Traitor’s Blade Review
After seeing people post about Traitor’s Blade, written by Sebastien de Castell, in a discussion group I am a member of, I decided to give it a read. I’m definitely glad that I did because it was an enthralling and exciting read.
In Traitor’s Blade, the protagonist Falcio and his friends Kest and Brasti are members of the Greatcoats, an organization dedicated to upholding the laws of the land. After the death of the king they served, the Greatcoats have been left disbanded and disgraced. Falcio, Kest, and Brasti have taken a contract to protect a noble, but when they are framed for his murder, they are forced to flee. In their effort to escape, they fall into the middle of a conspiracy by the corrupt dukes to place someone that they can control on the throne.
From the beginning, I was hooked. The aspect that caught me immediately is the quick and witty writing style. The sharp banter between Falcio, Kest, and Brasti is often hilarious and feels like you’re eavesdropping on chatter between close friends. Action scenes feature a dynamic flow that captures the spirit of any given fight. What really stood out to me during those scenes was the inner monologue of Falcio as he problem solved his way out of tough situations. Those moments provided both insight into how he thinks and an injection of humor that I enjoyed. There are also frequent flashbacks to Falcio’s past that tie into the what’s happening in the main story. These serve as good bits of character development and world building without coming across as blocks of information dumping.
The story itself flows nicely and stays engaging throughout the book. I especially enjoyed the middle section of the book where Falcio is protecting an orphaned girl during a weeklong event where the laws are not enforced, reminding me of the Purge movies a bit. In addition to some excellent fight scenes, this provides Falcio with some interesting character moments as he is reminded of why he became a Greatcoat in the first place: to protect and help people. This also effectively sets up his character direction heading into the rest of the series.
Between the sharp writing, fun characters, and engaging story, Traitor’s Blade has become one of my favorite recent discoveries and I can’t wait to read the rest of the Greatcoats series. I highly recommend checking it out and personally give it 5/5 stars.
You can find Traitor’s Blade here on Amazon.