Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - The Traitor Baru Cormorant

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

36 reviews

fe_lea's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.5

“What would it mean if Aurdwynn looked to a foreigner for its salvation? How could we reject all the Masquerade’s notions of heredity if we needed foreign blood to free ourselves?”

Baru Cormorant’s island gets invaded by the Empire of Masks and they kill one of her fathers. She decides to join the Masquerade, to learn their secrets and master their ways so she can later destroy the empire from within.

This book is far from perfect, but I generally enjoyed it. The pacing is slow, much slower than I’m used to, but I was fascinated in its focus on fiscal and monetary policies in starting/stopping a rebellion. I read this for the geopolitics and economics, and while it didn’t exactly deliver on the geopolitics part, I was pretty much satisfied with the economics part.

“It’s not what the Masquerade does to you that you should fear (…) It’s what the Masquerade convinces you to do to yourself.”

What I liked: If you haven’t guessed it yet, my favorite part about this book is the economics and finance part, lol. As an econ grad and former civil servant who worked on fiscal policies, this wasn't surprising, lol. I really liked that this focused more on the use of economic policies over military strategies because the latter would just fly over my head. The fiscal and monetary strategies were easier for me to follow. Sure, the concepts were basic and not really how they would work so some suspension of disbelief had to be done, lol, but I had fun reading. Another thing that really hooked me was the use of culture as a tool of empire and colonialism. I liked how that was written. It was brutal and so, so relatable.

What I didn’t like: The worldbuilding felt lacking. I couldn’t picture the world and the book could really use more descriptions. I couldn’t tell the duchies apart and I had a hard time following who’s allied with who. Basically, the geopolitics was clumsily written. Another thing I didn’t like was that the characters were indistinguishable from one another. Aside from Baru, Tain Hu, and Muire Lo, I don’t remember any of the other characters now, and I couldn’t tell them apart. I did like Baru though, she was cold, calculating, and very distant. I can see how people will hate this kind of writing but it kinda worked for me. One last thing is the writing style, there was a lot of telling and minimal to no showing. I think the author got carried away with the minutiae of the economics and accounting that the other parts got forgotten, lol, good thing this worked for my selective brain. I probably won’t reread this book in the future, as I have a feeling I won’t like this the second time around 😅

For a debut novel, this was a pretty good start. I do hope it improves from here.

“I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood.”

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pineapplesurvivor's review

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dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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bluebirdost's review

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challenging dark slow-paced

I do not think this book was my cup of tea. The story is very political and slow paced. I enjoyed the first half of the book more than the second, which seems to be a minority opinion. I think the pacing a bit weird, it would start to pick up and then go back to snail speed. The stuff about accounting was definitely a bit hard to follow but I got it eventually. However, the rebellion part was confusing especially during combat scenes. I had a hard time remembering all the dukes and duchesse's names which made reading the latter half hard. I was not particularly attached to Baru by the end of the book. I know protagonists don't have to be likable but I don't enjoy books unless I like the protagonist. I understand her motivation but that wasn't enough for me. It was upsetting to see her lose herself over the course of the story. I know this is the point, but I don't think I ever got attached enough to make me want to see her potential redemption arc. A lot of the characters seemed very detached which I suppose makes sense because Baru really saw most of them as pawns rather than people. The two characters I felt the most attached to were Murie Lo and Tain Hu. I don't think it's insignificant that they were also the two characters to whom Baru had the closest attachments.

Baru's double cross at the end wasn't entirely surprising but I was upset I had to read all the dull combat just for it to be undone in a few pages. I also hated that Tain Hu was killed by Baru's orders. I understand the reasoning but the book already had so much homophobia. I don't think it's exactly 'bury your gays' but it's something in that ballpark.

Ultimately I think this book was much too dark and political for my tastes. I like a story where I can root for the protagonist and have things wrapped up with a bow.

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