The Return of Nightfall by Mickey Zucker Reichert

Mickey Zucker Reichert's The Legend of Nightfall is my favorite of her books, and one of my favorite novels period.  In it, we meet Sudian, a thief and assassin known as Nightfall.  Nightfall is a jaded cynic firmly convinced he's among the most evil things to walk the earth.  Since losing his sole friend and father figure, Dyfian, years ago, Nightfall has only trusted one person with any of his secrets, including his name: the love of his life, Kelryn, a dancer and former prostitute who is his sole weakness.  A bit of a romantic at heart, Nightfall is utterly besotted with Kelryn and tends to think of her in flowery terms, a startling contrast to his coldness in all other regards.

Nightfall has plied his trade for 20 years in half a dozen countries, with a different civilian identity in each.  He is amazingly successful at his job, but, as always happens, he was eventually found out and thrown in the dungeons of Alyndar.  Normally, this would have led to a quick execution, but the king has a problem.  His older son, Leyne, is everything he could ask for: handsome, intelligent, a stateman with a good head on his shoulders, a leader of men on both the battlefield and in politics, etc.  But his younger son, Edward?  A naive idealist who sees the world through the thinkest rose colored glasses known to man.  Edward, or Ned, is on the fast track to crossing the wrong person and either getting himself killed or sending his country into war.  Not fond of either option, the king makes a deal with Nightfall:  "Nightfall" must die, but Sudian can live if he will agree to protect and guide Edward, but only after having a compulsion spell cast on him to make him obey Ned and be utterly loyal to him.  In addition, Nightfall must somehow contrived to get Ned respected and landed, and most importantly, keep him in one piece and not pissing anyone off, all the while without clueing Ned in to what kind of person he really is.  If he fails in any of this, he dies.  As the only option is death right then and there, Nightfall agrees.

While Ned is by far too honest, noble and forthright to be allowed to live, he actually manages to not make you want to punch him in the face, as most such young men in fantasy(ERAGON!) tend to do...a few smacks upside the head, sure, but no desire to shatter his nose and ruin his pretty profile.

What follows is a grand, swashbuckling adventure with Nightfall and Ned-and soon, Kelryn- eventually saving the kingdom and Ned himself becoming king, with Nightfall refinding his soul along the way.

( and now The Return of Nightfall itself... )

Also, as I know this matters a fair bit to several on the f-list when it comes to fantasy:  The magic is pretty much limited to the fact that in this world, some people are born with a talent(in Sudian's case, the ability to control his weight) and sorcerers are people who murder them to steal the talent for their own.  Beyond that, it's simply a wellcrafted faux medieval world.

The Return of Nightfall by Mickey Zucker Reichert

Mickey Zucker Reichert's The Legend of Nightfall is my favorite of her books, and one of my favorite novels period.  In it, we meet Sudian, a thief and assassin known as Nightfall.  Nightfall is a jaded cynic firmly convinced he's among the most evil things to walk the earth.  Since losing his sole friend and father figure, Dyfian, years ago, Nightfall has only trusted one person with any of his secrets, including his name: the love of his life, Kelryn, a dancer and former prostitute who is his sole weakness.  A bit of a romantic at heart, Nightfall is utterly besotted with Kelryn and tends to think of her in flowery terms, a startling contrast to his coldness in all other regards.

Nightfall has plied his trade for 20 years in half a dozen countries, with a different civilian identity in each.  He is amazingly successful at his job, but, as always happens, he was eventually found out and thrown in the dungeons of Alyndar.  Normally, this would have led to a quick execution, but the king has a problem.  His older son, Leyne, is everything he could ask for: handsome, intelligent, a stateman with a good head on his shoulders, a leader of men on both the battlefield and in politics, etc.  But his younger son, Edward?  A naive idealist who sees the world through the thinkest rose colored glasses known to man.  Edward, or Ned, is on the fast track to crossing the wrong person and either getting himself killed or sending his country into war.  Not fond of either option, the king makes a deal with Nightfall:  "Nightfall" must die, but Sudian can live if he will agree to protect and guide Edward, but only after having a compulsion spell cast on him to make him obey Ned and be utterly loyal to him.  In addition, Nightfall must somehow contrived to get Ned respected and landed, and most importantly, keep him in one piece and not pissing anyone off, all the while without clueing Ned in to what kind of person he really is.  If he fails in any of this, he dies.  As the only option is death right then and there, Nightfall agrees.

While Ned is by far too honest, noble and forthright to be allowed to live, he actually manages to not make you want to punch him in the face, as most such young men in fantasy(ERAGON!) tend to do...a few smacks upside the head, sure, but no desire to shatter his nose and ruin his pretty profile.

What follows is a grand, swashbuckling adventure with Nightfall and Ned-and soon, Kelryn- eventually saving the kingdom and Ned himself becoming king, with Nightfall refinding his soul along the way.

( and now The Return of Nightfall itself... )

Also, as I know this matters a fair bit to several on the f-list when it comes to fantasy:  The magic is pretty much limited to the fact that in this world, some people are born with a talent(in Sudian's case, the ability to control his weight) and sorcerers are people who murder them to steal the talent for their own.  Beyond that, it's simply a wellcrafted faux medieval world.

(no subject)

 Kyle Gallagher, aka Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas (aka Bart Allen, but I've seen 1 of his Smallville eps as opposed to all of his Veronica Mars eps) is in the current episode of Bones as a repressed emo goth kid.  I am inclined to believe he's the killer on principle.

(no subject)

 Kyle Gallagher, aka Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas (aka Bart Allen, but I've seen 1 of his Smallville eps as opposed to all of his Veronica Mars eps) is in the current episode of Bones as a repressed emo goth kid.  I am inclined to believe he's the killer on principle.

Bones "It's best if you don't talk right now"

*facepalm*

You are a pair of geniuses.

You are buried alive.

You are both aware that you have EXACTLY 12 hours of air before dying.

 One of you can even calculate out exactly how long you would have until you die.

It is, therefore, COMPLETELY logical that the two of you will talk nonstop, using up all the air in the car, hastening your imminent deaths.

*headdesk*

Bones "It's best if you don't talk right now"

*facepalm*

You are a pair of geniuses.

You are buried alive.

You are both aware that you have EXACTLY 12 hours of air before dying.

 One of you can even calculate out exactly how long you would have until you die.

It is, therefore, COMPLETELY logical that the two of you will talk nonstop, using up all the air in the car, hastening your imminent deaths.

*headdesk*

Hoshin Engi Vol 2 by Ryu Fujisaki

 Volume 2 of Hoshin Engi depicts Taikobo's first encounters with two future friends: Nataku(who I have to regularly remind myself not to call Naraku or Nakago) the automoton-like boy with godlike power and a serious mother complex, and Yozen, the immortal in training, an immortal send to aif Taikobo but doesn't think Taikobo is worthy of his aid.  Both encounters play out very similarly to how they did in the anime, save that at the end, both leave to acquire more training before joining Taikobo fulltime.  If I recall the anime correctly, both immediately joined Taikobo-if they didn't, then they came back fairly quickly.  I find I rather like the manga version better, though, as it seems to fit the chinese adventure storytelling style I've gotten used to with wuxia, with allies coming and going in the hero's life.

Sadly, because they're more important later on, of my two favorite characters in the anime, Ko Hiko is only making small but important appearances so far, and Bunchu hasn't even made an appearance yet(nor, for that matter, has my other favorite, Ko Tenka.)  Sadly, Shinkohyo(aka, the funny looking guy with the flying cat) wasn't in this volume as much as he was in the last.

While I loved loved loved the first volume, I wasn't quite as in love with this volume.  Not because it wasn't as good, but because the anime was pretty faithful to most of the events here, and I've read up enough to know what's coming, and I'm impatient.

I'm actually getting more and more interested in the myth the manga seems to be primarily based on-that of Da Ji, a fox spirit who possesses a queen in order to seduce the king and rule the kingdom.  Not just for the manga, though, There's a Fan Bing Bing series called The Hero and The Legend also based on it, which I'm told is quite good.

Hoshin Engi Vol 2 by Ryu Fujisaki

 Volume 2 of Hoshin Engi depicts Taikobo's first encounters with two future friends: Nataku(who I have to regularly remind myself not to call Naraku or Nakago) the automoton-like boy with godlike power and a serious mother complex, and Yozen, the immortal in training, an immortal send to aif Taikobo but doesn't think Taikobo is worthy of his aid.  Both encounters play out very similarly to how they did in the anime, save that at the end, both leave to acquire more training before joining Taikobo fulltime.  If I recall the anime correctly, both immediately joined Taikobo-if they didn't, then they came back fairly quickly.  I find I rather like the manga version better, though, as it seems to fit the chinese adventure storytelling style I've gotten used to with wuxia, with allies coming and going in the hero's life.

Sadly, because they're more important later on, of my two favorite characters in the anime, Ko Hiko is only making small but important appearances so far, and Bunchu hasn't even made an appearance yet(nor, for that matter, has my other favorite, Ko Tenka.)  Sadly, Shinkohyo(aka, the funny looking guy with the flying cat) wasn't in this volume as much as he was in the last.

While I loved loved loved the first volume, I wasn't quite as in love with this volume.  Not because it wasn't as good, but because the anime was pretty faithful to most of the events here, and I've read up enough to know what's coming, and I'm impatient.

I'm actually getting more and more interested in the myth the manga seems to be primarily based on-that of Da Ji, a fox spirit who possesses a queen in order to seduce the king and rule the kingdom.  Not just for the manga, though, There's a Fan Bing Bing series called The Hero and The Legend also based on it, which I'm told is quite good.