Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - The Blood Traitor

Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Blood Traitor by Lynette Noni

4 reviews

linnealionheart's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Theres mostly focus on the main characters feelings instead of whats actually happening to the point where it takes away from the story a little bit

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the_jesus_fandom's review against another edition

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adventurous

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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theoceanrose's review

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adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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bookforthought's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-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? Yes

3.5

The Blood Traitor picks up exactly where the previous book had left us, with Kiva right back in the place she had so desperately tried to escape. I hadn't re-read the previous books in preparation for this one, but it was fairly easy to pick up the thread again, and there were plenty of reminders here and there of previous events and characters.

Kiva's character has been a constant high point in this series for me, and she continues to shine in this book as well. We find her hitting rock bottom at the beginning of the book and follow her journey to (self-)forgiveness throughout. I really liked how she was portrayed even in her most vulnerable moments, and the fierceness, compassion and loyalty she keeps displaying, and her character arc was very satisfying.

I also loved reconnecting with old favourites (looking at you, Caldon and Tipp!) as well as meeting some new characters and getting to know others better. As in the previous books, the group dynamic works really well and I love the found family trope here: there is always a real sense of connection and true affection between the various characters, and it is just delightful to see it play out even in very challenging circumstances. The antagonists are, by contrast, quite bland and end up being stereotypical villains that could almost switch between themselves without anyone noticing, which is really a shame as they had so much potential for nuance.

One major issue I had with this book was the way Jaren's character changed from previous books. While I completely understand he is also still reeling, processing the traumatic events from the previous book, and coming to terms with the consequences, I found his behaviour towards Kiva to be absolutely horrible and definitely not in line with the Jaren we've come to know in the rest of the series. He is borderline abusive and full on gaslights her, and I found it very hard to accept how this was just glossed over and completely accepted by Kiva in the name of love, using his suffering and trauma to justify his whole behaviour as if she weren't suffering and traumatised herself. I am also not a fan of the miscommunication trope and found it to feature much too heavily here for me to truly enjoy their attempts at reconciliation.

There was also a quest in this book, which I generally enjoy immensely, and it provided a great opportunity to develop the world further, taking us beyond Zalindov and Evalon. I loved the vivid descriptions of the other realms and how uniquely they were characterised. If anything though, the journey felt extremely rushed as, to be honest, did most of the book. We were constantly jumping from one place to the next, to the point that I didn't feel I could really take in all that was happening and the different realms just sort of meshed together. The book was quite literally packed with action, which might be perfect for other readers but didn't quite work for me.

If you read my reviews of The Prison Healer and The Gilded Cage you'll already know I have a difficult relationship with the plot twists in this series, of which there are many. And this book was no exception. Some of the reveals I had guessed thanks to good foreshadowing, while others seemed to come out of nowhere, but even more so that in previous books they mostly seemed like a convenient way out of sticky situations.

Overall, this was a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy and an enjoyable read despite its issues.

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