The Traitor Baru Cormorant – read it if you want something that 1. doesn’t do this and 2. manages something that feels like it very well could exist in our own world in the early modern era while being an utterly different world. the main character’s home is colonized at the beginning of the story, and the three book cycle (all completed) that begins here is about her struggle to take down the empire that killed one of her fathers. the series is deeply anti-colonial and it rejects the great man view that so much fiction struggles to be rid of. it’s also a serious emotional ride – the ending to this first book is notorious, heart-wrenching, and unforgettable. I honestly can’t recommend it enough.
I dropped the first book thinking my heart can’t take an ending like that.
Every review of the book said the ending was gut wrenching and after reading it halfway through I can kinda see how it will happen. I didn’t drop it per se but waiting for the right time to finish it, when I hope not be too affected by ending.
