FANTASY REVIEW: The Traitor Spy 2: The Rogue - Trudi Canavan

Release Date: 05/05/11

SYNOPSIS:

Living among the Sachakan rebels, Lorkin does his best to learn about them and their unique magic. But the Traitors are reluctant to trade their knowledge for the Healing they so desperately want and, while he assumes they fear revealing their existence to the world, there are hints they have bigger plans. Sonea searches for the rogue, knowing that Cery cannot avoid assassination for ever, but the rogue's influence over the city's underworld is far greater than she feared. His only weakness is the loss of his mother, now locked away in the Lookout. In Sachaka, Dannyl has lost the respect of the Sachakan elite for letting Lorkin join the Traitors. The Ashaki's attention has shifted, instead, to the new Elyne Ambassador, a man Dannyl knows all too well. And in the University, two female novices are about to remind the Guild that sometimes their greatest enemy is found within.


REVIEW:

If there’s one thing that you can guarantee about Trudi Canavan it’s that the plots have multiple wheels, that the threads can have far reaching events and above all else that not everything is quite what it seems. That said, I did feel that the first part of the story (which picks up from the first title) spends way too much time reminding readers as to what has gone before. (Although to be honest if you’re like me, you’ll have had a reread prior to starting this book.)

It can be annoying, it can be unnecessary and to be honest it feels like unnecessary filler which should have been covered in a brief prologue that brings the readers up to speed. Once you get over that though you get to the nitty-gritty and as such you get to see a few more tricks to Trudi’s bow. Within this book, the characters not only grow emotionally but spiritually which allows the reader to get a better understanding of the drives as well as overall goals, it allows bridges to be built and of course a greater sense of caring between our heroes and the reader. The prose is crisp, the movement pretty fair and all in made this a fully enjoyable amount of time over a bank holiday period. All in everything is set for a pretty decent conclusion with more than enough plot left to be resolved without a huge rush but one that will allow for a more organic feel rather than a forced confrontation and as such it’s going to be a roll of the dice for the heroes and for the villains in The Traitor Queen.