Hello Everyone,
Book Title: The Traitor Baru Cormorant
Book Author: Seth Dickinson
Series: Book One of Four
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Macmillan
Page Count: 400
Goodreads Summary:
Tomorrow, on the beach, Baru Cormorant will look up from the sand of her home and see red sails on the horizon.
The Empire of Masks is coming, armed with coin and ink, doctrine and compass, soap and lies. They’ll conquer Baru’s island, rewrite her culture, criminalize her customs, and dispose of one of her fathers. But Baru is patient. She’ll swallow her hate, prove her talent, and join the Masquerade. She will learn the secrets of empire. She’ll be exactly what they need. And she’ll claw her way high enough up the rungs of power to set her people free.
In a final test of her loyalty, the Masquerade will send Baru to bring order to distant Aurdwynn, a snakepit of rebels, informants, and seditious dukes. Aurdwynn kills everyone who tries to rule it. To survive, Baru will need to untangle this land’s intricate web of treachery – and conceal her attraction to the dangerously fascinating Duchess Tain Hu.
But Baru is a savant in games of power, as ruthless in her tactics as she is fixated on her goals. In the calculus of her schemes, all ledgers must be balanced, and the price of liberation paid in full.
Trigger Warnings: Content and trigger warnings for homophobia (always in a negative light, but still very abundant throughout the story), racism, colonialism, sexism, misogynistic comments, talk of genital mutilation. (According to Google)
My Thoughts:
I was completely enthralled with the first fifty two percent of the book! While the plot wasn’t original (at least to me) the writing was beautiful and Baru was a strong, likable character.
The writing drew me in, though it certainly contained a lot of tough subject matter so please do pay attention to the trigger warnings listed.
Though I enjoyed the first half of the book, it started slipping as Baru is an accountant and… numbers just aren’t my thing, okay? It was hard until I just dnf’d at 60% of the way through. Who knows? I may go back to it but for now I’m just going to keep mulling about how much I liked the first half of the book that I’m still thinking of it a week and a half later.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Until next time,
-Pass Me That Book
Pass Me That Book 