Review: Traitor Son by Melissa J Cave
Blurb:
Do the promises of war ever survive the peace?
At the end of a brutal war, Remin of Andelin promised his knights that he would build them a good place, far from the carnage of war and the poisonous intrigues of the Empire. But the only thing more difficult than winning a war is securing the peace.
Welcome to the Andelin Valley, where the days are filled with the backbreaking labor of building a city and the nights bring monsters summoned in the waning days of the war. The Andelin devils dare even the sacred soil of the Empire, and it takes all of Remin’s military genius to keep his people alive. Yet even in the face of bandits, traitors, and the coming winter, the greatest danger to Remin might be his new wife.
Princess Ophele Agnephus. Daughter of the Stars, the Exile Princess, she is the daughter of the Divine Emperor who executed Remin’s family. Raised in secret and given in the place of her sister as a reward for Remin’s war victory, Ophele carries a secret that could topple the Empire: his family was innocent. But will she risk her life to reveal her family’s crimes to the most dangerous man in the Empire?
A tale of love and redemption. As the summer bleeds on and the walls of their city rise, Remin finds himself drawn to Ophele, who shares so many of his dreams and sorrows. She could be everything: his love and his wife, the mother of his children, the foundation of a dynasty that will last forever. Or she could be the Emperor’s weapon, placed at his side to destroy everything he has left.
Traitor Son invites you into a beautiful and dangerous world where:
Epic Battles are fought not only with swords, but with wits and wills.
Political Intrigue weaves a tapestry as complex as Game of Thrones.
Romance and Passion blaze with the intensity of Outlander.
Heroes Triumph over enemies within and without, with the grit and humanity of Poldark.
A marriage built in the ashes of betrayal. A land built on the ruins of a century of war. And a people determined to rise, with shattered trust and an unquenchable hope…if Ophele can only make them believe it is possible. Traitor Son is the story of a people broken by tragedy, a hero torn between duty and love, and a young woman who must find the courage to take her place at his side, before their own devils tear them apart.
Begin an unforgettable journey with Traitor Son, the first book of the Empire of the Stars. Perfect for fans of epic fantasy, knights and nobility, and tales of resilience and redemption.
Review:
To start this off, this wasn’t my usual cup of tea when I went over to request a review copy. Still isn’t in the area of novels I’d usually read. Truth be told, it was the world building presented in the blurb that drew me in, and despite some uncomfortable adult scenes, it was a fun read.
But I can’t just say that some parts were awkward adult scenes and that it was otherwise a fun read. If I had to convince my mother to read this (after talking with her, she’ll probably read it), I’d give her this blurb as the quick sell:
“Remin, a general and son of a traitor. The Emperor has promised him one of his daughters' hand in marriage. Yet not all is what it seems… Want to know more?”
However, that isn’t the full story in the pages, and it woefully undercuts the more chaotic and charged feeling of the entirety of the novel, so with the rest of this review, I’ll try to highlight that to the best of my abilities.
First off, we have the two characters. Remin and Ophele. Both are wise in different things but ignorant all the same when it comes to each other. I say this because about 80% of this book is these two butting heads over why the other is behaving the way they do.
Remin is the most accomplished general in the emperor's army. Known for his fierceness and ruthlessness tracking down his enemies, one can only assume its to expunge his family's past and elevate himself back into a position of good graces with the emperor. But because of all that (and various other factors), he has absolutely no clue how to get along with women, and the only ones he feels comfortable with are his subordinates who’ve survived much with him.
Meanwhile, over in a minor lord's house, Ophele is kept ignorant in the ways of the court. All to benefit the two children of her guardians, of course. She’s always gotten by with little, and has been mentally abused by those caring for her. Sure, she’s a daughter of the stars, one of the emperor's many daughters, however, her mother betrayed the crown, and so got banished from court. She’s never met her father, nor has she ever gotten a letter from him, so when a bunch of random men with an unrecognisable banner show up at the minor lords house, she flees.
This brings us to the beginning of the plot. Cave has managed to create two separate PoVs, keeping their feelings as completely opposite as humanly possible, while also in the same room as each other half the time. This means that two weaves of fate are pulling the strings here. One of them is Ophele realising that her new husband has absolutely no trust in her whatsoever and he’s right to do so because she officially didn’t exist until her father married her off. And the other is Remin doubting literally everything his new wife is doing, thinking she is some spy from the emperor while he’s trying to carve out a plot of land in a war torn land. Throughout the book, shenanigans happen, some romance and adult scenes play out, they resolve their differences, test each other and by the end of it, they are in a somewhat stable relationship that’ll more than likely get tested again and again in following novels to come in the “Empire of the Stars” series.
From there, we can go into worldbuilding and then, subsequently, the magic of this world. We have a few countries here and there, a few seats of power, and the place where this novel spends most of its time - the valley of Andelin, home of the Vallethi. Now, although I could spend time talking about the rest of the kingdom, it’s not that important as this particular valley. It has two features that make it a veritable fortress from outside invaders, if properly defended, but also a deadly basin of no escape should one be trapped by enemies. For on one end, the valley ends in mountains and who knows what dwells on them (the demons came later, I’ll get back to them) and on the other end there is a river. With a single bridge crossing it. All well and good for Remin and his troupe to settle there in order for him to exact revenge. Except for the problem of magical interference from demons.
And this is where an introduction to the magic system is made known. The first time its seen is with a warlord moving far too fast for a normal human, with lightning flickering about, and then once later on. And we keep hearing things about a mysterious “Lord of Tales”, who imbued the Vallethi war leaders with strength. Aside from that, there’s demons. One’s a werewolf, the other is named the Strangler, quite aptly for its penchant of strangling its victims. While the last is a ghoul. Now, that alone wouldn’t seem too bad, but they are coordinated and only appeared once the Vallethi realised they were losing, going with a scorched earth policy. As seen employed here on earth, one can only imagine what demons add to that mix.
Now, had I needed to go comb through this novel for any errors, I’d have to say the balance was off. As I was reading “Traitor’s Son”, half the novel was intimate romance scenes, the other half everything else. I know it’s a romance novel with a fantasy setting, but it could be more balanced out between all aspects instead of three or four intimate scenes interspersed with character building and world building. I’ll reiterate what I said at the beginning, this isn’t my usual cup of tea, and so I’m not the most well versed in this genre, at least on the romance part, so that’s just my gripe about it, but I know for others, it’ll definitely hold more appeal.
If you like tension, sword fighting, awkward newlyweds trying to figure out how each other tick and various other romance fantasy settings, this novel would be a fine addition to your shelf/tbr.
As always, thank you for reading this review on Melissa J Cave’s latest novel in a new series, and I hope I’ve helped nudge you towards your next read. If not, don’t fret, we have plenty here for you to explore, just click this random link here and be transported to a random review post and go from there..
Wherever you are reading this, have a good morning, good afternoon, good evening and good night!
