Recs, anyone?

[sky]

Hi, I'm new to the community :)

So I've just finished reading everything that's out so far of otterdance's amazing Nightrunner series, and having absolutely fallen in love with the characters and world (although I see from previous entries that not everyone agrees with me :D;; but to each their own, right?) I've been hoping to find something with a similar feel to it to tide me over until White Road comes out next year. I particularly enjoy the strong, lovable characters, the running-about-being-ninja-y and the political intrigue/high-society schmoozing aspects of the series; romance, slashy or otherwise, is a nice bonus but not the main attraction for me. Also, I find it hard to get into books where there's a lot of character death.

So does anyone have any good suggestions? Thanks in advance for giving it a moment of thought!