A Great Hero in a Greatcoat

Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a fast-moving, exciting, entertaining fantasy novel with interesting characters and a compelling main idea.

To be honest, this was a deeper and more engrossing novel than expected. I cared about the characters, their histories and their motivations, more than I thought I would. I guess I thought this was a quippy action novel--which it kinda is, but it has a lot more heart than that would suggest. Higher stakes. Tougher problems with lower lows.

Falcio is a nicely complex leader whose past really feels like a part of him. We learn how he got to his current position bit by bit, with well crafted flashbacks, and his manner and motivations really make sense. He's a flawed hero; not so gray that you wonder why you're rooting for him, but just enough that you feel like he's a realistic human who's seen some shit...

I thought it'd be good, but I liked it more than that. And I want to see the main characters achieve their dream, so I'm gonna have to see what happens next.

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