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The Traitor Spy Trilogy #2

The Rogue: The Traitor Spy Trilogy: Book Two by Canavan, Trudi

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Discover the magic of Trudi Canavan with her brand new novel in the Traitor Spy Trilogy. . .Living among the Sachakan rebels, Lorkin does his best to learn about their unique magic. But the Traitors are reluctant to trade their secrets for the Healing they so desperately want.Meanwhile, Sonea searches for the rogue, knowing that Cery cannot avoid assassination forever -- -- but the rogue's influence over the city's underworld, however, is far greater than she feared.And in the University, two female novices are about to remind the Guild that sometimes their greatest enemy is found within. . .

523 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2011

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8044 people want to read

About the author

Trudi Canavan

93 books6,651 followers
Trudi Canavan was born in Kew, Melbourne, and grew up in Ferntree Gully, a suburb at the foothills of the Dandenongs.

In 1999 she won the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Short Story with “Whispers of the Mist Children”. In the same year she was granted a writers residency at Varuna Writers’ Centre in Katoomba, New South Wales.

In November 2001, The Magicians’ Guild was first published in Australia. The second book of the trilogy, The Novice, was published in June 2002 and was nominated for the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel. The third book The High Lord was released in January 2003 and was nominated for the Best Novel Ditmar category. All three books entered Australian top ten SF bestseller lists.

The Black Magician Trilogy reached the international market in 2004, published by HarperCollins’ EOS imprint in North America and Orbit Books in the UK. The trilogy is now rated by Nielsen BookScan as the most successful debut fantasy series of the last 10 years.

Trudi’s second trilogy, Age of the Five, has also enjoyed bestselling success. Priestess of the White reached No.3 in the Sunday Times hardback fiction bestseller list, staying in the top ten for six weeks.

In early 2006 Trudi signed a seven-figure contract with Orbit to write the prequel and sequel to the Black Magician Trilogy. The prequel, The Magician’s Apprentice was released in 2009 and won the Best Fantasy Novel category of the Aurealis Awards.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 421 reviews
Profile Image for Derek.
19 reviews2 followers
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July 27, 2011
Ugh. Where to begin? It was about three years ago that I read the Black Magician's trilogy. It was quite good. When the Magician's Apprentice came out I read it with glee. It was pretty good. And then Canavan began "The Traitor Spy Trilogy". What was she thinking?

The first book in the series, "The Ambassador's Mission" Takes place 20 years after those in the Black Magician Trilogy. It was an okay story, but most of it was spent attempting to recover lost history, history the reader is aware of if they read "The Magician's Apprentice." Oh well, it was still a good story, even if a bit redundant.

When "The Rogue" came out I had to read it. I checked it out from the library (planning on buying it when it came out in paperback) and was glad that I didn't shell out the cash for a hard cover.. This story doesn't resolve anything from the previous books.

One of my favorite character's has been Dannyl. I thought that Canavan did a great job with this homosexual character - until now. Now he's torn between loving two men, all the while worried about how old and wrinkly he is.

Canavan also adds a new character, who happens to be a lesbian. I have nothing wrong with an author using homosexual characters (Waren from Patricia Briggs "Mercy Thompson" Series is an all time fave character of mine), yet when they introduce that character to further an agenda I begin to get a bit queasy. If the story that Canavan presents would have had some resolutions and gains, I could have been okay with this. As it is, I'm quite disappointed.

To Canavan's credit, I did not notice any of the inconsistencies of history that I've noticed in her other works.
Profile Image for Ferdy.
944 reviews1,287 followers
January 20, 2013
Spoilers

This was a chore to read, it was boring and slow paced. The characters and arcs didn't hold my interest.
I didn't care about Lorkin or the Traitors, there was nothing remotely entertaining about either of them. Also, Lorkin's relationship with Tyvara was dull.
The addition of Lillia was annoying. She would have been a half decent protagonist but her stupidity and naivety ruined her character. I lost count of the number of times she was manipulated, if she'd been used once or twice that would have been forgivable but she never learnt her lesson and she kept letting people use and abuse her, it irritated the hell out of me. I actually liked Naki more — she had attitude and was cunning. Naki's POV would have been far more engaging than plank like Lillia's.
Dannyl was awful. He was a likeable character in the Black Magician trilogy but in this one he turned into a stuck up, useless bore that only cared about his love life. All he did was moan about Tayend and how he didn't fancy him anymore and how he wanted to have sex with that other guy. I would have preferred more focus on his research and him making an effort to discover different aspects of magic. There was no adventure or excitement in his search for the history of magic… I had to force myself to read his dull chapters.
Sonea was the only decent character. Sadly, she was given a crap arc, all she did was 1. Worry about Lorkin 2. Go to the hospital to work 3. Meet Cery in secret 4. Angst about Dorrien and his wife and 5. Wonder about Regin, his family and how much he's changed.
Disappointing. The plot wasn't all bad but the bland characters made everything so boring.
Profile Image for Avada Kaddavra.
545 reviews88 followers
April 27, 2022
3,5 ⭐⭐⭐
Es war ein bisschen wie eine Achterbahnfahrt - im Sinne von mal super spannend, mal super langatmig.
Tatsächlich fand ich einige Handlungsstränge recht durchschaubar, andere haben mich überrascht. Und natürlich gibt's auch wieder einen Cliffhanger.
Insgesamt ist die Reihe bisher intensiv durchdacht, genau wie ich es von der Autorin gewohnt bin, aber die Spannung kommt etwas zu kurz.
Außerdem war mir ein Charakter viel zu naiv und kurzsichtig, das kenne ich gar nicht aus den Büchern von Trudi. Aber gut, mal sehen was da noch so kommt😊😊
46 reviews3 followers
October 14, 2012
I think I'm being generous here, another lackluster installment of the traitor spy trilogy only my love of the BMT is keeping me reading in the vain hope that they might improve.
Alas never has a piece of work been such a lead-up to it's next installment since I saw pirates of the Caribbean 2.
There is hardly any action in the book, a look at the Duna tribe was about the hi-light of the entire thing for me. Stick to your strengths Canavan, you're excellent at world-building not so much at creating likable multi-dimensional characters.

Lorkin is still a wet blanket and hasn't gotten any brighter as far as I can tell, in fact someone should do a study between the correlation of magical powers and dropping IQ in this world. Anyhoo the traitors have turned out to be exactly the kind of obnoxious, hypocritical straw-feminists I feared...ohh...so close and yet so far away...and back at the guild the whole Naki/Lilia plot is unfortunately such a large chunk of the book I can't skim over it. A lot of people I have seen on here discussed depiction of homosexuality in the book and I honestly think Canavan should just leave it out. Now don't get me wrong I'm not homophobic and loved the Dannyl/Tayend relationship, you know after I grudgingly accepted that Dannyl would never be mine....she seems to have struck gold with her portrayal of their relationship, it was heartwarming, affectionate and the most believable in the whole series, all in all kudos, also even though they were gay it wasn't their ONLY personality trait which often happens in fantasy literature portraying homosexual characters. But after seeing her handle a few more same-sex relationships I realize that the Dannyl/Tayend one was a fluke and she accidentally wrote a believable relationship. In her books the gay characters seem to pair off with each other ONLY because they are gay and no other reason, if there are two gay characters in the same vicinity they will try to screw each other..eh...pretty sure that's not how people work Canavan....
I'm blonde and I'm studying to be a geneticist, but I'm not going to jump into bed with the first blonde-haired geneticist I meet, and in fact we'd probably have more in common that most of her paired-off characters....not that her heterosexual pairings are much better Lorkin loves Tyvara at first sight well...because...uhhh....*drools* (that's how I imagine his reasoning anyway) and she seems to reciprocate, just because.

And I know this goes beyond this particular book but the magicians, good lord the magicians! Are starting to piss me off. This entire world has a very black and white mentality. Magicians come in two flavours slow-witted and well-meaning “good” magicians who pat themselves on the back for being pillars of the community and are afraid of anything new and different and “bad” magicians who are cartoonishly-evil bond-esque villains who commit evil for fun and profit and try to set themselves up as tyrants or invade countries. As a consequence my favourite character in this book was Naki, yes, she may have been a supremely selfish, manipulative bitch who seduced a naive idiot so that she could frame her all so that she could do what she wanted without being restrained by the guild. She didn't want to take over the country, she didn't want to live in a cave and become queen of the morlocks or anything, she just wanted to have fun with her powers, she was also smarter than most of the other characters until she did her villain monologue at the end and then I knew she was doomed. I’m not asking for evil magicians all I’m asking is for a little more grey, like perhaps a magician whose a perfectly swell guy but doesn't cry himself to sleep every night if he occasionally uses his fireballs to I don’t know, blast a mugger who tried to attack him, or you know, They fight crime!! these people spend the bulk of their adolescence being carefully educated in the ways of magic so that they can…uhh…can…what exactly is it they DO? Aaannd they get a "generous allowance" from the king for doing it, good lord their magical civil servants


Ok, so I got a little sidetracked there. The book is so-so, not good, not bad I'm disappointed in it but just know I'm going to end up reading the traitor Queen, i'm 2/3rds of the way in now, might as well stick it out.
Profile Image for Nuria.
269 reviews32 followers
March 27, 2020
4'5 /5 estrellas
Me ha encantado. Incluso me ha gustado más que el anterior . No me ha aburrido en ningún momento, da igual en que personaje estuviera enfocado la historia todas eran entretenidas e interesantes. Algunas igual son más interesantes que otras pero no aburren.
Sonea me sigue encantando y está ven la historia enfocada en lorkin me ha gustado más que en el libro anterior igual que las de Dannyl y Lilia aunque al principio no me ha convencido al final también me ha gustado.
En conclusión me ha parecido un libro super entretenido que me parece mejor que el primero. Espero que el siguiente y creo que último sea aún mejor y que tenga un buen final. Super recomendado.
Profile Image for Wai.
150 reviews5 followers
May 11, 2011
This is a hard book to review. Whilst I did enjoy a lot of it, it also suffered from middle book syndrome in that the main plot isn't even close to being resolved. Obviously, if it had been wrapped up, then there'd be no trilogy, would there? Don't answer that.

So after the events at the end of the last, the two main points are that everyone is desperately searching for Skellin and Lorkin has been taken to the home of the Traitors. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you're starting in the wrong place and need to go back and read The Ambassador's Mission. Whilst not necessary, I'd also recommend reading the Black Magician trilogy as this involves the same characters some twenty years later.

Let me get what I didn't like about the story out of the way and that essentially boils down to lack of progress in the Skellin plotline. Granted I didn't expect much progress but I would have liked to have seen some. In fact, Skellin didn't make an appearance at all. There's that and also the fact that there was little action. A couple of pages over brief fights and a brief kidnapping but they were resolved too quickly.

Now that that's out of the way, here's what I did like. We're introduced to a new character, Lilia a novice whose family were servants. I really liked this story line and found myself rooting for her as she falls under the sway of another novice, Naki, an apparent beauty from the upper classes of society. Lilia is seen to grow in character as she comes to terms with her sexuality and her love with Naki which may or may not be returned as well as the life changing events thrust upon her as she encounters the forbidden art of black magic.

It might be said that Lilia is a token nod to the lesbian community perhaps to balance out that we already have Dannyl who is openly gay. Whatever the reason that Lilia was introduced, I felt that her story was deftly handled and hopefully we'll see more of her in The Traitor Queen.

Lorkin's time amongst the Traitors also advances nicely as he is put to work in an attempt to pay for his father's not honouring his part of a deal. It was good to see the Traitor's society expanded upon, having first met them in The Magician's Apprentice (a prequel to the entire series - another book that is not necessary but will certainly enrich the world).

Finally, there is Sonea, the heroine from the Black Magician trilogy, a black magician herself and how comes to terms with a face from the past and at the same time handling the search for Skellin.

Overall, it's not a rivetting read, but if you enjoy Trudi Canavan's work and picked up The Ambassor's Mission, then this should be an enjoyable read.
Profile Image for Allison.
567 reviews625 followers
March 2, 2017
Let me start out by saying this was a vast improvement over the first book in the Traitor Spy Trilogy. In The Rogue, events finally start moving beyond reminiscing about the past and setting the stage. Sort of. The stage is still being set, but it's a wider stage than in The Ambassador's Mission. The focus is less on how Imardin has changed in the last 20 years and how Sonea has been a virtual prisoner and more on current events in Imardin and Sachaka. That alone made it more interesting to read, and I didn't struggle through this one.

But, this is still a slow mover. There's not much action. It's still very much an exploration of the characters, their daily lives and their thoughts and feelings about small events. It's also still very much a two-track plot. I'm not sure if the events in Imardin and Sachaka will meet up at some point, but right now they seem to be very separate stories.

It was good to see Sonea making some of the changes that I'd wished to see in the last book (less emphasis on the over-protective mother hen), and to dive back into Cery's underworld again. I had a hard time with Dannyl's part because I was still stuck on not liking what happened between him and Tayend (I like to believe in true and everlasting love - silly me), but his research did add something of interest.

The new characters get more interesting as well. Lorkin is no longer a fuzzy character. He gains a personality and opens up a new world by letting us see the Traitor's colony. We also meet a naive new Novice to bring crisis back to the Guild.

Probably only true Canavan fans will be pleased enough to stick it out to the final book of the trilogy - and they are probably the only ones who will read this book anyway. I am one of those. I persevered beyond the first book myself because I had to believe it would get better. And it did, but it still doesn't match up to her previous two trilogies, both of which are among my favorites.

Profile Image for Lord Nouda.
181 reviews22 followers
June 26, 2011
It was a bit annoying due to the fact that there's a lot of unnecessary factors in the book. It would seem as though Trudi Canavan is seriously trying to put the spotlight on the homosexual community in the series, and that's even more pronounced in this book where she introduces not just two but 3 entirely new characters (all chicks) who have the hots for each other (or so they claim). In the last book, it was the guys, now it's the opposite side of the spectrum. So out of all the characters in the trilogy, that brings the count up to 6 so far (all main or highly significant to the plotline). That's definitely not a coincidence and I find it distasteful. If this is the type of writing she's going to pursue in the future, I'm pretty sure this will be the last book of hers that I will read.

Too much of the book was taken up by the pursuit of their "feelings" for each other. However I was more interested in the magical aspect of the Sachakans and more about black magic in general and especially about the special magic the Traitors practised that wasn't known to the rest of the magical world. There was a half-hearted attempt at injecting the normal type of relations (with the opposite sex) but it turned out to be a flop and highlighted the fact the romance factor in the Traitor Spy trilogy will consist solely of characters of the same Gender.

This book was far better than the first and would have been a 4-star if it hadn't been for the facts I highlighted in the past two paragraphs. There's a tipping point where such matters go from "tolerable" and amusing to being simply annoying and Trudi has gone past it.
Profile Image for Nicole.
1,232 reviews35 followers
June 14, 2017
Lorkin, der Sohn der schwarzen Magierin Sonea, wurde in Sachaka entführt. Seine Häscher hoffen, von ihm die Kunst der Heilung durch Magie zu erlernen, die in Sachaka unbekannt ist. Lorkin weiß jedoch, dass diese Fähigkeit im Falle eines Krieges einen enormen Vorteil birgt. Er ist fest entschlossen, das Geheimnis zu wahren. Aber dann lernt er Tyvara kennen – und verliebt sich in sie ... 

Währenddessen verfolgt seine Mutter Sonea in ihrer Heimat Kyralia einen abtrünnigen Magier, der seine Dienste an die Diebesgilde verkauft hat. Doch ein Mord, begangen mit schwarzer Magie, lenkt sie von ihrer Aufgabe ab. Denn es gibt nur zwei Magier, die dazu fähig sind: der Schwarze Magier Kallen, der ein wasserdichtes Alibi hat – und Sonea selbst! Sonea muss alles daran setzen, das Vertrauen der Magiergilde zurückzuerlangen. Denn ohne sie ist Kyralia einem Angriff der Schwarzen Magier von Sachaka hilflos ausgeliefert …

Von den Büchern dieser Reihe ist dieses bisher meiner Meinung nach das schwächste. Allerdings immer noch so stark, dass zum einen ein Abbruch nicht in Frage kommt und ich zum anderen auch nicht vor dem letzten Wälzer der Reihe zurück schrecken würde. Trudi Canavan schreibt selbst in ihren weniger guten Werken immer noch klasse.  
Profile Image for Choco Con Churros.
842 reviews108 followers
December 31, 2023
Pues me gustó bastante más que el anterior. Hasta casi me gusta más que la primera saga, no sé si porque me pilló con mejor cuerpo lector y esas cosas influyen. Con un desarrollo de los conflictos mucho más interesante, la cosa está que arde ahora. Entretenido. GL (Autor: Trudi Canavan)
Profile Image for Lauren.
44 reviews
August 23, 2012
**SPOILER ALERT**

I much preferred this book to the previous installment in the Traitor Spy Trilogy, 'The Ambassador's Mission'. I felt that this book focused more on the characters we know and love, and was much more exciting and fast paced. I also loved references and parallels to th Black Magician Trilogy - especially the waterfall! ;) :')

The only thing I really don't like about this book is Dannyl and Tayend. Now. I fell in love with Dannyl in the first book, and when I found out he was gay it broke my heart. I've just gotten used to the fact that Tayend 'stole' him from me, and was actually rather starting to like them as a couple - now, in this series, their relationship has fallen apart and Dannyl is looking elsewhere! I'm sorry, but Dannyl would never look at anyone other than Tayend. Never.They loved each other so much. I love Trudi Canavan, but this just doesn't seem likely to me. I'm hoping for a reconciliation (and no Dannyl/Achati action!) in the next book.

The Black Magician trilogy is one of my favourite series of all time, and very few books have ever lived up to it for me. As much as I love Canavan's work and am enjoying this series at the moment, I don't think it will ever be able to recapture the magic of BMT. Nothing ever will. But I did read this book in one sitting and got straight online to order the next one, so I would definitely recommend it to fans of BMT.
Profile Image for Emma.
454 reviews71 followers
July 15, 2017
It's been a long time since I last visited Sonea and co. in this series, and I was not disappointed. This novel introduced a new central character- a young, female novice named Lilia, who falls in with the wrong crowd early in the story. It was great to introduce some new blood into this series, and Lilia provided a fish-out-of-water perspective that Sonea had previously represented in the original trilogy.

Meanwhile, the rest of our main characters' plots carried on in much the same manner as in the previous book. Sonea is hunting a rogue magician in the city, while her son Lorkin lives as a prisoner in a faraway land. The final storyline revolves around Dannyl and his research/love life. Unfortunately his was by far the least interesting, which is a shame, as Dannyl was one of my favourite characters in the original novel.

This is a must read for fans of the original series- I'd forgotten how fond I was of all of the characters.
Profile Image for Ryan Lawler.
Author 2 books19 followers
October 10, 2018
Slow, boring, not much happened. I don't know who this book is for. The romance is unearned with no chemistry between any of the characters who enter relationships, the mysterious unknown magic was actually known by a surprisingly large amount of people, the murder mystery was no mystery at all, the titular rogue was not given a single scene, but it all works if you buy into the idea that all the characters are stupid beyond belief. And stupid people are not fun to read about.
Profile Image for Irina Villacis.
565 reviews27 followers
August 29, 2017
libro de relleno. estoy un poco sorprendida de las relaciones mujer - mujer , y hombre - hombre que existe. lo aborda de forma natural sin tanto drama.

4 reviews23 followers
January 2, 2016
Real rating: 2.5

*SPOILERS ALL OVER THE PLACE*

I don't usually do reviews but I had to share my thoughts after finishing this.

I love Trudi, the Black Magician trilogy was amazing and I loved The Magicians Apprentice. I went into the first in this trilogy with high hopes and was disappointed, but I still bought the second, hoping for some improvement. Now I'm kind of wishing I hadn't.

My first issue with this book was how irritatingly choppy the POVs are. I don't think it stuck to one character for more than three pages, and often there was only a few paragraphs per character. It gave me a headache.
Then came my issues with the characters themselves. Dannyl was never a favourite of mine, he seemed a little self obsessed, focusing too much on how he was perceived and this book just made it more obvious. He's supposed to be an ambassador, and it isn't until the last few chapters that he actually does anything resembling his job. He spent way too much of the book worrying about who he wanted to have sex with, or not have sex with, or how his ex was too jealous, or not jealous enough or blah blah blah. Though I did enjoy learning more about the Duna and the history.

I enjoyed Lorkin's sections most, learning about the Traitors, how they live and govern their people, even though the only Traitor I didn't dislike was the queen.
Sonea had zero personality in this book. Disappointing. I've always thought of her as such a BAMF and this book turned her into a plot device rather than a real character. If the Guild didn't need to interact with the Thieves, she could've been cut out completely.

Now, the actual reason I felt compelled to write a review is Lilia. Christ on a bike, how can a fictional character make me want to tear my eyes out and dry swallow them just so I don't have to read her parts. I can't comprehend how someone from the lower classes (even if she was more middle class)could be so gullible. Her entire story line was just really dodgy strangers saying "do this, trust me" and her going along with it, despite being screwed over repeatedly. It's optimism bordering on idiocy. No, there's no bordering here. She's an idiot. If the aim was for me to finish the book wishing Lilia had been run over by a tank, or killed by rabid dogs, or had a piano dropped on her, then well done Trudi, great writing. Honestly, if she were approached by a dude in rapist glasses with a paedophile beard I'm 100% sure she would get in the back of his van and be genuinely surprised to realise he had dishonourable intentions. Even by the end of the book, when she claims she's wised up her thoughts are like I'll definitely make better decisions in future, although... She needs several hard slaps. Even her story was predictable from the second Naki started to befriend her.

When it's written out like this it's hard to believe I liked anything about this book at all. I did though, and it's a testament to Trudi's writing that a fictional character can irritate me as much as Lilia did. Hopefully Sonea gets her personality back for book three, but even so my expectations have been severely lowered.
Profile Image for Maurine Tritch.
270 reviews2 followers
June 19, 2013
This book suffers from the same affliction as the first installment in the series: it was too long for the material. There were too many scenes that didn't need to be there, that only serve as a bit of unnecessary character development and did nothing to advance the plot. The worst offender is the thread where a naive novice is introduced who is lead astray by an older girl, and it is blindingly obvious what was going on almost immediately. There is no need to take us in detail through the whole relationship from their first meeting onwards. Ditto for the odd almost romance with Sonea and her married healer friend; far too much concentrated time is spent on something that ultimately didn't matter and also failed to provide any real tension or doubt. It should have been very much a background to action. The novel was also hurt because it was so choppy. There is a ton of points of view that are followed throughout and each lasts for only a couple of pages at the most, often only paragraphs. You just get a sense of the change in scenery and remember what the characters there are doing and you're whisked off somewhere else almost immediately.

That being said, I very much enjoyed seeing the culture of the Traitors, the hidden, rebel society run by women; and the sections with Dannyl were interesting as he juggled his precarious role as ambassador and personal concerns. I also didn't mind the story of the hapless novice once it moved past the painfully predictable.

I am most interested in Regin, Sonea's childhood tormenter, about what he's really up now to and what his motivations are in the supportive help he's been offering her. Unfortunately he was basically absent in this book, but I am hoping for a resolution in the next one.
Profile Image for Natalie.
Author 3 books14 followers
July 5, 2011
did not enjoy this book nearly as much as I had hoped. It is not like I hated it, but I found it to be very dull. I couldn't get into Trudi Canavan's writing style at all and the way she kept jumping from character to character to character annoyed me. I never managed to know or care about them, though several seemed like they could be interesting if given the opportunity.

Lilia, for example. She is a gentle, naive girl just learning about love and she is led to do a foolish, dangerous thing. Instead of shirking her responsibilities or trying to hide, she faces what she did wrong and does her best to make it right, even though it may cost her what she holds most dear. I could respect and like her for that, but since the characters kept switching around I never really got to know her.

Lorkin also had some potential, as did Anyi. Cery bothered me because in the first book his family was murdered in the first chapter and other than one bout of tears he didn't show any emotion. Their deaths were only mentioned every so often in a half-hearted and ineffectual attempt to elicit an emotional response from the reader. Sonea was completely bland and Dannyl...I had trouble paying attention to his storyline because I was so bored.

The plot moved very slowly with nothing unexpected or original coming up. Despite all of this, I must confess to a mild curiosity as to how it will end. Perhaps when book 3 comes out I will read the last 5 pages. But not the whole book.

http://liedermadchen.blogspot.com/201...
Profile Image for Lindsey.
1,171 reviews24 followers
February 21, 2014
Better than its predecessor, Canavan gets and keep the plot rolling through the entire book. I liked the introduction of Lilia to the cast, as we haven't had a Novice in this mix yet. (Although it's actually nice that the majority of the protagonists in this trilogy are middle-aged.) The plot moved much more steadily and continues to not revolve around the magical abilities of the characters as a device to move forward.

The aspect I continued to have the most trouble with, however, is connecting emotionally to the characters. It's a bit like a friend telling you a distressing story about someone you've never met. You know it must be horrible for them but you only sporadically connect their emotions with yours. There's nothing flawed in the storytelling per se, it's just my preference that I feel what the characters are experiencing.

Despite that, the story is engaging and I particularly appreciate Canavan's ability to portray all styles of relationships, from mentors and friends and lovers to the more ambiguous, could/should questions that come up in real life. I also like that her characters make intelligent choices and live with them, even when they're working on flawed information. There's a lot to admire in who her characters are as people, which is a nice change from much of what I've read lately.

Recommended to Canavan's fans and general fantasy readers. Easily appropriate for teens as well, for those who are concerned with content warnings.
Profile Image for Blodeuedd Finland.
3,669 reviews310 followers
May 9, 2015
Yet another character gets dragged into the series. Ok, so nothing wrong with many POVS, just they all gets so few pages. I got used to it, but it would have been better with longer stories.

Right so Sonea was a bit dull in this one. She is still trying to find that rogue. But nothing really happens to her.

Lorkin is with the traitors. They are women who wants an equal society, right so that is why men are below you all? I would leave, he is just too nice.

Then there is the new girl, Lilia, an easy manipulated fool who gets in trouble at the academy. Her I did not like, nor her new friend.

Darryl is doing his ambassador business, I like him cos he is searching for answers.

Then there are characters here and there....

Not a lot happened. Looking for that Rogue, dealing with traitors, silly girls doing silly things. Still I do want to know how it all will end. But it did stagnate a bit.
Profile Image for AsatorPrime.
84 reviews15 followers
April 30, 2013
This second trilogy has failed to grab my attention. Lorkins story was boring, he's lacking a back bone or any sort of personality whatsoever. Lillia is useless and should have been put to death early on; it would have saved me reading about her stupidity. Dannyl served almost no purpose in this book, all he thinks about is his love life (boring) and Sonea does almost nothing. Which is a waste because I didn't mind her (although she is far less interesting than she was in the first trilogy). Bottom line: This book was painful to read.
Profile Image for Bianca.
153 reviews
November 20, 2013
no no no no no.. definitely cannot compare to the previous trilogy.. i practically forced myself to finish this book, plodding along, skimming 2/3 of it.. decided not going to read the 3rd book..
none of the characters appeal to me.. unlike akkarin & sonea's love story that were very captivating in the first trilogy, all of the love story in this book (and there are many, i tell you) sounded forced, superficial, just.. not good.. i'll re-read the first trilogy again to rekindle my love for the author..
Profile Image for Antonio Campos.
508 reviews32 followers
July 4, 2019
Un placer leer a esta autora.

Me gustó el hecho de que este arco argumental de esta saga indaga más en los aspectos políticos, culturales e históricos de este universo.

Es interesante ver más acerca de la magia negra, y de las consecuencias de la primer trilogía sobre esta otra; y me gusta ver como la autora poco a poco va cambiando el escenario y volviendo más subjetivo este tema.

En resumen, vale la pena continuar con esta trilogía.
Profile Image for Kevin.
27 reviews5 followers
May 29, 2011
This is the second book in the latest trilogy by Trudi Canavan, which takes place 20 years after the events of the Black Magician trilogy. I really enjoy Trudi Canavan's writing. There is the perfect mix of magic, mystery, romance, and adventure. It's fun to see Sonea, Dannyl, and Cery again. Can't wait for, but will also regret, the conclusion of this enjoyable story.
2 reviews
April 29, 2013
Terrible. Story was entirely based on homosexuality, be it male or female. There was more focus on sexual tension than the plot and it shows.

I loved the black magiciam trilogy, but things have been going downhill since, with Trudi losing sight of the magic element and focusing in poorly written relationships.
Profile Image for Midnight Blue.
105 reviews
February 2, 2019
As I suspected / hoped, this was more exciting than the Ambassador's Mission. There was more action, and though it wasn't exactly fast-paced it was at least faster paced than the first book.

What I didn't really like was Lilias storyline. It would've been way better, if Naki's malicious intents hadn't been so obvious I think... Because the way we were introduced to Lilia, we quickly realized how stupid and impressionable she was, which made me dislike her. Though I have to say, she's grown on me a little in the end. I'm very curious to see where the third book leads her and Anyi's relationship (who, by the way, is amazing and super badass *-*).
Also, Dorrien was still in love with Sonea? I find that hard to believe, after 20 years of mostly living apart. Makes him seem a little pathetic, which is a shame, because I quite liked him.
I'm super excited for what will happen between Dannyl and Achati in the next book. I don't really like the way his and Tayend's relationship ended (after 20 years of being together, they just shrug it off??), but he and Achati are off to a promising start. Who doesn't like a little slow burn romance? ;D
As far as Lorkin's storyline goes... I'm not sure yet if I like it - or him. Which is probably because he can't really have his own agenda, instead he is pushed by circumstances to do what's more often than not the only way to survive. All the while being infatuated with Tyvara. What a guy!^^

I'm still excited for book three, though. I'm hoping for a big finale, and though it's not perfect, I still like the characters and their world :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for FiliżankaFantasy.
147 reviews5 followers
June 16, 2022
To było… zaskakująco nudne. Szok i niedowierzanie. Kaśka, milion pytań bez odpowiedzi!

Canavan czytałam około 13 lat temu i obecnie mam takie „Matko, dlaczego ta druga trylogia kiedyś mi się podobał. Jak mogłam dać 5/5”.

Po „Misji Ambasadora”, czyli pierwszym tomie „Trylogii Zdrajcy” Trudi Canavan, miałam nadzieję, że akcja trochę się rozpędzi. Niestety, przez ponad 500 stron nic takiego nie nastąpiło. Wydarzenia stoją w miejscu. Niby chodzą, szukają, znowu chodzą… Większość wątków jest strasznie miałka, mało wyjątkowa, mówiąc wprost nie zainteresowało mnie na tyle bym czuła chęć poznania dalszych losów bohaterów, a zwłaszcza Lili. Mam wrażenie, że postać została stworzona na siłę, aby tylko wykonać „zapchaj dziurę” przy tylu stronach. Jedynie co ratuję tę książkę to historia Tayenda z Tremmelin i Mistrza Dannyla. Jakoś tak, podchodzę dość sympatycznie do tej dwójki bohaterów.

Teraz myślę, że jest to głównie sentyment do całego świata, faktu, iż to były moje początki z książkami fantasy sprawia, że to dalej jest jedna z moich ulubionych serii. Tak czy inaczej, wcale mnie nie dziwi, że Trylogia Zdrajcy po ponownym rezedzie nie zapadnie w mojej pamięci. Znowu.

Mimo wszystko to wcale nie jest zła książka. Czytelnikom w wieku 11-13 lat myślę, że jak najbardziej przypadnie do gustu. No i w końcu kiedyś była to moja ulubiona seria, ale stety niestety chyba się zestarzałam względem tej historii.

26/52
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