Reviews with content warning for Lesbophobia - The Traitor Baru Cormorant

This book ripped my heart out and shredded it and set it on fire. I loved the first third of the book and was totally captivated, found that the middle section dragged a bit at times

(I struggled a bit to keep track of all the battle-moves the different parts of the rebellion were making)

but the last hour and a half literally had me riveted and praying that what I thought was going to happen wouldn't happen.

I have never felt so sad for a character who mercilessly drowns their lover for their own personal gain!!!!!! Even though she loved her! Like... I wanted u guys to be happy :(

I saw someone say that the twist of this book is

that there is no twist, that you think Baru will find a way to make things right with the rebellion and all the other people who pledged loyalty to her and then to Tain Hu, even after her betrayal, and it just never happens! She set things in motion in the beginning and she'll be damned if she doesn't play the part she wrote for herself. I have chills just thinking about it. I loved the machinery motif throughout the story, with the 'gears of Empire' and Baru herself being full of polished gears-- I think it really helped me see how once she was going there was nothing even she could do to stop herself.

I need a physical copy to scribble all over.

Also I didn't think I'd ever read a book where

scurvy was such a recurring issue. I'm going to eat an entire lime.

I don't think I'm gonna recover from this one tbh

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sersi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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honeypunk's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

For the first 15% of the book I found it a difficult read to get through due to the authors writing style. I am not a fan of extremely long sentences strung together with commas and this appears to be something that the author used quite a lot in the beginning. In addition there were often times where I had to reread a sentence multiple times because there weren't commas in places I would expect. For example:
'Since a time before Baru could remember how to remember the market had filled the Iriad docks, the most noisy and joyous thing in the world.'
It made the experience much more difficult, and this combined with learning new fantasy terms and jargon spun me out.

However, I was really intrigued by the premise of the story, watching a character go through her country being colonised and her grapple for power. I began to enjoy the book, but halfway through this fell flat again.

I found my interest lost with the intracacies of war. The war felt like the protagonist, and Baru the side character who is watching it all come together. I am told about battles or political alliances falling apart , lists of Duke names I have no personality to match to, so I don't feel like I'm experiencing it.

Of course this is in part due to the fact Baru is hidden away, a tactical adviser as all these events happen and she hears about them via letters of via her meetings.

Unfortunately even when

the final war breaks out

I still found myself searching for more. I wanted to care about the characters, about Baru and those she surrounded herself with. This book just fell so flat for me, and the only reason I dragged through to the end was in hopes I would finally feel connected to the consequences of her actions, or the pain characters went through. But I didn't.

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hailstorm3812's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

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

I liked it but not as much as I thought I would. It's a very interesting story and I want to see where it goes but it is also a ceaseless bummer. I almost wish they hadn't told us about

the conversation with the council and just saw Baru's actions because I had trouble buying into the relationships knowing what she will do. I did love Tain Hu though, even know what was likely to come. I was sad but I knew it would happen. Maybe that's a good thing since Baru is so vividly painted that I felt like I knew her so well.

I need to know what happens next but I know I will feel bad. Wish me luck!

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andrew_corduroy's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

This was a challenging listen, as many fantasy books are with all of their names and places. But damn if I wasn’t just hooked and felt like I needed to know what happened next.

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aileron's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

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justasking27's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.25

Brutal.

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kingcrookback's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

This is a compliment: The last twenty percent of this book made me want to scream. The way Dickinson seeded the reveal, just enough to barely rouse suspicion at first, and the way it all started adding up, terrible but unstoppable. I sometimes felt like I was watching someone start building a cage, only to suddenly understand that they're building it around themselves. God, it was almost unbearable, so effectively constructed.

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