Traitor's Blade

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!