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andrew_corduroy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Death, Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Homophobia, Colonisation, Animal death, and Murder
Moderate: Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Violence
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Confinement, Drug use, Grief, and Outing
abbyschalupa's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
The first set of chapters hooked me. Baru’s childhood is raw, detailed in rich prose and the wounds are eminent there on the page. Immediately, I was rooting for her. So what happened?
Unfortunately, the writing. Everything from there on fell. While the beginning brought the lens to focus on Baru, showing her experiences and all she endured, it felt like the writing style switched. Maybe that was the intention.
However, the writing no longer gave a lens into Baru’s world. It wrote from an outsider’s view, in black and white tone, as though a script were documenting all that occurred. There became an extreme lack of detail, we are no longer shown Baru’s world but instead told about it. The color went away and all became black and white. The rest of the book read like text for socioeconomic studies, detailing who said what, and what that meant, and what Baru must now do. All told, never shown.
Everything here is detached. I no longer cared for any of the characters, or Baru herself. She skyrocketed through the ranks, in ways that felt incredibly unrealistic, becoming arrogant, ruthless, and coldhearted. Although repeatedly called a savant, she ended up putting herself into multiple bad situations that were entirely avoidable. There were several situations I saw solutions to, but this savant never saw coming, and gave stern replies to people she supposedly cared about, only to never see them again before they died. It became incredibly frustrating.
I debated quitting halfway. Instead I skipped through chunks of chapters, glad to not have tried reading through them. It felt more like dragging through socioeconomic dense text compared to reading. Far more detached telling then showing. I ended the book disappointed that with such a great start, I never could get hooked back into the story or the character again. Unfortunately, the writing took such a detached and reporter like stance that I found no possibility of drawing further into the story, caring about the characters, or getting further invested. A huge bummer for me.
Graphic: Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Murder, Sexual content, Death, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Death of parent, Grief, Genocide, and Medical content
Moderate: Gore, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism
aileron's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, War, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Grief, Medical content, Animal death, Blood, Sexual violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Racism
Minor: Confinement, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, and Suicidal thoughts
justasking27's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.25
Moderate: Death, Rape, War, Police brutality, Lesbophobia, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, and Colonisation
bloodbrooxv's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The worldbuilding was thrilling and I adored all of the political intrigues, even tho i felt a bit lost with all of the names and plot threads (probably because I'm not a native speaker).
Baru was such a compelling and complex character to follow, especially towards the end. Her conflict is realistic and speaks volumes when we consider how colonialism is the main theme in this novel. The other characters were a bit flat, but I particularly liked both Tain Hu and Murie Lo.
The thing that bugs me the most about this book is probably the fact that it prefers telling you things rather than showing you, which isn't always necessarily bad. For example, even tho the other characters' motivations are clearly stated in the story, we don't really see how the consequential events play out, but rather we get to know about them through Baru.
Overall i really loved this book, the ending BROKE ME and i can't wait to read the second one.
Graphic: Colonisation, Homophobia, Violence, War, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Animal death and Torture
Minor: Rape
strawberrybex's review
4.0
please do look through the trigger warnings though! they are very real. and like add on pretty extensive discussions of eugenics (as like a mechanism of the big evil empire but. thorough and frequent)
Graphic: Colonisation, Death, Homophobia, Violence, Lesbophobia, and Murder
Moderate: Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, War, and Death of parent
imperialism, colonialism, colonial violence, genocide and cultural genocide, race science and eugenics. also threats of sexual violence include like. threats of FGM. also conversion therapyjan1e's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Murder, Death, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Torture
emeraldrina's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Moderate: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, War, and Murder
Minor: Cursing, Blood, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Outing, Vomit, Death, and Pandemic/Epidemic
lktx's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
First: THAT ENDING. As soon I realized what was happening, all the pieces Dickinson laid clicked into place. It wrecked me in the best way and was the right ending for Baru's character. The best description I've read for Baru is that it puts the Red Wedding to shame, but Dickinson managed in a way that has me desperate to know what is going to happen next.
Second: The world is hard and uncomfortable. The Masquerade is unflinchingly hateful against gay men and lesbians and will expend every tool in its arsenal to push it's "hygenic standards." They are also proponents of biologically determined theories of race and eugenics.
I also really enjoyed Baru as a character. She's complex, intelligent, and singularly focused. She's also young and many of her choices seem appropriate for someone young and inexperienced.
I listened to the audiobook version and narrator, Christine Marshall, did a fantastic job not only portraying Baru, but built tension in the right places and helped draw attention to pieces that readers needed to know, but might not realize.
The Traitor Baru Cormorant was wonderfully executed, kept my interested, and gave me an ending I don't think I'll be able to stop thinking about. It's easily one of my top reads of the year. I couldn't get my hands on the next book fast enough.
Pros:
- Strong voice for Baru and her narration style wonderfully fits her character.
- Complex plot that the author provides clues for the ending, but I still didn't see it coming.
- Deep world, deep characters, deep story. I was so invested in everything.
Cons:
- There were a few threads that Baru offered that I didn't feel were resolved (WHAT IS IN THE WELL?), but I assume that will come later in the series.
- It was a dark book, which wasn't a problem for me, but rather something to be aware of.
Graphic: Homophobia, Colonisation, and Violence
Moderate: Death
Minor: Torture
indeedithappens's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Moderate: Death, Abandonment, Body horror, Sexual content, Addiction, Animal death, Cursing, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Racism, Sexism, Ableism, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Biphobia, Blood, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Bullying, Child abuse, Violence, Classism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual harassment, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, War, Xenophobia, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Lesbophobia, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Slavery, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship