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picklefall1's review against another edition
5.0
Schemes within schemes. Machiavelli would approve.
You're going to love watching people poison and stab and stomp on each others' heads in this political catfight. What's that? You don't like those things? Then this might not be your lead-lined cup of arsenic. And definitely not bedtime reading for the kiddos, either. All the assassinations found herein reminded me of ancient Chinese dynasties.
Okay, it's not ALL about violence. There's lesser flavors of betrayal, too. (the title says it all) And there's love and loyalty enough to soften you up for the next killing. My favorite part is when one major character teaches another how to fence. I was so engrossed by that scene that I forgot I was reading a book.
And the author makes so many great character observations that I'm reminded of Brent Weeks in the lightbringer series and of Joe Abercrombie in the First Law trilogy:
-"Something was condescending, even patronizing about that smile, and that was not how smiles were intended to be used"
-"Ordan stopped pacing and watched her face for a reaction. He was always doing things like that, trying to figure people out. She liked to watch him do it to others, but it wasn’t so fun when you were on the other end of it."
-"Here they were, happy to finally be killing each other."
-"Some men preferred violence to calm and trouble to peace."
The book is packed with other clever one-liners:
-"It takes more than blood on a sword to make a hero."
-"The stars burned brightly overhead as if they were there to bear witness to the horror."
-"it was as if the room understood the depth of its history and importance."
-"It felt good to kill his brother." (easily one of the most disturbing lines I've ever read in a book!)
The author opens a great big window into the hearts of men who pine for respect, exposing how vulnerable their deep-seated insecurities render them. And how easily their foes can exploit it. The sin nature of man struts down the catwalk on full display here. "We are all traitors in our own ways, he supposed." Yep. I suppose so, too.
There are a few minor editorial hiccups, but the story and world building and vivid prose distracted me from those with ease. Roberti's writing wields a grim beauty that's not flashy but still grabs you by the eyeballs. Take the first sentence of chapter one: "Only when he felt the other man go limp did he know he could stop pushing." When I read that, I knew I had to keep reading. I'm glad I did.
You're going to love watching people poison and stab and stomp on each others' heads in this political catfight. What's that? You don't like those things? Then this might not be your lead-lined cup of arsenic. And definitely not bedtime reading for the kiddos, either. All the assassinations found herein reminded me of ancient Chinese dynasties.
Okay, it's not ALL about violence. There's lesser flavors of betrayal, too. (the title says it all) And there's love and loyalty enough to soften you up for the next killing. My favorite part is when one major character teaches another how to fence. I was so engrossed by that scene that I forgot I was reading a book.
And the author makes so many great character observations that I'm reminded of Brent Weeks in the lightbringer series and of Joe Abercrombie in the First Law trilogy:
-"Something was condescending, even patronizing about that smile, and that was not how smiles were intended to be used"
-"Ordan stopped pacing and watched her face for a reaction. He was always doing things like that, trying to figure people out. She liked to watch him do it to others, but it wasn’t so fun when you were on the other end of it."
-"Here they were, happy to finally be killing each other."
-"Some men preferred violence to calm and trouble to peace."
The book is packed with other clever one-liners:
-"It takes more than blood on a sword to make a hero."
-"The stars burned brightly overhead as if they were there to bear witness to the horror."
-"it was as if the room understood the depth of its history and importance."
-"It felt good to kill his brother." (easily one of the most disturbing lines I've ever read in a book!)
The author opens a great big window into the hearts of men who pine for respect, exposing how vulnerable their deep-seated insecurities render them. And how easily their foes can exploit it. The sin nature of man struts down the catwalk on full display here. "We are all traitors in our own ways, he supposed." Yep. I suppose so, too.
There are a few minor editorial hiccups, but the story and world building and vivid prose distracted me from those with ease. Roberti's writing wields a grim beauty that's not flashy but still grabs you by the eyeballs. Take the first sentence of chapter one: "Only when he felt the other man go limp did he know he could stop pushing." When I read that, I knew I had to keep reading. I'm glad I did.
willowwraithpress's review against another edition
5.0
Brief Synopsis:
War? Check. Political Intrigue? Check. A world where writing fades away after the writer dies? Triumphant check!
As the Tides and the Crown cross swords, an unlikely alliance comes by the way of a marriage of families. Cael Oberlan is one of the Tides’ greatest warriors and he just took out the Crown’s version of him in single combat, only for the King’s nephew and murderer of Cael’s older brother, Emil Trestinsen, to wound him in battle. The leader of the Tides, Ordan Oberlan, and the King’s brother (and Emil’s father) come to an agreement that would stop the war: Emil to marry Ordan’s only daughter, Merrily. What follows is political backstabbing and trail of bodies, leaving only the traitorous the victors while the losers’ written pacts lost to the ages.
What worked for me:
The title should give much away to what works. There’s traitors, a plethora of them and they commit lots of treachery by the end of this book and leaves our “heroes” in a bad spot (I put heroes in “” because they are not exactly what we might think of heroes, more on that below). Honestly, I’m curious to how Mr. Roberti was able to keep all his treacherous threads organized, because there were a lot of plates spinning all at once. The most enjoyable aspect of this story was trying to figure out where the inevitable betrayals were going to hit and to whom. While I figured out the main traitor fairly early on, I didn’t see one death coming, so that was an excellent twist.
Also, there was a lot of blood in this book. Never going to complain about plots and backstabbing and murder of characters who are set up to be big roles in the story. Love that type of story!
No heroes here (ok, well maybe Emil is in his own mind). Cael, Merily, and Emil are the three main POV characters and each of them are fairly complex in their own way. Cael, yeah, he’s a right bastard, but I liked him all the same. Emil, won’t lie, took me a hot minute to warm up to him, but that’s because he’s fairly self-assured, self-confident, basically anything with “self” in it because he’s kinda all about him. Merily was fun, humorous, and had a spark about her that I truly enjoyed. Ordan, the main traitor, was not a nice man, so let’s just leave it at that.
One bit that I found super intriguing is the disappearing writing after death of the writer. Now that’s a cool bit of world-building! I mean, you could literally wipe out everything a person has every done by just slitting his/her/their throat (although I suppose that’s why there is a scribes guild…). The concept wasn’t used a ton, which was good because when the final traitorous twist occurs, major things were undone because of some character deaths. Definitely sets book 2 up nicely for the fallout.
One thing that was done well was that the first 30% of the book is basically all-out warfare, battles galore, but after the marriage agreement, the story becomes this slow burn political thriller. This transition could go way off course if not handled correctly, but I think it worked well. I enjoyed the web of lies that built off of the ending of the war, and each needed time to bloom.
The ending twist was exceptional. Again, part of it was pretty plain to see coming from miles away, but there was yet another back to stab. Definitely didn’t disappoint!
What didn’t work for me:
Aside from some minor grammatical or formatting errors, there wasn’t a whole lot in this story that didn’t work, but there are two small things I would have liked to see.
One, while Ordan was indeed a clever jerk, I wanted to see it played out more than being told about it. Sure, there were some interlude-like POV scenes that show Ordan’s plans unfolding, but when in his POV, I would have liked him engaging in his other plans more, more of him setting things in motion as opposed to just going along with him. Also, if Ordan is supposed to be this clever dude, I feel like some of his actions were a little too plot armor-y, kinda makes him seem not as clever (or maybe that was intentional by Mr. Roberti and I completely missed it!). I guess what I’m trying to say is that the character of Ordan had a lot more potential that wasn’t tapped, but there is a prequel novella, so perhaps we get more of his dastardly machinations in that story.
Two, while the political intrigue was handled nicely, I do think a little more aggression between the characters would have made more sense. I get it, these two families are enemies one minute, then become allies through Merily/Emil’s marriage, but there was a slight lack of distaste for each other really soon after the announcement (aka treaty). A little more tension, especially from Merrily’s POV (let’s face it, Emil is kinda a punching bag, but in a good way!) would have gone a long way to making this story even better.
Rating:
4.5 out of 5
War? Check. Political Intrigue? Check. A world where writing fades away after the writer dies? Triumphant check!
As the Tides and the Crown cross swords, an unlikely alliance comes by the way of a marriage of families. Cael Oberlan is one of the Tides’ greatest warriors and he just took out the Crown’s version of him in single combat, only for the King’s nephew and murderer of Cael’s older brother, Emil Trestinsen, to wound him in battle. The leader of the Tides, Ordan Oberlan, and the King’s brother (and Emil’s father) come to an agreement that would stop the war: Emil to marry Ordan’s only daughter, Merrily. What follows is political backstabbing and trail of bodies, leaving only the traitorous the victors while the losers’ written pacts lost to the ages.
What worked for me:
The title should give much away to what works. There’s traitors, a plethora of them and they commit lots of treachery by the end of this book and leaves our “heroes” in a bad spot (I put heroes in “” because they are not exactly what we might think of heroes, more on that below). Honestly, I’m curious to how Mr. Roberti was able to keep all his treacherous threads organized, because there were a lot of plates spinning all at once. The most enjoyable aspect of this story was trying to figure out where the inevitable betrayals were going to hit and to whom. While I figured out the main traitor fairly early on, I didn’t see one death coming, so that was an excellent twist.
Also, there was a lot of blood in this book. Never going to complain about plots and backstabbing and murder of characters who are set up to be big roles in the story. Love that type of story!
No heroes here (ok, well maybe Emil is in his own mind). Cael, Merily, and Emil are the three main POV characters and each of them are fairly complex in their own way. Cael, yeah, he’s a right bastard, but I liked him all the same. Emil, won’t lie, took me a hot minute to warm up to him, but that’s because he’s fairly self-assured, self-confident, basically anything with “self” in it because he’s kinda all about him. Merily was fun, humorous, and had a spark about her that I truly enjoyed. Ordan, the main traitor, was not a nice man, so let’s just leave it at that.
One bit that I found super intriguing is the disappearing writing after death of the writer. Now that’s a cool bit of world-building! I mean, you could literally wipe out everything a person has every done by just slitting his/her/their throat (although I suppose that’s why there is a scribes guild…). The concept wasn’t used a ton, which was good because when the final traitorous twist occurs, major things were undone because of some character deaths. Definitely sets book 2 up nicely for the fallout.
One thing that was done well was that the first 30% of the book is basically all-out warfare, battles galore, but after the marriage agreement, the story becomes this slow burn political thriller. This transition could go way off course if not handled correctly, but I think it worked well. I enjoyed the web of lies that built off of the ending of the war, and each needed time to bloom.
The ending twist was exceptional. Again, part of it was pretty plain to see coming from miles away, but there was yet another back to stab. Definitely didn’t disappoint!
What didn’t work for me:
Aside from some minor grammatical or formatting errors, there wasn’t a whole lot in this story that didn’t work, but there are two small things I would have liked to see.
One, while Ordan was indeed a clever jerk, I wanted to see it played out more than being told about it. Sure, there were some interlude-like POV scenes that show Ordan’s plans unfolding, but when in his POV, I would have liked him engaging in his other plans more, more of him setting things in motion as opposed to just going along with him. Also, if Ordan is supposed to be this clever dude, I feel like some of his actions were a little too plot armor-y, kinda makes him seem not as clever (or maybe that was intentional by Mr. Roberti and I completely missed it!). I guess what I’m trying to say is that the character of Ordan had a lot more potential that wasn’t tapped, but there is a prequel novella, so perhaps we get more of his dastardly machinations in that story.
Two, while the political intrigue was handled nicely, I do think a little more aggression between the characters would have made more sense. I get it, these two families are enemies one minute, then become allies through Merily/Emil’s marriage, but there was a slight lack of distaste for each other really soon after the announcement (aka treaty). A little more tension, especially from Merrily’s POV (let’s face it, Emil is kinda a punching bag, but in a good way!) would have gone a long way to making this story even better.
Rating:
4.5 out of 5
aminakara's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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
tezzarudge's review against another edition
4.0
My first official read of spfbo9 (read some others who have since entered)
This was excellent on the whole, and had some really stand out elements.
I loved the political intrigue in this book, and the fact is layered with so many twists and turns. I also really enjoyed the way the author kept me on the hook at all times. None of the twists were obvious and they just kept coming
I struggled a little bit at times with the dialogue. Whilst I understand the author wrote the conversations "as if they were talking" it was sometimes difficult to tie this back to what you expect the words to look like in writing.
I also felt like the book ended way to early. The author had me. Fully intrigued, reading 60 percent in one sitting. I didnt want it to end, and I wanted to see where it went. But kudos to the author he got me to this point and was brave enough to leave me on a cliffhanger.
I had such a good time. I picked up the shorter prequel straight after.... and finished it one sitting
This was excellent on the whole, and had some really stand out elements.
I loved the political intrigue in this book, and the fact is layered with so many twists and turns. I also really enjoyed the way the author kept me on the hook at all times. None of the twists were obvious and they just kept coming
I struggled a little bit at times with the dialogue. Whilst I understand the author wrote the conversations "as if they were talking" it was sometimes difficult to tie this back to what you expect the words to look like in writing.
I also felt like the book ended way to early. The author had me. Fully intrigued, reading 60 percent in one sitting. I didnt want it to end, and I wanted to see where it went. But kudos to the author he got me to this point and was brave enough to leave me on a cliffhanger.
I had such a good time. I picked up the shorter prequel straight after.... and finished it one sitting
juliebihn's review
War was not what he read about in books. It wasn’t the stories his uncle and other nobles told over late-night brandy by a roaring fire in a den. It wasn’t even the quick skirmish he had participated in with Lorcen and those men in the dim light of early morning. War was a monster that would consume him and everyone else on this field. War was like the flames of the mages, random, greedy, and all-consuming.
I picked up this book because of the hook the author was promoting on Twitter at the time--it's a world where whatever you've written vanishes upon your death. By the time I started reading it, he had switched over to promises of betrayal and porridge.
So, full disclosure, I'm not a big fan of the fantasy genre, I have little to no interest in fight scenes or battles, I don't like large casts of characters, and I'm not even a huge fan of magic spells. I'm also not big on character deaths and betrayal. (Porridge is okay, but in all honesty, I feel like Traitors had more alcohol than porridge.)
Despite the many reasons that the book isn't really "for" me, I enjoyed the story. The use of magic was fairly limited, and the book is more about the aftermath of a war and various politics, so there wasn't all that much in the way of battle scenes, either. In many ways it's a character-driven story, with Roberti deftly portraying various characters' inner workings in different chapters. There were likable people on both sides of the war, which appeals to me and I think is generally more realistic than the common fantasy trope where the bad guys are irredeemable monsters. The world itself was interesting--it doesn't get bogged down in details, but we see just enough for me to feel like it's not our world or Generic Fantasy World. (And the culture clashes were a great way to show off some worldbuilding!)
I prefer a book where I like and/or care about the characters, and this one had several standouts for me. The first character that caught my attention was the hapless and vain Emil; it was fun to see his pathetic preening but even more of a pleasure to see him grow. Erik was charming, and I loved seeing some disability representation. Freia was a fun match for him; I'd LOVE to read if Roberti wrote a fantasy romance! Xhora was an impressive character with an interesting backstory.
As for the conceit that drew me in, near the beginning there are some very smart ideas about what you could do in a world where writing disappears when the writer dies. The disappearing writing issue is somehow both more and less pervasive in the world than I expected. But I'm glad the concept existed because if it hadn't, I likely wouldn't have bought the book.
As a non-fan of fantasy, the non-character-driven prologue bogged me down a bit, and then at the end, I started losing track of characters, so the betrayals kind of lost me. But those aspects are both things that fantasy fans might love. There was also some creative punctuation, with a lot more missing periods than I'm used to seeing (or not seeing!). I'm a natural editor, so for me those issues detracted from the book a bit, but it was still highly readable.
Oh, and End part 2 doesn't mean it's the end of the book! There are a few chapters of epilogue! So I thought it ended rather differently than it did for a day or two until I noticed that, which might have colored my view of the ending.
There are some wonderful lines in Traitors, some delightful and some chilling.
Everyone had their talents, but he still wasn't sure what he offered the world other than simply existing.
The easiest way to justify treachery was to call it patriotism.
Even after reading this engaging book, I'm STILL not a huge fan of the sense of dread in a story as you realize absolutely anyone can be killed. The fear of losing characters I've come to like might be enough to deter me from reading the next one when it comes out. But I'm glad I read Traitors, and I think anyone who doesn't utterly despise fantasy, and who isn't repulsed by the tagline "betrayal and porridge," might enjoy it.
I picked up this book because of the hook the author was promoting on Twitter at the time--it's a world where whatever you've written vanishes upon your death. By the time I started reading it, he had switched over to promises of betrayal and porridge.
So, full disclosure, I'm not a big fan of the fantasy genre, I have little to no interest in fight scenes or battles, I don't like large casts of characters, and I'm not even a huge fan of magic spells. I'm also not big on character deaths and betrayal. (Porridge is okay, but in all honesty, I feel like Traitors had more alcohol than porridge.)
Despite the many reasons that the book isn't really "for" me, I enjoyed the story. The use of magic was fairly limited, and the book is more about the aftermath of a war and various politics, so there wasn't all that much in the way of battle scenes, either. In many ways it's a character-driven story, with Roberti deftly portraying various characters' inner workings in different chapters. There were likable people on both sides of the war, which appeals to me and I think is generally more realistic than the common fantasy trope where the bad guys are irredeemable monsters. The world itself was interesting--it doesn't get bogged down in details, but we see just enough for me to feel like it's not our world or Generic Fantasy World. (And the culture clashes were a great way to show off some worldbuilding!)
I prefer a book where I like and/or care about the characters, and this one had several standouts for me. The first character that caught my attention was the hapless and vain Emil; it was fun to see his pathetic preening but even more of a pleasure to see him grow. Erik was charming, and I loved seeing some disability representation. Freia was a fun match for him; I'd LOVE to read if Roberti wrote a fantasy romance! Xhora was an impressive character with an interesting backstory.
As for the conceit that drew me in, near the beginning there are some very smart ideas about what you could do in a world where writing disappears when the writer dies. The disappearing writing issue is somehow both more and less pervasive in the world than I expected. But I'm glad the concept existed because if it hadn't, I likely wouldn't have bought the book.
As a non-fan of fantasy, the non-character-driven prologue bogged me down a bit, and then at the end, I started losing track of characters, so the betrayals kind of lost me. But those aspects are both things that fantasy fans might love. There was also some creative punctuation, with a lot more missing periods than I'm used to seeing (or not seeing!). I'm a natural editor, so for me those issues detracted from the book a bit, but it was still highly readable.
Oh, and End part 2 doesn't mean it's the end of the book! There are a few chapters of epilogue! So I thought it ended rather differently than it did for a day or two until I noticed that, which might have colored my view of the ending.
There are some wonderful lines in Traitors, some delightful and some chilling.
Everyone had their talents, but he still wasn't sure what he offered the world other than simply existing.
The easiest way to justify treachery was to call it patriotism.
Even after reading this engaging book, I'm STILL not a huge fan of the sense of dread in a story as you realize absolutely anyone can be killed. The fear of losing characters I've come to like might be enough to deter me from reading the next one when it comes out. But I'm glad I read Traitors, and I think anyone who doesn't utterly despise fantasy, and who isn't repulsed by the tagline "betrayal and porridge," might enjoy it.
andrewdmth's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. What a great study it well-laid intrigue. It had all the right pieces, from those who thought themselves clever, to those that were.
It was a rolling stone with not a bit of moss growing upon it as it rolled toward its inevitable and well-laid end.
When does book 2 continue this saga?
It was a rolling stone with not a bit of moss growing upon it as it rolled toward its inevitable and well-laid end.
When does book 2 continue this saga?
npscott's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
This is not your typical fantasy.
It is light on tropes, heavy on characters, full of intrigue, betrayal, and politics.
I started my path of the Crown and Tide books with the prequel "The Revenge of Thousands."
I am really glad I did. I don't think I would have been as invested in the story or characters if I hadn't. The prequel was a "perfect" prologue for "The Traitors We Are-Book 1 of the Crown and Tide.
Our story starts as the war is ending and peace may have been achieved through negotiations but there is still plenty of twist, turns, betrayals, and political wrangling happening in this story to keep you interested.
I found the way Michael Roberti wrote this book well-paced with an easy-to-read prose. His characters well not all of them we love and in fact you may hate a few of them interesting.
If you love a character driven political type fantasy, then check out "The Revenge of Thousands" and "The Traitors We Are".
It is light on tropes, heavy on characters, full of intrigue, betrayal, and politics.
I started my path of the Crown and Tide books with the prequel "The Revenge of Thousands."
I am really glad I did. I don't think I would have been as invested in the story or characters if I hadn't. The prequel was a "perfect" prologue for "The Traitors We Are-Book 1 of the Crown and Tide.
Our story starts as the war is ending and peace may have been achieved through negotiations but there is still plenty of twist, turns, betrayals, and political wrangling happening in this story to keep you interested.
I found the way Michael Roberti wrote this book well-paced with an easy-to-read prose. His characters well not all of them we love and in fact you may hate a few of them interesting.
If you love a character driven political type fantasy, then check out "The Revenge of Thousands" and "The Traitors We Are".
davidsbestreads's review against another edition
5.0
Traitors will most certainly be in that conversation I have with myself every December about what my favorite book of the year was. I loved how every time I thought I had something figured out, I was most likely a few passages or chapters away from being proven wrong.
The fact that this is a debut novel is really impressive. If things only get better from here it’s crazy to think how good the following books could be. These characters are very dynamic, and each of them stand out. They were all given enough detail that any of them really could have been the main character of a story. All of them felt unique, and they are all memorable.
The politics, cultures and world building in general were all intriguing, and really helped me immerse myself into this world. I got the feeling while reading that Michael went over this with a fine tooth comb many times. It just felt polished, and everything had a purpose. Absolutely zero filler. Twists and turns that made sense, and consequences that mattered to me as an invested reader. Something else I notice now that I’m reflecting back on the story is that Michael also writes very good action scenes. The combat flowed very smoothly, and it was easy to visualize.
Michael is another writer on my list of when their book releases, it goes to the front of my TBR. He’s hooked me, and I can’t wait to see what he has in store!
Thanks for the awesome story, Mike!
The fact that this is a debut novel is really impressive. If things only get better from here it’s crazy to think how good the following books could be. These characters are very dynamic, and each of them stand out. They were all given enough detail that any of them really could have been the main character of a story. All of them felt unique, and they are all memorable.
The politics, cultures and world building in general were all intriguing, and really helped me immerse myself into this world. I got the feeling while reading that Michael went over this with a fine tooth comb many times. It just felt polished, and everything had a purpose. Absolutely zero filler. Twists and turns that made sense, and consequences that mattered to me as an invested reader. Something else I notice now that I’m reflecting back on the story is that Michael also writes very good action scenes. The combat flowed very smoothly, and it was easy to visualize.
Michael is another writer on my list of when their book releases, it goes to the front of my TBR. He’s hooked me, and I can’t wait to see what he has in store!
Thanks for the awesome story, Mike!
theliteraryapothecary's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Traitors We Are is book 1 in the Crown and Tide series and a solid 4 star read for me.
I thought this book had good pacing, storytelling and characters. There were some things that I thought I knew were going to happen to certain characters, and they did, but I did NOT know how they were going to happen and didn't expect them to happen in the way that they did. However, I didn't have a lot of connection with the characters reading this book alone. I had some connection with the characters because I read the Prequel Novella (The Revenge of Thousands) before reading Traitors We Are, but I don't know if I would have had that same level of connection, had I not read the prequel. Overall, though, this was a great start to the trilogy and I'm looking forward to seeing where Roberti takes this story.
I thought this book had good pacing, storytelling and characters. There were some things that I thought I knew were going to happen to certain characters, and they did, but I did NOT know how they were going to happen and didn't expect them to happen in the way that they did. However, I didn't have a lot of connection with the characters reading this book alone. I had some connection with the characters because I read the Prequel Novella (The Revenge of Thousands) before reading Traitors We Are, but I don't know if I would have had that same level of connection, had I not read the prequel. Overall, though, this was a great start to the trilogy and I'm looking forward to seeing where Roberti takes this story.