Well, this is a change of pace. You know how I said I like 'cozy' books? The Traitor Baru Cormorant definitely doesn't qualify.
Baru Cormorant is a story of colonization, told from the point of view of one of the colonized people (like Mission Child by Maureen McHugh). As in all stories sympathetic to colonized peoples (like Ancilliary Justice by Anne Leckie), the background of the book is quite grim. Baru is removed from her family as a child and is educated in the colonizer's school to teach her both the values of the colonizers and the specific skills that will make her useful to Empire. As in The Poppy War by RF Kuang, our protagonist overcomes her disadvantaged background to excel in the imperial service exams. From there Baru takes up a challenging post in service to the Falcresti empire. Her secret goal is to remain true to her family and her birth society. She wants nothing more than to find a way to free Taranoki from imperial rule.
This is a morally complex story with a morally complex protagonist and a surprising but inevitable conclusion. And while the book has its moments, overall it's very dark from page one through to the end. As a writer I admire and hope to learn from Dickinsin's skilled use of foreshadowing, but I am not planning to read the two sequels. At the moment I'm not up for reading more dark stories set in dark worlds.
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