series then I consider it worth following through with this book. If you have yet to read any of the books in this series (but proceeded to read my review anyway...tsk tsk), you MUST start with Luck in the Shadows. Trust me. I know stuff. Sort of.

Just read the books.

:UPDATE:

I actually revised this from four stars to three. In retrospect, it was rather disappointing. It all felt rushed. Initially the book was supposed to be released in July 2009 I believe, but then it was pushed back to Winter 2010, and then finally released in May 2010. I think perhaps Flewelling had some trouble finishing the book, and then maybe the editing was rushed so it wouldn't be released any later. In the end, it seems like a placeholder; the Sebrahn and Ulan i Sathil storylines had to be wrapped up to make way for another storyline. BUT if you enjoy the Nightrunner series, I maintain that this book is worth reading.

I absolutely loved the first 3 books in the Nightrunner series, and was less enthralled with the fourth as the relationship between Seregil and Alec reached a point where I didn't understand Alec' reluctance to share his feelings with his partner, especially since they shared an empathic bond.

In this, the fifth book, I felt the author had fallen into the trap some others writers like Mercedes Lackey later did: they create stories that seem very rushed for core fans but will be hard to follow for newer fans. I simply found the journeys from point to point all over the maps improbable and the repeated injuries and instant heals unnecessary, and these were my most peeved point of "The White Road". I felt like it was an "interim" novel. I certainly hope more from the next book. I won't stop reading because I love the characters Seregil and Alec, but I would like to go back to the original formats and be "more real".

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 22 reviews  4.5 out of 5 stars