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

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Such a slow start, it was initially a struggle to get into… but then once they got to the main city where the majority of the plot takes place, it took off like a race horse and I was completely hooked. Loved the camaraderie and although the “mystery” was quite obvious, it’s written in a way that the reader is in on the joke - the main character can’t figure it out because he’s too busy being noble, but literally everyone else (including the reader) knows, and that was fun. I love overly-noble heroes who everyone else pokes fun at… but also can’t help but love and follow. Falcio is a great example of this. I’d give the first half of the book a 3, the second a 5, so splitting the difference and going with 4. 

The only scene I hated was
the sex scene. Falcio is almost out of his mind after being  tortured, and says no, stop, several times, and she keeps going, saying she isn’t afraid of him… that’s not how consent works, my dude.  You’re clearly supposed to be intrigued by her, and find the scene healing/romantic, that she convinced him her sexual healing would… heal him? But it just feels coercive and sort of gross, especially when she tied him to the bed without consent, after the poor man had JUST been chained up and tortured for days! I hope, if she sticks around in future books, she gets more of a personality (and a conscience) than “sexy woman heals you with sex for your own good, regardless of how you feel about it”. The author clearly does know how to write good female characters, so she’s sort of a weird cliche anomaly.
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