The Traitor Baru Cormorant

Annie the Book reviewed The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson (The Masquerade, #1)

The Traitor Baru Cormorant, by Seth Dickinson

3 stars

Baru Cormorant’s life changed forever when she was a small child. Her recollections of life with her hunter mother, shieldbearer father, and blacksmith father sound idyllic. Her mother taught her about the birds that lived on their island. Her fathers taught her about tradecraft and keeping her ears open. But when the Empire of Masks arrived with their paper money—and, later, their plagues and schools and “hygiene”—her childhood was obliterated. Years later, Baru Cormorant walks a fine line between obedience and treachery in Seth Dickinson’s powerful novel, The Traitor Baru Cormorant...

Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.

Darius Kazemi reviewed The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson (The Masquerade, #1)

Didn't want to put it down

5 stars

Wow this was one of those "can't put it down" books for me. It's hard to review without spoiling but basically it is a fantasy novel with extremely interesting and incisive things to say about how imperialism works. Most of the action takes place in a federation of dukedoms that is currently being occupied by a big bad Empire. When I looked at the map at the beginning of the book I thought "there is no way I am ever going to remember who these dozen different dukes are and where they sit politically" but by the end of it I was like "oh my god I can't believe Duke So-and-so decided to ally with Duke Whats-her-face! That will have horrific ramifications for petit bourgeois craftspeople!"

Anyway this is one of the best books I've read in years. The human drama is really gripping and it also has left me …

Wow this was one of those "can't put it down" books for me. It's hard to review without spoiling but basically it is a fantasy novel with extremely interesting and incisive things to say about how imperialism works. Most of the action takes place in a federation of dukedoms that is currently being occupied by a big bad Empire. When I looked at the map at the beginning of the book I thought "there is no way I am ever going to remember who these dozen different dukes are and where they sit politically" but by the end of it I was like "oh my god I can't believe Duke So-and-so decided to ally with Duke Whats-her-face! That will have horrific ramifications for petit bourgeois craftspeople!"

Anyway this is one of the best books I've read in years. The human drama is really gripping and it also has left me chewing on all sorts of thoughts about human nature, politics, and economics.

Andy Pressman reviewed The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson (The Masquerade, #1)

Best post-colonial fantasy I've read in years

5 stars

Very specific in tone. Unforgettable narrator. Extremely well-written, almost to an unnecessary degree (the prosaic is often described in the poetic, which can grate). But it's an achievement, with a plot full of sucker punches.

Erin reviewed The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson (The Masquerade, #1)

Review of 'The Traitor Baru Cormorant' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

Made it basically through part one before DNFing this one. The plot with its political intrigue was right up my alley, but this is not character driven. There aren’t a lot of character building scenes or conversations - it’s very plot focused. Increasingly I didn’t really care about anything because I was not invested in the people. Very bummed. I thought I was going to love this!

Gremriel reviewed The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson (The Masquerade, #1)

Review of 'The Traitor Baru Cormorant' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I'm torn between showering this novel in praise or throwing my laptop out the window from sheer frustration.

I just couldn't get into the writing. It felt stilted, flat and at times read like a report. The ending (well, a big part of it) is telegraphed just as soon as the main character arrives to take up her new position in the province of Aurdwynn. The final battle was a bit boring.

The final chapter was thoroughly heartbreaking, though. I didn't see that coming. I'm wondering how I can be so conflicted and at the same time can't wait to read the sequel.

I would have given it 4 or maybe 5 stars, if it wasn't for the godawful formatting of the Kindle Edition. There's typo's, missing spaces, missing quotation marks, missing apostrophs. There were many parts I had to read again because I couldn't tell who was talking or …

I'm torn between showering this novel in praise or throwing my laptop out the window from sheer frustration.

I just couldn't get into the writing. It felt stilted, flat and at times read like a report. The ending (well, a big part of it) is telegraphed just as soon as the main character arrives to take up her new position in the province of Aurdwynn. The final battle was a bit boring.

The final chapter was thoroughly heartbreaking, though. I didn't see that coming. I'm wondering how I can be so conflicted and at the same time can't wait to read the sequel.

I would have given it 4 or maybe 5 stars, if it wasn't for the godawful formatting of the Kindle Edition. There's typo's, missing spaces, missing quotation marks, missing apostrophs. There were many parts I had to read again because I couldn't tell who was talking or doing something. If I have to pay 14 dollars for a digital file, I expect quality. And the Kindle Edition does not have it. It's a disgrace and I will not put up with it. Although I did like the story, and I will read the sequel, I'm going to hit the refund button on Amazon. If the author, the publsiher or Amazon or whoever is in charge can guarantee me an error free edition, I'll purchase it again.

Btw, I checked around and Kobo expects me to pay 25 euro's for this. An ebook. A 600kb file. Yeah, no.