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A review by natcat
Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This book is something of an odd duck, but I did enjoy it. The comparisons to The Three Musketeers are apt, particularly in the fairly tongue-in-cheek tone of the writing and the decisions of the main character to solve all his problems with the maximum amount of drama possible (Falco isn’t a lot like d’Artagnan, but in this respect he is very similar!).
The flashbacks were a little confusing in that it wasn’t always clear when things were happening, but I did enjoy how they slowly unfolded the story of Falco and of the King and his Greatcoats. The secondary characters varied from too thinly characterized (oddly, Falco’s two companions/friends suffered most from this, I thought) to very entertaining (most of the less important secondary characters were actually very well-drawn in their brief page time).
I mostly enjoyed the series of adventures that Falco found himself in (aside from the slightly odd little interlude with Ethalia which didn't seem to have much of a point and raised far too many questions about consent for something that didn't go anywhere), but the last 10% or so of the book contained a lot of revelations that didn't really get a chance to settle, and felt weirdly paced in comparison to the rest of the book and very much like it was only interested in setting up the sequel, which I am definitely going to read!
The flashbacks were a little confusing in that it wasn’t always clear when things were happening, but I did enjoy how they slowly unfolded the story of Falco and of the King and his Greatcoats. The secondary characters varied from too thinly characterized (oddly, Falco’s two companions/friends suffered most from this, I thought) to very entertaining (most of the less important secondary characters were actually very well-drawn in their brief page time).
I mostly enjoyed the series of adventures that Falco found himself in (aside from the slightly odd little interlude with Ethalia which didn't seem to have much of a point and raised far too many questions about consent for something that didn't go anywhere), but the last 10% or so of the book contained a lot of revelations that didn't really get a chance to settle, and felt weirdly paced in comparison to the rest of the book and very much like it was only interested in setting up the sequel, which I am definitely going to read!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
Moderate: Torture