The Traitor's Game
Ratings5
Average rating2.6
Hearts and loyalties collide in this electrifying new YA series from New York Times bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen. Jennifer A. Nielsen's New York Times bestseller The Traitor's Game, which Entertainment Weekly called "the next big YA fantasy," is perfect for fans of the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard and the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. Kestra Dallisor has spent three years in exile in the Lava Fields, but that won't stop her from being drawn back into her father's palace politics. He's second-in-command to the cruel king, Lord Endrick, which makes Kestra a valuable bargaining chip. A group of rebels knows this -- and they snatch Kestra from her carriage as she reluctantly travels home.The kidnappers want her to retrieve the lost Olden Blade, the only object that can destroy the king, but Kestra is not the obedient captive they expected. One of the rebels, Simon, has his hands full as Kestra tries to foil their plot, by any means necessary. As motives shift and secrets emerge, both have to decide what -- and who -- it is they're fighting for.
Series
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3 primary booksThe Traitor's Game
The Traitor's Game is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 2018 with contributions by Jennifer A. Nielsen.
Reviews
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Reviews with the most likes.
I like a lot of YA, this wasn't one. The characters were flat, the dialog was pithy and there were no surprises, no sense of building excitement or risk. I continued listening only because I had a lot of busy work to do that could be easily accompanied by an audio book.
1/5 stars
I wished I had DNFed this book. I wasn't planning to read but Spotify had recommended it, it was a free version, and I needed background noise. From the start it was sort of iffy because I couldn't get fully immersed in the story but I had hoped it would get better. It did not at least in my opinion.
Things I appreciated:
. Kestra's wit/sarcasm
. the attempt at giving us two perspectives
.it has a nice cover
Things I didn't appreciate:
This book wasn't particularly good and it is definitely not memorable. I feel like in a couple of months I'll forget that I had read until I came across my own review. I still am in disbelief that this happened over the course of 4 days. At times it felt as if the different days merged or more had passed. Which also brings me to another point which is that it lacked world building. Places were mentioned vaguely as well as world mechanisms but it felt half-assed and felt like it was a missed opportunity to further involve reader. Perhaps this would have helped in my case because j didn't get attached to the story at all. The one character I actually cared for died.
I liked the idea of having two different perspectives in this book. Unfortunately I felt like it wasn't executed well. It feels as if there wasn't much difference in the perspectives and that at times the two voices merged so much that it just felt like one voice.
The romance was the worst aspect of this book in my opinions. It could just be due to my deep hatred of the instant love trope. Also I felt like Kestra had more chemistry with other characters than with her love interest so that didn't help much either.
I don't recommend this book. Its definitely one that you can skip.
