Even under the tyranny of my own deadlines, I make time to read. I have to do something that lets the writing part of the brain rest.
So when SFReviewsEven under the tyranny of my own deadlines, I make time to read. I have to do something that lets the writing part of the brain rest.
So when SFReviews.net starts off a 5 star review with “You are probably going to hate this book.” and quotes "This is the truth. You will know because it hurts." I take notice. No reviewer is perfect, but I am more in agreement with the reviews on this site than any other SF site. I take notice when he raves.
So I read “The Traitor Baru Cormorant” by Seth Dickinson. And it did hurt.
As always, I recommend you read the sample on Amazon before you buy.
I’ll restrict my comments to these:
1. This is a re-read book, in the sense you cannot possibly get it all the first time through. 2. It’s complex and layered. 3. It’s kinda sword-and-sorcery with the sorcery replaced by economic theory (honest). 4. It will break your heart.
This is clearly not a stand-alone novel. It doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, but there are at least a couple more books in this series.
Concerns? I had a few. I’ll stick to commenting on one specifically about the series: Think of a series as a long novel with sections. Now, when you read a novel there’s a sort of contract between the author and the reader. That contract has rules.
(I’m excluding nihilist books or ones where the author is trying to make you dislike it (for ‘literary’ reasons no doubt)).
So, in books that you love, you, as a reader, know that, even in the dark depths of the middle section, all the blows that fall on the protagonist will be undone or reversed or somehow negated. In books that you really love, the lift you get in the final section has to exceed the fall you had in the middle sections.
The Traitor has a massive twist at the end. Massive. There are two problems with that – the mechanism can’t be used twice. And the lift at the conclusion of the series will have to exceed the fall in that twist at the end of the first book. I will watch and wait and hope. This series goes on the auto-buy.
Three characters who feel themselves damaged beyond repair, drawn together by a dead psychopath's plan. A strong woman who needs and wants no one, a foThree characters who feel themselves damaged beyond repair, drawn together by a dead psychopath's plan. A strong woman who needs and wants no one, a former SEAL maddened by betrayal, and a child humiliated and abandoned by his mother. Oh, and a puppy. I didn't know quite what to expect. The cover is ...um... basic, but the cover copy is interesting and the sample chapters were good. I grabbed it and held on for a wild ride. It was categorized as military romance, and I guess it is, but it's a thriller first. The romance is a large sub-plot but it doesn't feel forced. The sex scenes...let me just say I had to stop to polish my glasses a couple of times.
The name is A Stringed Instrument by Thorn Only the main character's names have been changed. The original is: https://www.smashThis book is plagiarised
This book is a continuation but it's also intended as a stand alone, and I read it as such.
The opening is classic anti-hero. A serial killer on the ruThis book is a continuation but it's also intended as a stand alone, and I read it as such.
The opening is classic anti-hero. A serial killer on the run and I misread it on the first pass. Colin Bailey *is* a vigilante serial killer, but not in the Dexter mode; he's not a sociopath, he is where he is *because* of his emotions.
It's a dark start. There's an expectation of nihilism - Colin is exhausted, trapped and his personal solo vigilante mission could not possibly continue against the odds. You could imagine a bleak novel ending in a fatal shoot-out. That isn't what happens and the first clue to that is Colin, even at the end of his strength, is looking for a way through.
That turns out to be the mysterious Olympus Project - an organisation which will enable him to do what he couldn't possibly achieve on his own.
It starts at a canter and never slows. Think of the plot as three episodes of a series, culminating in a real gripper as the stuff hits the fan in the middle of London.
Colin, and Tayler's method of delivery, is all about emotions kept clamped down and redirected to the tasks in hand, a sort of old-fashioned James Bond style. The emotions do come out in places, and Colin is not the stone-cold killer he tells himself he is.
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