Book Review - 'Traitor's Blade' by Sebastien de Castell

‘The King is dead, the Greatcoats have been disbanded and Falcio Val Mond and fellow magistrates Kest and Brasti have been reduced to working as bodyguards for a nobleman who refuses to pay them. Things could be worse – their employer could be lying dead on the floor while the three of them are forced to watch as the killer plants evidence framing them for the murder. Oh wait, that’s exactly what’s happening…
A royal conspiracy is about to unfold in the most corrupt city in the world and it could mean the ruin of everything Falcio, Kest and Brasti have fought for. If the trio want to unwind the conspiracy, save the innocents and reunite the Greatcoats, they’ll have to do it with nothing but the tattered coats on their backs and the swords in their hands, because these days every noble is a tyrant, every knight is a thug and the only thing you can really trust is a traitor’s blade.’

While looking for fantasy books with little to no romance, ‘Traitor’s Blade’ was mentioned in a recommendation list; also, it’s not YA but written for adults.

I’ve never heard of this author or this book, the first in ‘The Greatcoats’ series, a tetralogy, and was delighted to find it at the library.

The story is told in first person by Falcio Val Mond, who, at the beginning, obligingly tells us what a Greatcoat is:
‘… one of the legendary sword-wielding magistrates who travelled from the lowliest village to the biggest city, ensuring that any man or woman, high or low, had recourse to the King’s Law. A protector to many – maybe even a hero to some… taught to fight when needed, given the training to take on any man in single combat.’

As the story begins, we’re introduced, after Falcio, to his two best friends, Kest and Brasti; as they converse, we learn of the final order their king had given them – find his Charoite… except none of them know what it is or what it looks like.

The trio now work for a travelling merchant, a man they don’t like and who doesn’t treat them well, but they don’t have much of a choice when it comes to accepting work for the king is dead.

The Greatcoats, no longer held in high esteem, are treated with little to no respect and are seen as barely a step above the dregs of society.

Then, as the book description tells us, their employer is murdered, they’re framed for the killing and have no choice but to escape and find a way out of the city.

We spend a fair amount of time with them and they’re likeable enough.

The interactions between the three friends are humorous, lots of quips, and they make fun of each other quite a bit.

Having said that, I did find the unrelenting humour wearing after a while as it was always present, regardless of how dangerous or not the situation was.

The story moves between present time and Falcio’s past, how he became a Greatcoat of a king he was very loyal to; I’m not the first to say it reminded me of Alexander Dumas’ ‘The Three Musketeers’.

I liked De Castell’s descriptions, and he does go into a lot of detail with the swordfights but, overall, I found the worldbuilding lacking.

While the fight descriptions could have been interesting, I didn’t feel the immediacy and tension of the fight with Falcio describing the moves being employed in the swordfights; there were times I felt I was reading a textbook on sword fighting.

But here are some descriptions I did like.

Speaking of the bard who fuelled Falcio’s desire to be a Greatcoat:
‘He spoke in that whisper of his that sounded like it could travel on the wind and reach you from a hundred miles away.’

The description of one of the bigger cities:
‘From a distance, [the city] gleamed. I don’t mean it shimmered, nor did it shine; it gleamed, the gleam of oily skin on a corpse, or the gleam in the eye of a man who fancies he can kill you without consequence.’

And the Magister’s greatcoat, ‘the single most valuable thing the travelling Magister owns. It’s made of leather, but the thin, very light plates made from some kind of bone and sewn into different panels can ward off the occasional blow… And it can keep you alive if you’re stranded on the road in the cold… No one is entirely sure how they’re made, because there was only ever one Tailor of the Greatcoats and no one knows what happened to her after the King died.’

Past about the halfway point, events leave Falcio on his own, separated from his friends, protecting a newly introduced character.

To begin with, I didn’t mind this; their interaction, fraught with danger, was interesting enough.

Then, the things I found grating began to mount up.

Falcio on his own without Kest or Brasti is a little hard work.

I’ve said in previous reviews how off-putting I find violence against children and animals; if it’s pertinent to the story, if the details are only hinted at without stomach-churning detail, I’m ok with that.

We don’t see but we’re told of the horrific torture that’s been done to an equine and I had to put the book aside.

The next evening, I dithered for a bit before deciding to continue, but I did not read the rest of that chapter.

A few chapters later, after the introduction of yet another character, Falcio is put in a situation with that character that’s out of his control, yet it’s presented as ‘for his own good’.

All I’ll say is, if the roles were reversed, there would be a huge outcry, and rightly so.

Just because it’s being done to a guy does not make it ok.

That was the second time I came so close to not finishing the book.

But I persevered, possibly because of that ever-dwindling part of me that still really wanted to like this book.

However, and I should have already fully grasped this concept at my age, really wanting something to be a certain way does not make it so.

The blatant deus ex machina moment near the end was annoying as heck!

To be honest, that deus ex machina moment was the climax of other such moments in the story.

And what should have been the battle of all battles involving Kest and his adversary happened off-page and we only see the aftermath.

While I appreciate de Castell breaking away from the ‘farm/poor boy as chosen one’ trope, unfortunately, there’s too much ‘sex as weapon’ for my taste, including one woman waxing very unlyrically of using sex as a torture weapon!

I honestly thought I’d found a book, a series, I’d enjoy, but after a strong, refreshing start, the story lost its fun, its drama and emotion, with more and more out-of-left-field moments to get the protagonists out of impossible situations.