The Traitor Baru Cormorant

The Traitor Baru Cormorant

Cover image for U.S. first edition hardcover
Author Seth Dickinson
Cover artist
Country United States and United Kingdom
Language English
Genre Hard fantasy
Published 15 September 2015 (US and UK)
Publisher Tor Books
Media type
Pages 400 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-765-38072-2 (US first edition hardcover)
Preceded by Debut novel
Followed by The Monster Baru Cormorant
Website www.sethdickinson.com/the-traitor-baru-cormorant/

The Traitor Baru Cormorant (published as The Traitor in the United Kingdom) is a 2015 hard fantasy novel by Seth Dickinson, and his debut novel. It is based on a short story Dickinson wrote in 2011 for Beneath Ceaseless Skies: "The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Her Field-General, and Their Wounds".

The novel follows Baru, a brilliant young woman who, educated in the schools of the imperial power that subjugated her homeland, sets out to gain power to subvert the empire from within. In late 2015, Dickinson was working on a sequel: The Monster Baru Cormorant.[1]

Reception

The Traitor Baru Cormorant was well received by critics. Publishers Weekly appreciated the "seductively complex", ambitious worldbuilding and the "subtle language" of Dickinson's "compelling, utterly surprising narrative".[2] Niall Alexander, writing for Tor.com, characterized the novel as "one of 2015's very finest fantasies" and as "clever and subversive" in the vein of K. J. Parker's best works, highlighting its "intricately crafted narrative and character".[3]

At NPR, Amal El-Mohtar praised the "crucial, necessary" novel for its brutality in looking "unflinchingly into the self-replicating virus of empire", noting in particular the unexpectedly "viscerally riveting" portrayal of economic conflict.[4] Dickinson has blogged about explicitly addressing issues around gender and feminism, race and homosexuality, as well as imperialism in the world of Baru Cormorant.[5]

See also

References

  1. Seth Dickinson [sethjdickinson] (December 10, 2015). "14,000 words into another full draft of THE MONSTER BARU CORMORANT. I feel good! Maybe this will be the one!" (Tweet). Retrieved December 11, 2015 via Twitter.
  2. "The Traitor Baru Cormorant". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  3. Alexander, Niall (14 September 2015). "The Masquerade: The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson". Tor.com. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  4. El-Mohtar, Amal (27 September 2015). "Baru Cormorant Will Catch You Unawares". NPR. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  5. "The secret design of The Traitor Baru Cormorant". Seth Dickinson's blog. November 24, 2015. Retrieved December 11, 2015.


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