The Traitor Baru Cormorant
details
fantasy lgbt science fiction
content warnings: homophobia
the masquerade series
- The Traitor Baru Cormorant (you are here)
- The Monster Baru Cormorant
- The Tyrant Baru Cormorant
review
Update: 4/5
I've been thinking about this book lately and I feel like the downer ending actually fits the character. I don't necessarily like it and I would enjoy a happy ending more, but if it did happen, it would not make sense for the character and her motivations. And with this first installment of a trilogy, it just means that her character arc isn't done yet (and maybe she would get her happy ending in the end, but I don't know that yet). (<- delusional???)
I still really like it though, because it's rare to find a book that has Game of Thrones-esque political drama with a lesbian protagonist (I don't enjoy GoT but that is the closest comparison I can give). I love the protagonist, I love that she is so ambitious with her one-track mind; it ends up hurting people that she loves but she is so laser-focused and committed to her goal in the long run that she would do it again if she had to. And so I really appreciate that about her character.
It still is a slog at some parts, I will admit. This book took me the longest to read in 2022--not that I've read a lot of books that year for that statistic to be significant, but I digress. It is a *long* book. Nevertheless, I changed my mind and I'm willing to continue on to the trilogy and see if it gets any better for Baru Cormorant (it probably doesn't).
3.5/5
good prose, okay story, love the "romance" and the machiavellian protag, but the ending... the final battle was a slog, and the twist was somehow unsatisfying. like a twist for the sake of a twist. i know baru is playing the longest con here but i don't have the patience to see it through, sorry.