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A review by tellasdantes
Traitors of the Black Crown by Cate Pearce
3.0
First of all, thank you to netgalley and the publishing team for allowing me the chance to read this debute novel and give my honest review for it!
I am giving this book: 3.5 STARS
I have to say, I almost lost with this book in the first 30% of it. The pacing was very .. very slow. To the point it took me over a month to actually hit the 30% mark. After that, I thought to myself; Do I even continue with this? Is it going to be worth pushing through another 700+ pages just for the sapphic romance that is promised?
Yes. Yes it was worth it. At least to me.
I am so happy that I pushes myself to not dnf after 30% because after that point, it was like I was reading a completely different book. The pacing was so much better, the author managed to give great detail of the world building without taking away from the main plot. The highlight for me had to be, well of course the sapphic romance.
Although I'm not a fan of the whole "instalove" kind of trope, I felt like it wasn't too much hitting you right on the nose in this book. It was believable to me that Avenna had gotten herself wrapped up in the world of our beloved disguised knight "Sir Rowan" after he picked her out of everyone to try and charm during the tournament. I'm sure her being .. common born .. wink wink for that discussion later, was a big reason for her being so curious by the knight suddenly placed into her care after exile.
I loved the fact that this book had multiple point of views from the three main women characters. We had Rhaena, also known as Sir Rowan, who we got the insight into her bloodthirst for revenge on the crown after they slaughtered her entire family for treason and sent her into hiding as a man. We also had the Duchess, Lady Avenna, who is a delightly light read compared to the other pov characters. She's just a woman who lost her husband and now has a Duchy to look after until one of the male relatives can marry, have a heir and take over. You get from her pov that she cares about her people, to the point that she's willing to go against the crown after many promises of protection that never seemed to come. You also got insight into her relationship with the Queen, who raised her in the castle alongside her horrendous son who reminded me a lot of Joffrey from a Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones. And finally you got the pov of the Queen herself, who in my opinion, was a definite highlight because her hatred for her own son and pettiness to not allow herself to die of the illness she's slowly dying with, because she doesn't want him to take the crown, is hilarious. She's one of those characters who you know you shouldn't root for .. but then you end up rooting for. Because she's just a bitter old hag who ends up doing the right thing after doing the wrong things.
The action scenes were another highlight, always really gripping and full of gore and everything else you could want in a fight scene. The plottwist at the end? Finding out the real reason that Queen Zarana had killed Rhaena's father, Henry, for supposed treason? Amazing. Truly such a great ending to the first book and had me sweating to know if Avenna would ever find out the truth. I was very delighted that the book ended the way it did and left some of the plot points open for a sequel to take place that instantly would have my attention and wouldn't have to create a whole new plot and feel like a whole new story just with the same characters.
Again, I'm glad I pushed myself past the 30% mark to read the rest of this book, because although the 30% really did drag a little too much for me, and the length of the overall book can be a bit intimidating at first, it was worth it and I thought it was a pretty great book for a debute.
I am giving this book: 3.5 STARS
I have to say, I almost lost with this book in the first 30% of it. The pacing was very .. very slow. To the point it took me over a month to actually hit the 30% mark. After that, I thought to myself; Do I even continue with this? Is it going to be worth pushing through another 700+ pages just for the sapphic romance that is promised?
Yes. Yes it was worth it. At least to me.
I am so happy that I pushes myself to not dnf after 30% because after that point, it was like I was reading a completely different book. The pacing was so much better, the author managed to give great detail of the world building without taking away from the main plot. The highlight for me had to be, well of course the sapphic romance.
Although I'm not a fan of the whole "instalove" kind of trope, I felt like it wasn't too much hitting you right on the nose in this book. It was believable to me that Avenna had gotten herself wrapped up in the world of our beloved disguised knight "Sir Rowan" after he picked her out of everyone to try and charm during the tournament. I'm sure her being .. common born .. wink wink for that discussion later, was a big reason for her being so curious by the knight suddenly placed into her care after exile.
I loved the fact that this book had multiple point of views from the three main women characters. We had Rhaena, also known as Sir Rowan, who we got the insight into her bloodthirst for revenge on the crown after they slaughtered her entire family for treason and sent her into hiding as a man. We also had the Duchess, Lady Avenna, who is a delightly light read compared to the other pov characters. She's just a woman who lost her husband and now has a Duchy to look after until one of the male relatives can marry, have a heir and take over. You get from her pov that she cares about her people, to the point that she's willing to go against the crown after many promises of protection that never seemed to come. You also got insight into her relationship with the Queen, who raised her in the castle alongside her horrendous son who reminded me a lot of Joffrey from a Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones. And finally you got the pov of the Queen herself, who in my opinion, was a definite highlight because her hatred for her own son and pettiness to not allow herself to die of the illness she's slowly dying with, because she doesn't want him to take the crown, is hilarious. She's one of those characters who you know you shouldn't root for .. but then you end up rooting for. Because she's just a bitter old hag who ends up doing the right thing after doing the wrong things.
The action scenes were another highlight, always really gripping and full of gore and everything else you could want in a fight scene. The plottwist at the end? Finding out the real reason that Queen Zarana had killed Rhaena's father, Henry, for supposed treason? Amazing. Truly such a great ending to the first book and had me sweating to know if Avenna would ever find out the truth. I was very delighted that the book ended the way it did and left some of the plot points open for a sequel to take place that instantly would have my attention and wouldn't have to create a whole new plot and feel like a whole new story just with the same characters.
Again, I'm glad I pushed myself past the 30% mark to read the rest of this book, because although the 30% really did drag a little too much for me, and the length of the overall book can be a bit intimidating at first, it was worth it and I thought it was a pretty great book for a debute.