Answering Review Request: Traitor's Prize

Thaddeus White asked me to read his novel "Traitor's Prize". It is part of his Bloody Crown trilogy and the sequel to "Kingdom Asunder", which I have reviewed here.

SPOILER WARNING!

SPOILER WARNING!

Basically, this entire review is spoilers. Not only for the previous book but also for the book itself. The reasons for the things I say only make sense if I bring up spoilers. SO.....

SPOILER WARNING!

SPOILER WARNING!

PLOT

This one picks up right where the previous one left off. The civil war is still on-going. 

If one were to identify plot-lines specific to this book then they would be two in number. 1.) King William's fealty problems in North Western Denland, around Norcot and Belgate.  2.) Sophie Hurstwood's journey home. There are many events and just as many separate viewpoints but all of them relate to one of these two points (although Stuart Esden's pillaging is more indirect than most). Both are well-developed and well-written, but as I read, there was something of a problem.

Honestly, I'm not entirely comfortable calling it a "problem" because the events make sense and there is an in-universe reason for them. However, they affect how the story reads structurally and also affect my enjoyment of reading them.  The problem is that of a mechanical advantage ball.

1. A thousand Kurtrisch mercenaries offer allegiance to William Penmere, and then the ruler of Albergenian promptly turns against him over him accepting them.

2. Sophie arrives at Hurstwood shortly after it comes to terms with Stuart Esden. On the other hand, the one person who makes Stuart's siege pointless arrives immediately before he leaves.

3. Galmoth flip-flops on King William; it was originally for him and then turns against him at the start of this story and then goes  back towards him without a fight or even preamble at the end. Even he notes that the terms of "surrender" are extremely generous, so neither one of them lost anything over the scuffle. 

4. After a whole book about how heavily David Esden outnumbers William Penmere and the need to avoid a fight, Penmere's envelopment strategy works flawlessly and the army is put to route.

5. Sophie's guardian is killed only to be immediately replaced with another one just before she is recaptured. She is on her third by the book's end. 

It is like watching a tennis match, only not quite as exciting.

It is a good book, a solid read, and a worthy follow-up to "Kingdom Asunder" but it did not impress me as much as "Kingdom Asunder" or the other books that I have read by Thadeus White such as "Journey To Altmortis" and "The Adventures of Sir Edric".

I'd say that my favorite part of this book is the fight between Hugh and the Kurtrisch vs the Elerin, which is a supernatural swamp monster native to Denland. It is a good battle sequence; well set-up, the monster's Dreaded status established in advance, and well executed. Which, now that I think about it, is a nutshell of my opinion of this book.

See, an elerin can only be defeated by magic. Any sort of physical damage is eventually mended automatically; even cutting its head off and throwing it away will only make it the body retrieve it.  Since Hugh's party had no magi, all they could manage was a stalling action. They accomplished nothing. Which is the same to say of both sides in this war.

1. Penemere gained mighty mercenaries but lost the north coast because of them. It lost and regained Galmonth as bookends. It killed another one of the Esden brothers but everyone knows  that the remaining one, Stuart, is going to be the biggest hurdle (and, personally, I think he would have killed his older brothers after the war ended anyways, so he could crown himself). It secured Norcott as an ally, but Norcott's lord is reluctant to part with enough soldiers to help its war effort. It defeated a big army, but considering how outnumbered it is supposed to be, the fundamental situation may not have changed, and now William's army is carrying around a lot of prisoners (thousands of them) so the army is still kind of a threat.

2. Esden trampled Haledale, but its lords had already evacuated everyone and taken everything of value, leaving the army hungry. It "conquered" Hurstwood but couldn't pillage anything due to an agreement enforced by magi, and the non-aggression is likely to expire soon. 

What saves this book for the author is the revelation at the end. Charlotte and her Felarian mercenaries were revealed to be double agents for William Penmere in the last book. Here, it is revealed that her true master is the leader of neighboring Felaria, who wants to invade. The fact that both sides of Denland's civil war have expended much effort and resource to ultimately go nowhere is exactly what Charlotte wants.  While she isn't responsible for everything (at least, I don't think so, but maybe.....), part of this mechanical advantage ball is her fault.

CHARACTERS

The cast and its members are more or less the same. I'll only list some highlights here.

Elena was presented as this shy and fragile Woobbie in the previous book. She is on much better footing here, and is a much more developed character. For one thing, she is a lot bolder in her interactions with Stephane.

Sophie Hurstwood has more opportunity to show her Action Survivor chops in this book then the last one. There she had an ill-fated escape attempt. Here she shows off quick thinking, guile, and determination without its foolishness.

David Esden makes a fine foil for his younger brother, Stuart. Although he seems competent at organizing troops and making strategies, he does not enjoy war. He strikes me as a "court's darling" sort of character, which makes Stuart appear all the more brutal and savage.

POLISH

It looks good. The map of Denland at the start of helpful for tracking the events that occur, and the spelling and grammar are error free as far as I can tell.

Trickster Eric Novels gives "Traitor's Prize" a B+

This has been a free book review. Thaddeus White asked for an honest review so I provided one.

Click here for my next book review (for fun): Don't Know Much About History

Click here for my previous book review (a request): Curses of Scale

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).