Traitor's Blade - Sebastien de Castell (2014)

„We’re going to get a terrible reputation if we just keep travelling across the countryside crying all the time.”

 

Choosing which fantasy books to read in 2018 is a bit of a tricky business. Is it going to be the same story you’ve read a thousand times only with different names, or will it bring something unique and original to the table? Is the worldbuilding nothing more than a map on the first page and some vague references to events long past, or will it be so rich and exciting that you’re gonna need to note things down if you want to keep track of it all? And if it’s the latter, will the writer get so entangled in their own personally created universe that they will lose track of actually telling a compelling story? Of course, all of this is completely subjective, and rarely so black and white: sometimes even a book with a derivative story, cardboard cutout characters and a lousy romance can have something special that makes it stand out. You can never really know until you actually pick it up and read it, but these days I’m getting ever the pickier about my reading choices.

All that said, Traitor’s Blade seemed like a relatively safe bet. An award winning epic fantasy novel about travelling lawmakers fighting to save the world, not to mention all the five-star reviews it got on Goodreads - among them one from a good friend of mine, who personally recommended the book to me, and to whose authority in fantasy novels I really have to bow to… come on, there’s no way I’m not gonna love this, right?

Well. Not quite. I’m afraid this is yet another book where I just don’t „get it”. Oh it’s not bad by any means, not at all. The story is mostly a roadtripping adventure in a fantasy setting which is not terribly original, but the voice of the main character, Falcio, gives it a unique touch, especially when he’s reminiscing about his past – I found myself enjoying the flashback segments a lot more than I did the present day part of the story, which was often meandering and dragged down by unnecessary details. Did we really need every single stroke of a sword during all those many, many duels to be described quite so fastidiously? Fencers and swordfighting enthusiasts probably appreciated it, but half the time I couldn’t even make sense of the movements described, let alone imagine them.

It’s clear that the relationship between the three Greatcoats is supposed to form the backbone of this novel. Many commenters likened it to that of the Three Musketeers, and I definitely enjoyed their banter most of the time. In fact, I kept imagining Brasti as the Titus Pullo to Falcio’s Lucius Vorenus, and they are one of my all-time favourite buddy pairings, so that’s quite telling.

What’s even more telling, however, is that my enjoyment of the book increased considerably when Kest and Brasti left Falcio for a while and Aline entered the picture, and it’s only partly because that’s when the story itself started to gather momentum. Aline is just simply delightful: a young girl left utterly alone in the world who is able to put her despair aside in order to save herself and those she cares about, never losing her spirit and sense of humour in the process. Her relationship with Falcio was precious, and by far my favourite thing about the book. In truth, it was the side characters that carried the story for me all along: besides Aline, the Tailor, Feltock, and later Valiana were the standout players for me. All in all, I enjoyed Traitor’s Blade quite a bit, but I’m not in any hurry to read the sequel.