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juushikaTitle: The Traitor Baru Cormorant (The Traitor)
Author: Seth Dickinson
Published: New York: Tor, 2015
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 400
Total Page Count: 199,350
Text Number: 588
Read Because: multiple recommendations, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: After the Empire of Masks conquers and colonizes her home, Baru becomes a student of the empire in the attempt to destroy it from within—whatever the cost. The Traitor is a pointed commentary on colonialism, makes equally pointed social inversions (particularly to gender stereotypes), and discrimination is viewed from within, from a protagonist in a minority group. Dickinson's style is terse, which makes the dense politics and battles unnecessarily confusing but is perfect counterpoint to Baru's unidealized emotional journey. But the plot depends on the reader overlooking the foreshadowing of a crucial plot twist while Dickinson's style demands close reading; the twist is thematically necessary, but the way it's written makes it a betrayal by narrative rather than by character—clumsy and insincere.
(I'm also unhappy with the symbolic injury that ends the book, because I don't think disability should be used a metaphor.)
I love this book in theory and, though I read it some time ago, think of it often. I recommend it on the basis of what it does well, which is ambitious, intelligent, and heartless; its themes penetrate every aspect. But at its most crucial point, it fumbles.
(As I close the cover of my most recently filled Moleskine I also declare that I am! finally!! free from the ghost of book reviews of books read last year.)
Author: Seth Dickinson
Published: New York: Tor, 2015
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 400
Total Page Count: 199,350
Text Number: 588
Read Because: multiple recommendations, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: After the Empire of Masks conquers and colonizes her home, Baru becomes a student of the empire in the attempt to destroy it from within—whatever the cost. The Traitor is a pointed commentary on colonialism, makes equally pointed social inversions (particularly to gender stereotypes), and discrimination is viewed from within, from a protagonist in a minority group. Dickinson's style is terse, which makes the dense politics and battles unnecessarily confusing but is perfect counterpoint to Baru's unidealized emotional journey. But the plot depends on the reader overlooking the foreshadowing of a crucial plot twist while Dickinson's style demands close reading; the twist is thematically necessary, but the way it's written makes it a betrayal by narrative rather than by character—clumsy and insincere.
(I'm also unhappy with the symbolic injury that ends the book, because I don't think disability should be used a metaphor.)
I love this book in theory and, though I read it some time ago, think of it often. I recommend it on the basis of what it does well, which is ambitious, intelligent, and heartless; its themes penetrate every aspect. But at its most crucial point, it fumbles.
(As I close the cover of my most recently filled Moleskine I also declare that I am! finally!! free from the ghost of book reviews of books read last year.)
