Title:Traitor's Kiss
Series: Traitor's Trilogy
Author: Erin Beaty
My rating: 5.00 Stars
Goodreads Overall Rating: 3.11 (will speak on this)
Goodreads Summary: An obstinate girl who will not be married.
A soldier desperate to prove himself.A kingdom on the brink of war.
With a sharp tongue and an unruly temper, Sage Fowler is not what they’d call a lady―which is perfectly fine with her. Deemed unfit for marriage, Sage is apprenticed to a matchmaker and tasked with wrangling other young ladies to be married off for political alliances. She spies on the girls―and on the soldiers escorting them.
As the girls' military escort senses a political uprising, Sage is recruited by a handsome soldier to infiltrate the enemy ranks. The more she discovers as a spy, the less certain she becomes about whom to trust―and Sage becomes caught in a dangerous balancing act that will determine the fate of her kingdom.
Why I gave this five stars: This book is engrossing and addicting. Erin Beaty sets up a whole new fantasy world unlike one I have ever read. I have read it is similar to another series but I have not read the series it has been compared to. This is unlike anything I have read lately. First of all, it's a journey-like book where a good portion of the book takes place while the characters are traveling to another place. I don't usually like books like that, I find them boring, but this author did an amazing job of keeping the story moving and not just continuous descriptions of the road ahead and the mountains out to the west... ect.
The plot is fast moving with a lot of intrigue, that gives you the constant "who is the good guy, who is the bad guy," kind of feeling. It has a political aspect to it but it's not too over powering for those of you who don't enjoy a lot of that. There is romance and I personally don't really like YA romance too much but this was done well and actually added a good bit to the story. The characters, you easily find yourself caring about, they all have their little quirks and issues. Also: strong female leader!
If you have read the Death Note series (if you haven't go do that now) the logic behind how this plot moves in the middle is a lot like Death Note. It's partially an unreliable narrator but only partially, some of it you actually are in the right shoes of what's going on. The author is really good at making you think and pay attention which I really appreciated.
The plot keeps twisting and turning and moving and really keeps you wanting more! It's a completely original tale and I can't wait for the rest of the series.
The Issues I have seen and how I felt about them while reading:
Misogyny: I saw some reviews where people said they weren't going to read the book because it puts down females and makes them look weak. I can say that this book does the complete opposite. In fact, she shows how strong woman are and how they are equal and have their own advantages while facing war. The male characters in the book are really supportive of the main character and she plays a big role among things we would consider "only men do." The author does a good job of making this not the case and I am really proud of her for that. I did not find any evidence of misogyny and being a gay female I would think I would be the first one to pick up on that.
Racism: This issue has consumed goodreads over the last week or so. I don't think it's great but I don't think it's awful. In regards to this book, I however, did not see any racism what-so-ever. There is a paragraph describing a country the main characters are somewhat at war with but they are NEVER portrayed as a dark-skinned aggressor. Believe me I will not turn a blind eye to something I see as racism but this is not. The character that is dark skinned is only mentioned briefly and their specific race is not portrayed as an aggressor, a savage or anything of the sort. Simply a country in which the main characters are at war with. Be careful not to claim a description as racism, I feel that, that takes away from the actual seriousness of racism in this country. To me some of the things I have seen here on goodreads downplay what racism actual is and make it look a bit like a joke when it is a very series thing, the claims in books, are not racism they are descriptions. The day I see something like "because they are blank race they are not capable of blank" and it serves no purpose for the story then I will call it racism. One complaint I did have is there isn't much background on why they are at war with any of the other nations but I hope that will be in future books.
I saw also a claim of whitewashing. I think this is also not exactly the case. The author herself never pitched this as a Mulan retelling, I never saw that being a thing in the first place but if some of you saw that, that's fine but it couldn't of been the author they don't pitch their own books. If they did, what would be the point.
Let's pretend for a second though, that, that was the case and Erin did pitch it as a Mulan re-telling. It's a re-telling, not the same story. When someone comes up to me and says Mulan re-telling I don't think of her Chinese decent, I think of a female warrior going undercover as a male. Her specific race doesn't hold the story, it certainly adds rich amazing, detail to the story but it's not the first thing I think of. I would rather read a re-telling how an author saw the story, not the same exact story. Some of you are probably screaming it's still white-washing, and if you chose to see it that way, then don't read the book, but by the time we've come to this conclusion we have flown so far away from what The Traitor's Kiss is ACTUALLY about.
The one's who chose to rate this one star or chose not to read it in general did it for their own reasons. I will never think it is okay to rate a book one star without reading or trying to read it, that will never be okay, You're hurting someone's hard work just because you want to believe someone's else's opinion no matter if you were to come to that same opinion or not, you will never know because you didn't take the time to read or at least try to read the book. Then if you find it harmful, racist, or whatever, the most mature thing to do would be to write your own review with your own opinions and I promise you, if it is as bad as you feel it is, it won't slip through the cracks other people who actually read the book will be post reviews the same as yours and it will spread that way. I just don't think it's okay for it to be spread without the book being opened, I find it immature.
From most of what I have seen, and I am not egotistical enough to think I have seen it all, but those who people are saying it would cause harm to (the specific racial comments), and (not just with this book) are not the ones actually being harmed and you are in a way taking their voice away from them.
For those of you who are just about to punch a wall because I didn't find this racist I encourage you to write your own review AFTER reading the book. I don't ever want to tell someone their opinions are invalid but they are to me until you have read the book. Let's fight racism in this country in more productive ways! As far as goodreads, let's read books and post honest reviews about them and honest discussions not just sit around and think "oh she said it was racism let's get everyone to take down the author, even though I have no idea because I haven't read the book, she must be correct."
If you would like to talk to me more about this, I am up for peaceful, educated conversations. I don't think either sides have really been peaceful in explaining their opinions, let's start that here and now.
P.S I don't have too much time to edit this and I apologize!
Always,
Logan.
The Traitor's Kiss
