A review by stannisstan
Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell

adventurous dark funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This is a very fast-paced and readable book. The rapport between the three Musketeers Greatcoats is delightful and fun to read. But there are definitely problems with the book.

Readers who point out that the middle section is basically lifted straight from The Purge are basically correct. I like the part where Falcio confronts Lorenzo about the New Greatcoats, because it demonstrates clearly what kind of person Falcio is that he cares more about the reputation of the Greatcoats than his own physical safety and that of his charge. However, I question the wisdom of having this Purge Ganath Kalila occupy so much narrative space. I don't necessarily have a problem with de Castell putting his own spin on The Purge, but that section of novel went on for too long. I don't think he did anything interesting enough with the concept to warrant the amount of ink devoted to Falcio and Aline's adventures during the Blood Week. Falcio is most entertaining when he is with his friends, and for him to be separated from them for most of the novel while he runs around Rijou is kind of a puzzling narrative choice.


Then there is de Castell's treatment of rape. Yeah, it just isn't good. He immediately fridges Falcio's wife right off the bat, so Falcio's man pain can fuel his quest for justice. And then there's the
Ethalia interlude.  I think I understand what de Castell is trying to go for here.  He is trying to show Falcio's resolve and commitment to King Paelis' higher ideals of justice and to Aline personally, to the detriment of his own personal happiness.  And he does so by employing the old trope where the noble knight (or hero) resists the easy temptation of a seductress, thereby demonstrating the nobility of his spirit and his devotion to a higher purpose.  However, the way the scene is written ... it's rape, even if that isn’t what de Castell intended.  Whereas in old poetry, a scene like this can be delineated in a couple of lines, often with some ambiguity, de Castell has to narrate the entire exchange in prose with some amount of detail in the first person.  Because the book is written in the first person.  And the effect is very different.  Even if Falcio’s narration doesn’t frame the encounter as rape, a straight blow-by-blow summary of events clearly puts this scene under the rape category.  He says “No,” and she ties him down.  He’s not fully conscious, and she chooses to keep going.  It’s not ambiguous.  And given the rape of his wife, his feelings of powerless at the time, and Falcio’s general preoccupation with the rights and freedoms of commoners, it’s kind of a glaring inconsistency in his character that his own bodily autonomy or lack thereof isn’t something that’s remarked upon in the text in connection to this scene.  Instead Falcio adopts Ethalia’s framing, where she is simply trying to heal him, and he is closing his heart off to happiness (and emotional healing) when he rejects her. 😬

 
There are many instances of Kick the Dog in this book, but de Castell actually goes so far as to use animal torture to show how evil his villain is.  It's kind of on-the-nose and maybe a bit gratuitous.  I'm not entirely sure how I feel.  Since de Castell is trying to create his version of a swashbuckling Three Musketeers tale, it stands to reason that he would lean on all the classic tropes of the genre.  Given the project of the book, I feel like his reliance on tropes (and there are many!) is justified.  It's just some land better than others?

The numerous fight scenes are also perhaps overly descriptive for my tastes. De Castell obviously puts his experience as a stunt fight choreographer to good use. However, I'm one of those readers that has trouble visualizing action scenes, so detailed descriptions of where one duelist has positioned his rapier vis-à-vis his opponent's body, and where each body part is positioned at what angle just don't mean much to me. 

All that being said, the basic concept for the series is solid. And there were many parts of the book that I enjoyed. The flashbacks to Falcio’s past with Paelis are interesting. The reveal about
Trin’s true identity
is great! And Falcio seems poised to undergo some interesting changes as a character. 

Overall, my experience has been mixed. Some really solid sections, and some really … Yikes! moments. 
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