History Literature / Nightrunner

* BloodMagic: Necromancy, practiced by the Plenimaran elite. Mild variations (e.g. tracking people using their blood) are practiced by Oreska wizards though it's generally frown upon and the Aurënfaie completely shun blood magic.

* CunningLinguist: Seregil speaks Aurefaie, Skalan, Plenimaran and some more living languages, as well as two or three ancient ones.

* ChekhovsGun: The Akhendi charm bracelets.

* BiggerBad: Seriamaius. Other than appearing in [[DreamingOfThingsToCome prophetic dreams]] he is more of a driving force for the various BigBad[=s=] than an actual character.

* HeroicBSOD: Happens to Seregil after [[spoiler:Nysander's death]].

* HappinessInSlavery: BRUTALLY subverted with Alec's Master in "Shadows return"[[spoiler: who expects Alec to be calm and cheerful at the prospect of a life as a test subject for Yakobin's alchemic endeavours.]] And then there's his pet slave Khenir who will be freed soon and is happy at the prospect... but well... it still ends up a solid case B. Most 'faie slaves are either a type B or C and in general: et's just say, Mrs. Flewelling gets the point across that slavery is shit no matter how kind a slave owner deems themselves to be.

* HappinessInSlavery: BRUTALLY subverted with Alec's Master in "Shadows return"[[spoiler: who expects Alec to be calm and cheerful at the prospect of a life as a test subject for Yakobins alchemic endeavours.]] And then there's his pet slave Khenir who will be freed soon and is happy at the prospect... but well... it still ends up a solid case B. Most 'faie slaves are either a type B or C and in general: et's just say, Mrs. Flewelling gets the point across that slavery is shit no matter how kind a slave owner deems themselves to be.

* KissingUnderTheInfluence: Alec and Ylinestra.

* LongLived[=/=]WizardsLiveLonger: Aurënfaie and Orëska wizards (who have Aurënfaie ancestry anyway). It is unclear if other magic users have extended lifespans as well, although Necromancers may become undead.

* PropheciesAreAlwaysRight: Seregil and Alec's relationship. Seregil even chooses to disbelieve a small portion of the Illorian Oracle's prophecy because he couldn't accept that he and Alec would end u together (despite being obviously attracted)

* HealingMagicIsTheHardest: The FunctionalMagic levels in this world are fairly high and magic can be readily used to, for example, transform people into animals or even inanimate objects. But healing is rarely a quick fix affair. In particular it is not always affective at curing the effects of diseases or poisons. Hence the incredible value of a successfully created ''rhekaro''.

* OurLichesAreDifferent: The ''dyrmagnos'' are undead evil necromancers.

* "Glimpses" (2010), short stories anthology

Seven books have been published so far. The second book is a sequel to the first, and the remaining are standalone. The seventh is supposedly the final book in the series.

* OverlyLongName: In the south a highborn person's name includes the given name, the names of same-sex parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, and place of birth, much to Alec's perplexity. The standard way of politely referring to someone would be e.g. ''Seregil i Korit'' or ''Klia a Idrilain''. Alex has the abbreviated name of "Alec i Amasa Kerry" as he doesn't know all the names.

* StarCrossedLovers: Alec's parents, Iriya a Shaar and Amasa of Kerry.

* TimeAbyss: Applies to all of the dyr'magros, necromancers turned into extremely long-lived, dried out, black husks. [[spoiler: Prime example however would be Rhazat at an age of over 1000 years. She's the Mother of necromancy, bringing the art to Plenimar in the first place.]]

* TheStoic: Riesel the Hazad is a hardcore stoic.

Six books have been published so far. The second book is a sequel to the first, and the remaining are standalone. A seventh (and supposedly final) book is scheduled to be published in 2014:

* HappyInSlavery: BRUTALLY subverted with Alec's Master in "Shadows return". It's less how he treats Alec... but his favourite slave, Khenir, is extremely devoted to him and Yakobin does seem to apprechiate him. Doesn't mean he wont beat Khenir up... or threaten to sell him... however, Khenir at that point is so broken from previous abusive masters he adores Yakobin no matter what... [[spoiler: And then there's the fact Yakobin expects Alec to be calm and cheerful at the prospect of a life as a test subject for Yakobins alchemic endeavours.]] ... let's just say, Mrs. Flewelling gets the point across that slavery is shit no matter how kind a slave owner deems themselves to be.

* NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering: The Iia'sidra. As a fairly large nation where a significant chunk of the population can use magic, they could easily be the dominant power in the region, eclipsing any or all of the Three Lands. But the many clan divisions and the contentious politics of the Iia'sidra tend to prevent the Aurënfaie from acting as a unified nation.

* OurElvesAreBetter: The Aurënfaie are typically beautiful, live for several hundred years, and were the first beings to possess magic. However, Flewelling herself has expressed distaste for stereotypical elves. Thus, while the Aurënfaie are an entire race of {{Pretty Boy}}s and Beautiful Girls, they do not possess such features as pointy ears and can pass for human with little effort. They also have a more diverse culture based on clans, many of which favor interests that in no way resemble "classic" elves, and even the clans appear to have some diversity. This surprises even some characters.

* OurGodsAreGreater: Lots of differences of opinion here. The Four: Astellus, Dalna, Illior and Sakor are the traditional deities of the Three Lands. However, Illior and Sakor are definitely favored in Skala, whereas people in the northern regions prefer Astellus and Dalna. The ruling class of Plenimar, a nation in which most people worship the Four as well, instead favor the foreign god Seriamaius because of the power he promises. Meanwhile, the Aurënfaie exclusively worship Aura (Illior) and it appears to vary from person to person whether or not they even believe in the other gods. At the same time, the Retha'noi are quite adamant that their moon goddess is ''not'' the same deity as Aura/Illior.

* ParentalAbandonment

* TheSpymaster: Nysander and later [[spoiler: Magyarna (for a short while) and Thero]], who manages an intelligence network known as the "Watchers". It's a hereditary post pass from master to disciple and the Watchers are active well beyond Skala borders. They work not only to uncover political plots but also to collect scholarly knowledge.