The Monster Baru Cormorant
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4.4 • 82 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A breathtaking geopolitical epic fantasy, The Monster Baru Cormorant is the sequel to Seth Dickinson's "fascinating tale" (The Washington Post), The Traitor Baru Cormorant.
Her world was shattered by the Empire of Masks.
For the power to shatter the Masquerade,
She betrayed everyone she loved.
The traitor Baru Cormorant is now the cryptarch Agonist—a secret lord of the empire she's vowed to destroy.
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. It's her chance to trigger a war that will consume the Masquerade.
But 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.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The challenging second installment of this sweeping fantasy trilogy picks up where 2016's The Traitor Baru Cormorant left off. Baru, intent on bringing down the Empire of Masks from within, has finally ascended to her new role as one of the Empire's secretive, all-powerful cryptarchs, but only by betraying those who believed in her. To cement her position and eliminate visible weaknesses, she even has her lover executed for treason, a heinous act that affects her more than she can afford to reveal. Now swept up in the affairs of state, dealing with conspiracies, enemies, and potential war at every turn, Baru risks losing her soul in the pursuit of her goal: freeing her island home from the Empire's grip. Dickinson packs a lot into this dense, multilayered, complicated epic, letting the story unfold through multiple perspectives, flashbacks, tense shifts, and other narrative devices. As Baru juggles increasing amounts of trauma with an unrelenting focus on the endgame, she continually proves herself as a fascinating, morally grey protagonist in a complex world where conflicts take place on the high seas, in the ballroom, and in the marketplace. It all builds to a powerful cliff-hanger, with hints of much more to come.
Customer Reviews
That was a challenge
Super dense, required a very close reading and I needed to review a lengthy analysis of the book I found on GitHub to understand what was going on. And I’m a pretty astute guy who likes dense political fiction.
Gender Madness
Mr. Dickinson ruined an otherwise enjoyable read with his decision to include a character who used plural pronouns (e.g., they, them, their) instead of the grammatically correct singular pronouns (e.g., he, him, his). It was distracting and confusing. I would have enjoyed seeing the final outcome of the trilogy but I won’t be continuing with the next book. Unfortunate.