Traitor's Blade

Traitor's Blade(Greatcoats book 1) features a trio of swashbuckling swordsmen in the vein of The Three Musketeers. Like The Gentleman's Bastards books, the setting is somewhat dark, and bad things happen but the humorous banter between the protagonists keep the story fun rather than depressing. The plot moves quickly, but the first person viewpoint means the focus is on why the characters do what they do. The ramifications of their actions are explored in the sequels.

Good read, not meandering like too many fantasy books tend to be. When you think it might start to hit a slump something interesting happens to pull you along.

Occasionally brutal with terrible antagonists. Against some other reviewers I sympathized with the protagonist's devastating backdrop and felt that's the reason he didn't necessarily want to talk too much of his past with his wife.

Overall an enjoyable read.

This is the kind of book that I wish I could give a five star review to, but something about it fell short for me.

I picked it up for the action and adventure since that is a genre that seems difficult for me to find in books and it delivered. It was exciting and full of fights and flights and drama. But something about it also felt artificial, like the author was catering to the publisher more than the readers.

It also fell short in its treatment of women. While having a decent amount of women characters, they seemed to all fall within the well-worn stereotypes (e.g. prostitute with a heart of gold, crazy old hag, evil witch, beautiful and naive virgin, victim wife). This may have also added to why it felt artificial. Many of the female characters served a purpose to the story but lacked nuance.

Then there was that (approved by the author) nonconsensual sex scene. The very idea that forcing someone into sex could heal them of deep emotional wounds riled me. Gender does not matter, if someone says “stop” over and over again, you stop. You do not tie them up, force them to comply, then claim you did them a favor.

Add in the animal cruelty (not approved by the author, but still very disturbing) and I finished off reading a well-written book feeling a tad disappointed. Still, I may read the second one.

Rocks

A good book, despite the torture porn and the luck based plot.

The book has clearly a three musketeers vibe going on, although it is much grittier. The king is dead, the Greatcoats are dispersed. Three friends, Falcio, Kest, & Brasti, appear to be the last remaining members of that order. They roam about the world trying to uphold the King's Law, even though there is a king no more. They are honor bound to defend the weak against those who place themselves above the law.

A Greatcoat is like an elite sword fighter. Specialized in duels, they are unmatched in a fair fight. They are not fools, and have no qualms in running from danger when they think they cannot win a fight. Their coats acts as a very flexible armor, and also carries hidden compartments with some surprises with them.

They must know all the laws in order to act as Magistrates and resolve disputes where they go. They are trained bards, because in order for the people to remember their edicts, it is easier to remember a song then a proclamation, especially when most of the population is illiterate. Writing it down is not enough.

All hope is lost, everyone is against them.

The Dukes are the sole rulers now, and even though they agree there must be a king, he is meant to be their puppet, and to not make any ruling that goes against their will. They want to rule their counties as they see fit, and all of them are brutal, corrupt and cruel, some more then others.

There are knights in the world, proficient and honored fighters, heavily armored and charged to maintain order in the name of their Dukes. However, their definition of honor does not mean what they think it means. They torture, bully, raid and rape. They prey on the weak just like any other thug would, but under the protection of the law and their false sense of virtue.

The peasants have grown accustomed to living under oppression, and they see Falcio and his friends as out of touch with reality and over privileged, pretentious self righteous pricks. They hate them. And still Falcio believes they are worth fighting for.

The caravan masters, are the ones who control all commerce between the counties. They have greatly suffered with the loss of the king, because now no Duke wants to spend their resources to maintain the roads and protect the caravans against bandits. Still they hate the Greatcoats, and want nothing to do with them.

The Dashini is an ancient order of assassins that, hired by the Dukes, have destroyed the Greatcoats one hundred years ago. It took a long while but the Greatcoats have risen again. But now once again the Dashini were called to kill the remaining ones.

Regarding the plot, before the king died, he called each one of his Greatcoats and gave them one special and secret task, to be performed after his demise. No one knows what that order was except the Greatcoat himself, unless the King told them otherwise.

Falcio and his friends are trying to fulfill their King's last wish. Their are also trying to revive the Greatcoats, negotiating with the caravan masters to become the protectors of the roads,. It is a start at least, an improvement over their current status as pariahs.

There are rumors of existing other Greatcoats, and that they have turned to banditry. There are plots directed and ending their existence. Princesses needing protection to travel on the road. Murders, betrayals, Saints and a war at hand.

There is a scene with long and heavy depictions of torture, that I felt was much unnecessary. And I say this as someone who “liked” the torture scenes in The Outlander.

One major issue I had was that no mater how hurt or how stacked the odds were against the protagonists, they always found a way to beat it. Sometimes it involved using a somewhat clever plan, but much of the times it was sheer luck. Throw yourself in the face of danger, and hope everything turns out okay. Poisoned, outnumbered, up against better fighters. It doesn't matter. The hero always succeeds.

But that wasn't enough to offset all the fun the book offered. This is a worthy successor of The Three Musketeers.

The three Musketeers meets fantasy, an intriguing take on a classic story. The greatcoats are an ancient order of enforcers, but following the fall of the king they serve they are a disgraced and despised group despite upholding their honor. The nobles who overthrew the king have managed to tarnish their name in order to cement their own power. The ultimate story hidden in here is the battle between law and privilege, which feels like a pertinent tale today as ever. The idea that wealth and influence bring you beyond the law is one that is both uncomfortably close to the bone and important to address. Traitor's blade provides a very good critique of this.

On top of the more weighty moralizing in the story we have a wonderful group dynamic represented by the greatcoats themselves. Sebastien de Castell has produced a fantastic group of characters with some real dynamism to their relationship. This helps drive the story along with a sense of fun that never goes away.

good, fast-paced, witty and entertaining.
Unfortunately for me, I am not in the right age and mood to enjoy a Banderas Three Musketeers style series. Felt almost YA to me (though kind of buried in gore and torture).

I first heard about this book/series via booktube when a readalong was announced for August-November 2020. The blurb sounded interesting and I had seen it mentioned a few times that it wasn't too long a book and easy to get through so I decided to join in with the readalong. Plus it has a cool cover and the Kindle edition was £1.99!

While Traitor's Blade feels a little bit like a ‘setting-the-scene' for a greater story sort of book I don't think that is a big deal. The world- and character-building are both great and the story is plenty engaging to keep you reading to the end. There are some very obvious points where information is not revealed to the reader, which I think you have to take with a pinch of salt - and faith - that all will become clear in the later books. Although those parts felt a little bit clumsy this is the first book not only of the series but of the author's published works so I am willing to give a bit of leeway there.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and that's worth a lot in my opinion. I can't wait to get started on #2 even if it's another 200+ pages longer than this one! While I haven't finished the series (yet) I can say that Traitor's Blade was a fun, engaging fantasy with well written combat (not gory) and characters that's sub-400 pages and easy to get into. Well worth a try!

I came to this book not knowing much about it really. Quite a lot of the reviews mention The Three Musketeers, so I had an idea that it might be something in this vein.

The story centres on the disgraced order, The Greatcoats, who, after the King of the land is executed are disbanded and wander around scraping a living selling their services to anyone who will hire them.

The main protagonist, Falcio is man who holds his ideals despite the fact that the world around him is corrupt and subject to the fickle whims of the leading classes.

I really liked this book. It's fast paced and easy to read. The characters are likeable and the relationship between the main characters and the supporting characters is something that drives the story along.

Like I said, I didn't really know anything about the book but did have some preconceived ideas about it being like the three musketeers s. However, when it comes to the second act, it kind of reminds me of that Clint Eastwood film, The Gauntlet.

This is an action/adventure story and the book has plenty of this in spades. In fact, it never really let's up and the story moves along at a breakneck pace moving from one situation to the next without letting up.

In some reviews, they mention that there is a lack of world building. However, I didn't find this to be a hindrance at all and I felt that it was left to my imagination rather than having it spelled out to me. I kind of imagined that the setting was a renaissance Italy type set up with the Dukes of the story resembling the Borgias.

At first, I was a bit unsure on where the story was going. However, when we get to the second act the story finds its feet and takes you along with it.

On one hand, there is not much ‘traditional' fantasy, however, there are fantasy tropes on the story, on the other hand there are loads of fantasy tropes in the book but used in way that seemed fresh.

All in all, I liked this book and now moving on to the second in the series.

There's something about the writing/narration style that I don't like. I think it's the occasional second person POV, but I think it's more than that. Either way, the story and characters are interesting enough to keep going. Brasti and the Tailor are my favorite!

Started out quite fun but devolved into a list of reasons never to read fantasy again. I basically only finished it because I have a reading challenge going and didn't want to add another DNF.

This is us. We're in a plot.
An enemy appears.
Enemy is described as clearly invincible.
But wait! Here's something you didn't know about us.
We use this brand new information to defeat the enemy.
Wisecracking, we continue on our quest.
A new enemy appears!
Here's a sudden plot twist that wasn't clear from just about the very beginning of the book.
Etc.

It's insultingly childish, a kid's fantasy of ‘you can't hurt me because of this new thing that I just made up', made ‘edgy' and ‘grown-up' with some cut-off fingers and torture porn. Gah.

The second star is purely because of the passable dialogue.

There are 3 well-known stories with which I've always been fascinated since childhood, Robin Hood, King Arthur and the knights of Camelot and The Three Musketeers. When I came across someone recommending Sebastian de Castell's Greatcoats series and likening it to Dumas' The Three Musketeers I was immediately on board because let's face it anything that can bring us close to the joy of the tales of adventure of Athos, Porthos & Aramis is worth a try.

Castell's story tells us of a band of justices who worked for the King traveling his land meting out justice and ensuring fair treatment of its citizens, the Greatcoats. Unfortunately, however, the King has been overthrown by the Duke's of his Kingdom and executed and the Greatcoats have been disbanded and because they did nothing to save their King are branded traitors. They now travel the country taking work where they can find it, providing security to rich patrons who sometimes don't pay them. We follow 3 Greatcoats in this story Falcio, Brasti and Kest who find themselves blamed for the death of their employer and follow their journey to try and fulfil the dying wishes of their King Paelis who has entrusted them all with quests upon his death.

From Page 2 of this book it is evident that the camaraderie and wit that I wanted between my three heroes was going to be there in abundance as they discuss whether or not their employer is engaging in carnal activities beyond the door they wait for him outside. From there we just fall in love with their relationship with each other and the three different personalities they bring to the story. Falcio leads the book as the Greatcoat known as First Cantor and the one who leads us through his backstory and his journey to becoming a Greatcoat but we have Kest his childhood friend on hand with words of wisdom and a calming influence and Brasti is the lighter-hearted comic relief with an eye for the ladies.

Part of a now 4 book series Traitors Blade is clearly laying out the ground for the books that will follow and therefore Falcio's outlining of his journey to becoming a Greatcoat and how he met Paelis, the boy who became his King and founded the Greatcoats with him helps us to understand the political landscape on which we stand and the characters around us. We learn about the plot by the Duke's to try and place a new person on the throne, one who they can control and we meet this contender in Book 1 and this is again where this book is pulling us in and committing us to the series as a whole. This book, therefore, has lots of information to impart and scene setting to do but this is not at the expense of action and plenty of sword fights.

Yes, like our beloved 3 Musketeers this book is full of duels and battles that are magnificent to read about. We have Falcio and Kest who are both masters of swordplay and Brasti who is a legend with the bow and the way in which they fight tactically with each other makes for amazing scenes in the book and keeps you gripped from start to finish. It is joyful and so reflective of Dumas' classic and it has been some time since we've had a book that really encapsulates that atmosphere.

I devoured this book in a few days, it kept me glued because there was so much going on throughout. I fell in love with Falcio, Kest and Brasti but strangely came away with my favourite character being the strange and mysterious Tailor who kept popping up in all kinds of strange places with information from the past and a quirky personality that brought such joy and light relief. I really cannot recommend this book enough, I am so excited I still have 3 books to read in this series and am absolutley on board for more of the adventures that Sebastian De Castell gave us in this book.

hi i am an official greatcoats advocate and love my trio sm

The Greatcoats were formed by the King to dispense the King's justice. The King was trying to bring some fairness into a world filled with greed. The Dukes in power felt that they could get away with anything, because they deem themselves more important than everyone else. The idea of The Greatcoats was wonderful. Unfortunately, those in power, and the most greedy hated the idea. Now, with no King, the Greatcoats are considered traitors. The are forced to take crap jobs like guarding caravans. Even though they are Greatcoats no more, they still believe in the King's justice. I really liked this book! The characters are awesome. Quite a few times I recall telling my husband that there are a lot of people that need to die slow deaths in this book. I plan to read the rest of the series.

This has all the ingredients of a book I could see myself obsessing over. A great group of friends, on a mission, mixed in with some humor and a lot of drama. Unfortunately what I missed was a bit more depth to it.

There's a lot of events in which things go unexplained because I feel like they just can't. (How did the Tailor know where they were going to be?) and a lot of what are normally pretty traumatic events are very much glossed over afterwards (There's a few days of torture which they talk about afterwards as just a thing that happened) and then other things I would have liked to see but we didn't because Falcio wasn't there to see it (Kest defeating the Saint).

If any of the above things were handled with a bit more care, I would be all over this book and this series.

However, I do like the three main characters and their dynamic (even if I want to see it fleshed out a bit more) but that might be something that any of the sequels fix. I am going to check out Knight's Shadow in the near future.

2.75 out of 5 stars – see this review and other at The Speculative Shelf.

Sometimes a book will lose me–I'll be intently focused during the early-going before my interest wanes and I float aimlessly through the rest. This happened during Traitor's Blade and I was disappointed I did not enjoy it as much as I had hoped to. After a strong start, things get very uneven. By the midway mark, I was bored and disinterested in how the story would unfold. From there it devolved into a deus ex machina-fest with every jam being solved in exceedingly convenient ways.

The Duchal politics at the heart of the story were wholly uninteresting to me, as well. Falcio and his relationship with the deceased king was the only storyline that I was remotely invested in.

Finally, the main trio of Falcio, Kest, and Brasti are an entertaining team that didn't spend nearly enough time together. The witty banter and jesting evaporates once they are pulled apart and there was more fun to be mined from their interactions than we got. I expected to burn through this story and its subsequent sequels, but it was not to be, unfortunately.

There is one thing that can really make me indifferent towards fantasy books; a lack of humour and vibrancy. Some authors seem to believe that if you place your characters in a hard living situation, maybe in a middle ages type one, maybe not, then characters will just act as stiff, humourless, dead serious people. Which... yeah, it is bullshit. It really kills those stories to me, because it just makes the novel feel like an empty imitation of how people actually work in real life.
This one, though, god, it had so much life! Don't get me wrong, rough things happened and it wasn't a rainbow coloured cotton candy dreamland, but there was just so much bickering and friends making fun of each other. The protagonist also had a tendency of making fun of his own situation, which... yeah, it is something I do, so I'm biased as hell.

After the murder of King Paelis his super awesome justice squad, the Greatcloaks disbanded. They were the kind of travelling judges, wearing these amazing coats with protection and a bit of Inspector Gadget vibes going on. Our hero, Falcio was actually the boss of them all and even now, two of his friends from the group, Kest and Brasti are with him, trying to survive somehow. It works well enough, up until they get framed for the murder of an influential man they were supposed to protect, by a naked lady in a mask. They need to get away and do it fast, so they join a caravan of people going to Rijou, the most inhuman city of the whole kingdom, delivering a mysterious young woman. Shit is going to get even worse once they get there.

I was ridiculously excited about this book, as I keep hearing people going insane about it, which doesn't always mean I will also like it, but you can't blame me for the hype getting to me. This time, though, it actually worked. I love the damn thing. Somehow it manages to perfectly balance funny moments, action and dark stuff. I have no idea how educated the author is when it comes to writing, especially writing enjoyable books that fire up your passion for reading, but THIS is how you do it.

I actually read Sebastien De Castell's (cool name btw) little bio here on the website, but even without that, you just know the man has actual knowledge about fighting. His fight scenes are really crisp like that, he can actually sell you on Falcio being good at this, because he himself is good at it. Now... I don't know shit about swords and all, so yeah. Got schooled there. I also appreciate that even though it's really obvious he enjoys this, he is not stuffing the book full to show off his expertise. Something I really appreciate, as a bunch of authors get carried away when it comes to their passion.

So lets just talk about the characters for now. Our three guys, Falcio, Brasti and Kest, the Powerpuff Boys as I like to call them are a balanced little group of awesome. We have angst, passion, wit, womanizing, honour aaaand amazing skills with weaponry. This is personal preference, but I would take friendship or sibling stories above romance in every book, 100%. Here we had that stuff. There is just something lovely about a group of people balancing each other so perfectly.

Personally I do not require huge twists to enjoy a book. Some people do, but if other things are given (characters I am invested in, a cool world, pleasant prose), then I can live without it. In this book I definitely didn't expect any big twist, but there were a couple. One was not particularly imaginative (sorry) in connection with King Paelis, the other with multiple people... yeah, that was good. Not going to spoil, but seriously, I enjoyed one twist much more than the other.

Another tiny tiny little “issue” I had was how conveniently people from Falcio's past just all happened to show up. This is a huge kingdom, at one point Falcio even thinks about the fact that somehow he managed to not run into other old Greatcoats from him past, but at the same time all the people who influenced him one way or another when he was younger just happened to be in Rijou during the time shit was going down. Maybe it is some kind of a magic we don't know about yet, I don't know. It was just way too convenient.

There were some ridiculously fun moments that made me genuinely giddy and excited. Like at one point Falcio makes a speech in front of the oppressed, afraid people of Rijou, effectively starting a rebellion against their rulers. It was such a cool, vivid moment I couldn't help wishing for a movie or show adaptation, because you could just see it in front of your eyes. That was pretty sweet.

Somehow the book managed to avoid overwhelming me with all the information and characters and concepts, which again, a really good thing for a fantasy novel. It is new to me, as it is the first book in the series, but it still feels extremely approachable and human. The language of it works, the characters actually feel like people instead of plot devices or idealised human beings from a world that is based on real history. You just genuinely feel them close to you.

All in all, this was absolutely fabulous. I am definitely reading the rest of the series (already lined up on my Kindle before even starting the first one, because pffft, go big or go home) sooner than later. If Sebastien De Castell manages to keep this up, I am pretty sure he just managed to gain a new fan who will be eagerly waiting for any new book he releases.

Have a nice day and don't go out without a jacket!

At first glance, I thought it was a retelling of the Musketeers, with the abusive nobles, the poor people who work for them, upon reading further, well there is still that lingering thought, but because of the way this is written, there is no time to compare, you are immediately dragged into the story!!!!

The heroes of this one called Greatcoats most notably the First Cantor Falcio Val Mond and his companions Kest (the best swordsman of the land, you will get to know the truth as you read further) and Brasti (best archer), as I've said Three Musketeers, although the choice of weapons is different, same scenarios fighting for the downtrodden, those evil nobles plotting against the rightful King......oh wait, the already succeeded in killing their King.......so nobody dares to go up against them, see same story but the bad guys have won already!!!

Don't get me wrong, even if there are some similarities, Mr. De Castell in my mind was able to pull it off, always something same but he writes it differently, that you seem to forget the sameness, instead you become engrossed!!!

You need to read this because as simple as the plot, through reading and finishing, the story beckmes deeper and more heartfelt!!! Three Musketeers, bah old group, instead using Mr. De Castell's words K'hey k'hey k'hey Greatcoats!!!!!

If you needed any reaffirmation that this genre would continue to live, Sebastien provides it. He create a nice little world with a serious amount of pain. He makes you want to pick up the sword and join the fight and that for me is writing of the highest class. What he also does with ease is to flit between the present and past and provide explanations while adding immense depth to his lead protagonist. In Falcio a new hero is on the horizon. Onwards!

For every reader, there is a book that gets one absolutely, irrevocably hooked on a genre, or a trope, or a very specific character type: a book that presents a true ideal, that shows the heights of that genre, or trope, or character type, and leads to one desperately trying to find traces of that in every other book one reads. For me, the book was The Lies of Locke Lamora, the first in the Gentlemen Bastards series by Scott Lynch. While I enjoyed fantasy, and had an inclination towards rogues for a while, Lynch???s book pretty much encapsulated all those tropes and ideas I???d loved in one book, and managed to concentrate them further into a potent, heady, and absolutely hilarious (and tragic) story. Ever since I read that novel, I???ve tried to find other novels like it???but I???ve never found a novel that could even come close to matching it. Oh, sure, there were traces of it in the other novels I read, but another novel just like it?

Unfortunately, no book has managed to have the essence, the spirit, of The Lies of Locke Lamora, and while I suppose that???s a good thing (as a testament to Lynch???s creativity that he can make something so unique), I simply can???t help but hope that another author can at least provide me with something to tide me over until Lynch releases the next novel in the series and I can get back to reading about Locke and Jean???s hijinks.

When I first started reading Sebastien de Castell???s Traitor???s Blade, the first in his Greatcoats series, I thought, for a brief moment, that I???d finally found it: the novel that would come closest to being like The Lies of Locke Lamora. Sure, it felt a lot more like The Musketeers than anything else (in fact, I heard the opening theme for The Musketeers playing in my head almost from the get-go), but that was fine. It felt like it had the spirit of Lynch???s novel, and I had high hopes it would continue in that vein.

Unfortunately, I was wrong. Traitor???s Blade is an entertaining piece of work, to be sure, and it certainly has its moments, but it also has problems: which, depending on one???s level of tolerance, may either merely annoy one, or make one want to toss the book entirely.

Traitor???s Blade begins with a man named Falcio, and his friends Kest and Brasti, as they stand guard at the door of Lord Tremondi, one of the Lords Caravaner. However, Falcio, Kest, and Brasti are no ordinary mercenaries: once upon a time, not too long ago, in fact, they were Greatcoats, who traveled far and wide dispensing justice in the name of the King. However, the King has been killed by the Dukes of his kingdom, and the Greatcoats have since scattered and all but disappeared. Now called ???tatter-cloaks??? by all and sundry, reviled by the common folk, and hunted down by the Dukes, Falcio, Kest, and Brasti have no choice but to sell their swords (or bow, in Brasti???s case) for coin.

But Falcio has a plan, or rather, a dream: bring back the Greatcoats so that they can do as they always did, and black the collective eye of the Dukes who murdered their King. However, things don???t go quite as planned, and the three men are set on a path that could see them all hanged???or that could see them bring back the Greatcoats in a way none of them never expected.

Initially, there was absolutely nothing wrong with this novel; in fact, I found it rather enjoyable. The world is typically European, unfortunately, but it???s not medieval: instead, it reads like a fun mixture of Musketeers-era France (the emphases on duelling and fencing), and Borgias-era Italy (the constantly warring duchies and the political power plays). Now, I think I???ve already mentioned elsewhere that I adore the Italian Renaissance and almost anything that???s set in it or in a world based upon it, but I also love the world of Dumas??? Musketeers. Naturally, seeing those two combined together in one world made me very happy indeed???not least because of the way Falcio, the narrator and protagonist of the novel, talks about it, in all its glory and all its tragedy.

Speaking of Falcio, he has a fun, sarcastic voice that???s very entertaining to read???especially since he???s an older man (I assume he???s somewhere in his late thirties to early forties) who has seen a lot and done a lot in his life, but still has the ability to make wisecracks from time to time. To be sure, there???s an edge of bitterness in his wisecracking, but I think that???s what makes me appreciate his sarcasm even more. Many people who read The Lies of Locke Lamora accused Locke of being a shallow smartass, and I suppose that might be because he had never really encountered real, personal tragedy until the key events of the novel happen. Falcio, on the other hand, has tasted deep of the well of tragedy, so that darkness tinges his humour, however lightly, at every turn. One may laugh at it, to be sure, but it quickly becomes clear to the reader that there???s a reason why Falcio makes those wisecracks and talks as smart as he does, whereupon the reader???s laughter may become just a touch less loud, and a little more circumspect.

It was this narration that really made the book for me. Falcio is a very fine storyteller, and I liked reading about how he went about telling the tale. I???m especially fond of the way the duels were described. It???s not easy, writing a fight scene, but the ones detailed in Traitor???s Blade read amazingly well. They are pretty easy to imagine, but not so overwrought that they bog down the rest of the narrative. There were plenty of times when I heard the opening theme from The Musketeers playing in my head as I read the novel???and that is very much a compliment to de Castell???s writing of the fight scenes.

As for Kest and Brasti, they???re a bit hard to talk about since they don???t get very much development???which is rather unfortunate, because this kind of reduces them to two-dimensional sidekicks. Kest is developed a touch more than Brasti, but that???s only because his past is deeply intertwined with Falcio???s, and in the course of telling Falcio???s backstory it???s necessary to tell Kest???s, as well. Brasti very much gets the short end of the stick here, but I do hope that changes further down the line. I???d like to know that he???s more than just a pretty face with the ability to put an arrow through a man???s head from a good hundred yards away. I hope the same goes for Kest, as well, given what happens to him towards the end of the novel.

As for the plot, that???s pretty fun as well. It hops back and forth between past and present, gradually revealing Falcio???s past, as well as the history of the founding of the Greatcoats, all while moving the plot forward???a similar setup, in fact, to The Lies of Locke Lamora, albeit with fewer mind-bending twists. I always appreciate a novel where the safety of the characters (if not all, then at least some) is in doubt, and while it???s clear Falcio isn???t going to die anytime soon, given that he???s the narrator for this series and there are other books still to come, the other characters??? safety isn???t clearly guaranteed.

Now, all of this is certainly well and good, but as I mentioned earlier, this novel is not without its problems. There has been much talk about female characters being ???fridged??? for the sake of giving a male character a tragic backstory, and Traitor???s Blade actually makes use of this stereotype in order to give Falcio a tragic backstory???a backstory that is pretty much his rhyme and reason for existence from the moment it happens all the way up to a crucial moment in the latter part of the novel. Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with killing a character???s loved one in order to give them a tragic backstory???there is probably nothing more tragic than losing a loved one under violent circumstances, and when people lose loved ones, both in fiction and in reality, they change profoundly. What irks me about this whole thing, though, is that Aline is not a fully-developed character. The only time the reader meets her is when it becomes expedient in the story to explain Falcio???s tragic backstory, but never once does the reader see who she was before she met Falcio, who she was as a person outside of the context of Falcio???s personal background. She was his wife, he loved her almost beyond reason, and when she died Falcio went mad: that???s it. The reader doesn???t find out the whys and wherefores of Falcio???s love for her, in the sense that the reader never gets to truly know her. We are forced to accept that Falcio found her special, and he loved her, and that???s it. She does not stand independent of him as a character, and that is what irritates me the most.And then there is Ethalia, a sister of the Order of the Merciful Light, who is introduced midway through the novel, and then is never seen again. She isn???t fridged like Aline, but the reason for her existence also irritates me to no end. Now, I???ve got no problem with incorporating the idea of sacred prostitutes, or sacred sex, or even a sex-based religion into a fantasy novel: there???s plenty of historical evidence that such cults existed in different parts of the world, and that the priests and priestesses involved were often held in high regard by the populace. What I do care about is how the characters involved in those cults are depicted, and I must say, I???m not entirely happy with the way that???s done here. The problem with Ethalia is that her appearance in the novel appears to be nothing more than an attempt to ???heal??? Falcio of his hurts: specifically, the ones caused by the death of his wife???which, in the end, doesn???t really help Falcio at all, or if it does, then it???s only minimal. As with Aline, my main complaint is that Ethalia isn???t really developed as a character beyond what she does for Falcio, once again tying her entire existence in the novel to this one male character for the sake of ???healing??? him of his past hurts. If she had been better developed, better introduced, better everything, then I might have been willing to accept her role in the novel, even if she???s never seen again in the other books. But as things stand, I can???t accept that she???s there just to sex Falcio up into a better state of mind???in fact, I think that one entire chapter involving her could have been done away with entirely, given how extraneous it feels to the rest of the novel. I hope de Castell proves my complaints about Ethalia wrong, because as things stand, his characterisation of her is not a credit to his writing skill.

But what makes the above even more annoying is the fact that the other female characters aren???t all that bad. To be sure, they aren???t all the kick-ass-and-take-names types, but they do cover an interesting personality spectrum: Duchess Patriana is the epitome of crazed and power-hungry; Valiana is spoilt and childish but with a heart of gold; and Aline (a different Aline from Falcio???s wife) swings from childish to remarkably mature, but through most of the book from the point in which she appears, onwards, is brave and blessed with common sense (which Falcio doesn???t, unfortunately, appear to have). This is what I look for in female characters: to cover a spectrum of personalities, to stand independent of the men around them, and to have a story that sees them grow, for better or for worse. While I???m not entirely happy with the way these women have been portrayed thus far, I???m willing to let this slide for now and see how things go further down the line in the next books. I have hopes that things will get better in terms of characterisation for these women???though I will admit that those hopes are somewhat dimmed, given what I???ve already mentioned.

Overall, Traitor???s Blade is a rather enjoyable read: the male characters are entertaining, though some could use a bit more development to really stand out; and the plot itself is well-narrated and well-structured???the fight scenes, in particular, are easy and fun to read. I like Falcio, for the most part, both as a protagonist and a narrator, and when a story is told from first-person point-of-view, likability of the narrator is key to enjoyment. However, the characterisation of certain female characters is extremely problematic, and may, depending on the reader???s preferences and temperament, make them want to quit the novel entirely. If they do, I can???t say I blame them, but the other female characters do give me some hope that things will get better in the upcoming novels. After all, this is just the first book in a series, and hopefully someone???s already informed de Castell that there are ways of treating female characters that do not lean on misogynistic stereotypes. At any rate, I plan to find out if that???s the case when the next novel comes out, so we shall have to see how it goes from there.