Tuesday 28 January 2020

The Traitor by Seth Dickinson

You know, The Traitor Baru Comorant is a far more awesome title, I don't know why they changed it to just The Traitor 

Hush shadow voice. You're not needed for this one.

I beg your pardo-

The Traitor is my book of the year. Calling it now. I've got a lot of exciting sounding books on my list for this year but they're battling for second place. Maybe I'll just stop reading fiction for the rest of the year and, I dunno, run away to a monastery or something. Or work on my own writing (hahaha no).

It is a phenomenal achievement. It is crammed full with detail. It has an enthralling plot and level of characterisation. It has the emotional impact of a mushroom cloud-laying motherfucker. I'm honestly not sure I have a review beyond read it unless it really doesn't sound like your thing and I'm so sorry for you if it isn't. But you clicked the link, so you deserved an attempt at one.

There are a few things I didn't like about The Traitor. One is that my natural instinct is to read books with this much detail slowly, and to read books with plots this compelling very quick, and the contradiction between my instincts was genuinely quite distressing.

Another is it used "Fire" as a command for archers and that is a sure sign of a degenerate mind to begin with, but slightly more jarring when the world is so richly constructed. If there was muskets and I forgot them, forgive me.

Most seriously... The Traitor is painful in general, but the opening chapters (after maybe the first one or two) are heavy with it. I'm kinda with Ursula Le Guin on the boredom of pain (or at least I am when it's used that heavily), which meant I found those chapters fairly boring. Fascinating, but boring. I let that go though. It is necessary to establish why Baru Comorant is who she is and why she will do what she does. You can keep me waiting for my drink a little if it is the nectar of the gods.

You sure? Look, you need me. You can't do a review yo-

Very sure.

The Traitor is the tale of a child whose home is conquered by a colonising power that makes sweeping social changes, resulting in the death of one of her parents. Rather than spending that hate on raging rebellion, she seeks power within the Empire to avenge them and maybe even end that regime. And as a preciously intelligent child, a picked favourite of a suspiciously influential merchant, she absolutely gets a chance at power. She gets it as the Imperial Accountant of a far off, troublesome, recently conquered province named Aurdwynn. 

Aurdwynn is a delight to read about, the sort of detailed, non-mirroring, slightly alien secondary world culture I adore. You can see elements of its influences but they are coherent parts of the whole. Its people are savage in their sentiments, civilised in their habits, and philosophical in their thoughts and approaches to life. They are hard to rule given their loyalty to their dukes, each part loyal to its own particular ruler and family. To say there is a collision course is no spoiler.

Which brings me back to pain. This is a story about people undergoing hugely traumatic experiences. Dickinson doesn't flinch from making that point. Not one iota. But nor does he flinch from showing that they're still alive, and that while alive they can and will have joy and laughter. This balance makes The Traitor more than just pain, although it does seem a somewhat masochistic pleasure at times. It is bittersweet, and addictive, and real. Baru Comorant lives in a world of tangled relationships and seemingly mutually incompatible truths, just like real people, except her relationships and truths have the clarity that fiction requires. It's a hell of an achievement.

That worldbuilding and character making is only part of what gives it so much detail and density. The other part is the prose. Dickinson's prose borders on the ornate and is filled with unexpected metaphors (that almost always makes sense). Sentences will catch the eye and demand multiple reads. Of all the better written books I ever read, to memory now I can't recall.

But then there is the plot. I shall give no spoilers that I have not already done so, but will note that it is swift moving and as viciously twisty as the roads in The Italian Job. What's more, Dickinson more or less tells you pretty early on how it's going to go. And I read along rabidly anyway, curious as to the how, unsure as to whether it could really go like that. The need to know was strong enough that I flicked to the back to spoil it for myself. It still gripped me incredibly strong.

Long story short, The Traitor has all of the elements of a good book done to more or less my ideal of perfection. Before I wrap up this review, I'd just like to touch on theme for a moment. For me,one of the great overriding themes of Fantasy that we took from mythology and more or less can't escape from, is Power. It is about having the Power to Protect Our Tribe, and therefore the Power to Menace Our Tribe. Well, The Traitor is about power, but Baru doesn't have that particular power. Only the ability to menace other people's, on the behalf of other people's, in the hope that one day it will all come good. That doesn't change the consequences of her actions though or the cost to her identity. What does this mean? I would need so much more words and spare processing power for that. But, thematically, the book delivers.

It just delivers everywhere. I am an upbeat, pro-focused reviewer as a norm, sometimes worried I stray into hyperbole and over-generosity, but I am worried I haven't adequately described greatness here. The only real true negative is it feels like I need to lay down and process this book afterwards; I don't think I have yet. It weighs on me and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Read The Traitor. You probably won't love it as much as me, but give yourself that chance, for sweet lord is it something to love.

3 comments:

  1. YESSSSS I love this book and I love seeing it happen to other people, it is such an experience, it is so brutal, it is amazing.

    Also: "You know, The Traitor Baru Comorant is a far more awesome title, I don't know why they changed it to just The Traitor" -- YOU'RE RIGHT AND YOU SHOULD SAY IT

    Is The Monster (Baru Cormorant) out in the UK yet? I bought it from the US because I just couldn't bear to wait, and it is not quite as magnificent, but still so damn good.

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    1. Haha, I nearly tagged you when I posted this on FF as I knew you'd love reading this.

      The Monster's out I believe, the Traitor's due out June 2020. Might look to grab The Monster next time I'm in America. I've looked at reviews for The Monster and I don't think I'll enjoy it as much, but it seems a necessary part of the narrative.

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