Peter

Peter reviewed a book.

“The Rogue is the second book in the Traitor Spy Trilogy and after the Ambassador’s Mission (which contained a fair amount of manoeuvering of characters to slot them into the right place) I was really hoping the story would take off. And I wasn’t disappointed. Although nothing gets dramatically...”

“The Rogue is the second book in the Traitor Spy Trilogy and after the Ambassador’s Mission (which contained a fair amount of manoeuvering of characters to slot them into the right place) I was really hoping the story would take off. And I wasn’t disappointed. Although nothing gets dramatically resolved, and you wouldn’t want to with a third book on the way, the storyline slowly advances forward. This is what Trudi Canavan is good at; providing simple but interesting societies and slowly unravelling them in a detailed (but un-cumbersome) way. The Rogue is the real meat of the Traitor Spy Trilogy and enjoyable to read.

The story continues down three strands. The main focus is that of Lorkin who has been confined by the Traitors, a female-led society of magicians, in Sanctuary. Through Lorkin we discover a society that strives for equality, and yet does not allow males into higher office posts. Lorkin the becomes a bit of anomaly as a magician that has healing power (something the Traitors lack) he becomes the focus of the societies plots. One faction wants to force him to reveal his secrets, while another wants to trade openly and fairly. What they have to trade is magical stones that can store a magician’s power and be trained to carry out basic magical function; something that Kyralia (and for that matter Sachaka) are unaware of.

Meanwhile Dannyl has to deal with the political consequences of Lorkins disappearance. Seen to be weak, many Sachakans have shunned him. Not having access to their libraries has really hindered his research project into magical history between Sachaka and Kyralia. However, with the help of Ashaki (a Sachakan Magician) Dannyl sets off on one of his research trips to the nomadic tribes in Duna who Dannyl suspects as possessing knowledge of mystical stones. As Dannyl starts to get closer to Ashaki, Tayend turns up unannounced as Elyne ambassador and fixes it so that he is on the research trip. This uncomfortable situation makes it tricky to juggle both his former lover and his potential lover while at the same time not wanting to cause political incidents.

Back in Imardin, two novices start experimenting with black magic with dire consequences, which ultimately wraps the into the storyline of the Thief Hunter. Of the two girls Lilia is the impressionable one who seems far to gullible and therefore a completely unrelateable character, which is a shame as you really want to route for her. Another new character is Anyi, Cery’s daughter. All right, not entirely new. She was introduced in Book 1, however she is now embraced as a main character. Her cover blown, she now sees her own safety as staying with Cery (which is becoming less and less safe as the story develops). To keep her identity hidden she becomes Cery’s bodyguard, which also presents some unique opportunities in the hunt for rogue magicians. Although Anyi is a little too cosy relationship with Cery considering they have not been part of each others lives since she was little, there is enough freewill and defiance to make the trio (including other bodyguard Gol) to keep us entertained. Also Anyi’s headstrong-ness fast makes her one of my favourite characters. However, I do see a relationship with the slightly annoying pathetic Lilia on the cards…

And that is one of the main problems I have with Trudi Canavan. Relationships. She’s rubbish at them. She can build wonderful worlds with some interesting societies and plotlines, but she can’t write relationships. She got away with it the Black Magician Trilogy. She did Dannyl/Tayend very well in that series but the whole Sonea with Cery/Dorrien/Akkarin thing was cringe-worthy, if ultimately excusable because the rest of the story was superb. Unfortunately it seems as though Canavan’s publishers have told her she needs to write more slushy romance for twelve-year-old girls. I find this completely inexplicable really as although I’ve always said that Canavan is a good place to start fantasy, it’s still located in the adult fantasy section. Instead the Traitor/Spy Series seems to have written to cater for some of those Twilight readers. And if Sonea gets together with Regin it’ll be the final straw!

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Peter finished reading a book.

Peter rated a book.

• Rated 3 stars

Peter reviewed a book.

“So, after re-reading the Black Magician Trilogy and the prequel (The Magician's Apprentice) I am finally moving on to the Traitor Spy Trilogy. Set some 20 years after the Black Magician Trilogy Kyralia is working hard at improving relations and opening trade routes up with Sachaka with the view...”

“So, after re-reading the Black Magician Trilogy and the prequel (The Magician's Apprentice) I am finally moving on to the Traitor Spy Trilogy. Set some 20 years after the Black Magician Trilogy Kyralia is working hard at improving relations and opening trade routes up with Sachaka with the view to eventually incorporating Sachaka into the Allied Lands. Whether Sachaka wants this is anyone's guess, but Kyralia is keen on persuading Sachaka to drop the black magic and slave thing. Somehow I don't see it happening!

The new Ambassador is our very own Lord Dannyl. I am sorry the years haven't been too kind on him and his relationship with Tayend is at breaking point. Still taking up this Ambassador's role means that Dannyl can inject some excitement back into his life and the chance to explore new avenues in his research, such as why/how the wasteland was created (link to The Magician's Apprentice). Dannyl brings with Lorkin (Sonea's son) as an assistant, despite the risk that some Sachakans may seek reprisals for his Mother's/Father's actions in the Ichani invasion. Instead a mysterious group called the Traitors (again a link back to The Magician's Apprentice) kidnap Lorkin for some purpose.

Back in Imardin, we find that Cery also has faced tragedy as his family have been murdered by the mysterious Thief Hunter who appears to be able to use magic. Looking for revenge, and to protect his daughter Anyi from a previous marriage, Cery puts everything at risk to find this Thief Hunter and bring them to justice. Of course that means that he will need the assistance of his old friend at the Guild, Black Magician Sonea. Sonea seems to be a shadow of her former self. Gone is the spirit that made her an excellent protagonist in the Black Magician Trilogy. She has withdrawn and let the Guild control her actions, especially under the monitoring of Black Magician Kallen. Instead Sonea has thrown her efforts into running hospices for the poor. A new challenge is dealing with the new drug Roet that seems to be spreading like wildfire. Still with a potential rogue on the loose, Sonea needs to be come less like a recluse and bring back a little bit of fire.

One thing a liked about The Ambassador's Mission is seeing all of the characters 20 years on, and it's clear that they haven't all had a happy ever after ending. It also starts to explore Sachakan society in much the same way as The Magician's Apprentice did. Although this is probably quite a good thing for those who haven't read that book, to those it did it raises a couple of tricky points. Firstly, I was slightly uncomfortable with the fact that despite the huge upheavals in Kyralian society, the Sachakan society has stayed exactly the same. You would have though something would have changed!

I was slightly annoyed that a large part of this book was an extension to The Magician's Apprentice which appeared to be set up especially for this purpose. If I can give a piece of advice, I would definitely recommend reading that sequel after The Traitor Spy Trilogy. Unfortunately some of The Ambassador's Mission felt a little an exercise in moving characters from the previous books and setting them up in the right places for the story to follow. Although this is not a problem in itself, there were times when you felt a character may have made a decision based on a scenario, but chose to go a different way just to advance a particular plot line. It's a shame, because I really like Trudi Canavan and thought she was a little better than that.

What she hasn't lost is the vivid detail, characters and pace in her writing that really draws your into her stories. The highlight to the Ambassador's Mission is undoubtedly Lorkin who is certainly going to be driving force in this trilogy. Now the characters are in place I really expect that Book 2 (The Rogue) can take this story off and run with it.

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Peter finished reading a book.