I tracked this novel down, largely, because it is part of the vanishingly small canon known as "Fantasy novels with gay/bi protagonists" and I was pleasantly surprised to find myself breezing through a well-written fantasy romp, rather than niche-audience dreck. (You may hear, dear reader, the bitter tones of a man who has been burned by such things in the past...) 
 Luck in the Shadows is very much pre-2000's fantasy: still very indebted to Tolkien (dark powers returning, ancient artifacts that corrupt the soul...), but engaged in the genre-experimentation that started turning up in the 90's (political conspiracy, rogues and heists). It's not terribly surprising to me that this came out at about the same time as Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice, for example. If you wanted a quick summation, it's Lord of the Rings meets proto-Gentlemen Bastards. 
 For protagonists, we have Seregil, an enigmatic master spy, and Alec, a 16-year-old orphan (naturally, an orphan) who finds himself accidentally apprenticed to this wily thief and master of disguise. The story itself is a little oddly constructed, following a standard "Hero's Journey" until around halfway through, where the epic fantasy plot takes a backseat and the skullduggery and intrigue takes over. Imagine if Frodo got the one ring all the way to Rivendell, but then Tolkien delayed the council of Elrond for some an intra-elf political conspiracies. 
 Oh, and if Frodo had unresolved sexual tension with Aragorn. 
 So, a solidly enjoyable, well-written book. I'd be tempted to call it unremarkable, were it not for the fact that bisexuality (by main characters, casually accepted, without great angst and stigma) in the fantasy genre is still incredibly rare and refreshing to read, even twenty years later. So I'll definitely be looking up the sequel, of which I have heard good things.