There are a lot of factions to consider as Juris Ormsment goes traitor and wants to find and kill Baru, after the massacre on Ormsment ships at Treatymont. Thanks to Tau-indi, we get a lot of world-building development of the Oriati Mbo, and how well they diverge in culture and thinking from Falcrest, additionally a lot of time is spend looking at different subjugated territories that Falcrest has taken over, and or abandoned, and the effects of imperial policy, and we get a lot more insight into the imperial politics and how the navy and parliament and the cryptarchs are at odds with each other. On the same quest the cryptarchs spend a lot of time trying to device plans and counter machinations to sideline their colleagues, which is the main thrust of the plotting, and its a wonderful to read how people fall right in their plans and ambitions and how those things are flipped on their heads time and time again, in an every moving chess-board. In the book Baru is send on an expedition together with fellow cryptarchs, and its a real delight, how the switching between PoVs of the cryptarchs, let us view their supposed cooperation and backstabbing at the same time. The latter's point of view is mostly played in a flashback story line. Monster spends a lot of time away from the periphery of Baru, and spends time focusing on Aminata, Xate Yawa, and federal prince of Oriati Mbo Tau-indi. I'm not the biggest fan of this, I like having some form of bow on a novel, and as such, I think Traitor was a far stronger book that left satisfied with a full meal, while monster feels like an entree. There's no resolution to anything, everything is left for the next instalment. Seth Dickinson's second book, is very clearly a middle book, ending with multiple cliffhangers and revelations that will leave you wanting more, where the Traitor, neatly wrapped up main thrust of the novel, Monster however ends it story in mid suspension making it feel like half the story, and not a full plot in its own right, and this is this books main drawback. It's her chance to trigger a war that will consume the Masquerade.īut Baru's heart is broken, and she fears she can no longer tell justice from revenge.or her own desires from the will of the man who remade her. Hunted by a mutinous admiral, haunted by the wound which has split her mind in two, Baru leads her dearest foes on an expedition for the secret of immortality.

The traitor Baru Cormorant is now the cryptarch Agonist-a secret lord of the empire she's vowed to destroy.

My main thoughts about this book have to deal with structure, not content, so here's a mainly spoiler-free review. Review of the Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

The monster baru cormorant