Title: Traitor’s Blade (2014)
Author: Sebastien de Castell
Pages: 370
Series: Greatcoats #1 (Series Tracker)

Sometimes a book will lose me–I’ll be intently focused during the early-going before my interest wanes and I float aimlessly through the rest. This happened during Traitor’s Blade and I was disappointed I did not enjoy it as much as I had hoped to. After a strong start, things get very uneven. By the midway mark, I was bored and disinterested in how the story would unfold. From there it devolved into a deus ex machina-fest with every jam being solved in exceedingly convenient ways.

The Duchal politics at the heart of the story were wholly uninteresting to me, as well. Falcio and his relationship with the deceased king was the only storyline that I was remotely invested in.

Finally, the main trio of Falcio, Kest, and Brasti are an entertaining team that didn’t spend nearly enough time together. The witty banter and jesting evaporates once they are pulled apart and there was more fun to be mined from their interactions than we got. I expected to burn through this story and its subsequent sequels, but it was not to be, unfortunately.

★★¾ out of 5