A review by honeypunk
The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

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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