Traitor of Redwinter: The Redwinter Chronicles Book Two

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But it is a rare act of kindness—rescuing an injured woman in the snow—that becomes the most dangerous decision Raine has ever made. Dangerous because the woman is fleeing from Redwinter, the fortress-monastery of the Draoihn, warrior magicians who answer to no king, and who will stop at nothing to reclaim what she’s stolen. A battle, a betrayal, and a horrific revelation force Raine to enter the citadel and live among the Draoihn. She soon finds that her secret ability could be the key to saving an entire nation. First of all, the first book was absolutely amazing, I've loved it with my whole heart and the audiobook for it is the best thing that exists. As I began to ponder my thoughts about Traitor of Redwinter, I struggled to come up with anything cohesive to say. After plenty of reflection, I've decided that it is probably because my reading experience with this book was so out of the ordinary. I trudged through the first two-thirds so slowly even though the general ideas and characters were fascinating. Then the last third had me so hooked I couldn't put it down. The last bit of the book also made me see the first parts in a new light, and I don't think of them as negatively now as I did upon first reading them.

There were downsides, though. First of all: Ed McDonald needs to get a female sensitivity reader. I don’t want to read the phrase “tingles tingles” in regards to how a woman feels about a man or woman again. It’s an immature expression of desire for a woman like Raine. It doesn’t fit. It was also predictable. I didn’t mind the predictability this time, but the point stands. The last point is the ending. It felt a bit deus ex machina. Again, I don’t know if McDonald intended that or not. I could be reading way too deeply and putting my own thing on the text. It wasn’t war. Not yet, anyway, but it was the fronting of war, the way that two drunks square up to one another outside a bar that should have closed hours ago, that moment of posturing before the blows start to fall.Unfortunately, this book was a bit of a disappointment for me and I wanted to like it more than I actually did. Mainly due to the fact that I enjoyed the first book so much.

The second in Ed McDonald's Chronicles of Redwinter, full of shady politics, militant monks, ancient powers... and a young woman navigating a world in which no one is quite what they seem.I ignored Castus and laboured hard enough to roll one of them over. My suspicion was confirmed, and it didn’t sit easy. Traitor opens eight months after the end of Daughter, and I won’t lie, that bugged me. I’m not a fan of timeskips generally, and this one stretched the bounds of belief when it came to the romantic tension between Raine and her two love interests, Sanvaunt and Esther. It’s a little difficult to buy into the fact that all of that stalled for eight months, after how intense both relationships were becoming towards the end of the previous book. But on the one hand, we have both Raine and Esther’s hesitation and confusion over their sapphic feelings, in a world where that’s not commonly accepted; and on the other hand, Raine and Sanvaunt both had A Lot to deal with in the final chapters of Daughter, so…it’s just about possible to let it slide. Just. Thank you to Tor Books for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. My review contains my honest thoughts about my reading experience.*** Raine is a now an apprentice at Redwinter and has pledged her loyalty to the crown. However, things are going wrong. Her mentor Ulovar, is mysteriously ill and although Raine is making progress in her studies, her personal relationships go from bad to worse. She seems to have a self destruct button whenever anyone appears to care for her. His assessment didn’t sit right with me. I looked up and down the ditch at the poor, dead, trussed-up people. No, they weren’t a town council. They were too young. None of them looked past thirty. They’d been helpless, slaughtered like swine, and there were rules in conflict, even for the likes of Arrowhead who was doing his best to foment unrest and was stopping short of outright rebellion against the king, and Redwinter, by a hair’s breadth.

And this is where I have to talk about Raine. She is a challenging, flawed character, one who goes the route of rash decisions and auto-destructive behavior as we follow her journey. And I understand not everyone enjoys reading that, but McDonald managed to make me invested in her story quite successfully. She's complicated, she's messy and all that fits her age without making it her singular characteristic. Her romance drama got in front of more serious things several times in the book and I caught myself shaking my head because she can't deal with it at all which is funny considering she is ready to do more dangerous things, like assassinating or using Sarathi magic. But her instincts are on point and you actually can believe what drives her to help Ulovar because author made an effort to show us that her Redwinter family are worth fighting for: her friends are great, Sanvaunt is just dreamy, Erish is lovely, Castus is the best and all I can say is that I get her. I totally get her. :) I don’t know that I’ve thought about being happy in a long while. Like it’s something that skipped away from me and got forgotten.' Meanwhile, Uvotis has been gone for months to the capitol, Ulovar has fallen gravely ill, rose thistle has become a little too good of a friend, and Raine can’t seem to decide whether to push or pull when it comes to Esher and Sanvaunt.

There were some great plot reveals that I never saw coming, and some of the magical and fantasy worldbuilding elements dazzled me and felt fresh even after reading hundreds of other modern fantasy books. Thanks to Netgalley and Tor for the eARC. It's a little late because I just HAD to get the audiobook. I adore the narrator. This is an honest review. But the grandmaster has her own plans for Raine, and the deadly training she has been given has not been conducted carelessly. In Raine she seeks to craft a weapon to launch right into her enemy’s heart, as Redwinter seeks to hold onto power. There is a darkness in this series, a delicious Scottish folklore infused fantasy world and bad things people do to each other, but the author makes an effort to show the good side of humanity and not go to the route of "everyone is actually bad." And yes, there is a drama, a young girl unnecessary drama with heightened emotions mixed in all of that and it just works for me. I'm happy I've read it and I'll continue the series, hopefully the rest of it won't break my brain that much. 😅

I like the magic. I like the various trances, the various “Gates”, that McDonald uses as magical states. I think this is a neat balance of magical system and yet retaining the otherness of magic. I like that it’s organized, yet not scientific. Sometimes, magic systems are over-systematized, and they lose some of the power that magic has. McDonald has found a balance that works for me. His system can be organized, documented, and studied; yet, it retains its mystery. The inner workings aren’t scientific, at least to the reader; they’re magical. And I prefer that in my fantasy novels. There's no shortage of examples of "men writing women badly" (and women writing men badly) in fiction in general and, in speculative fiction in particular. So, I was amazed by how well Ed McDonald wrote Raine in Daughter of Redwinter. It was a book that I literally could not put down not only because of the great protagonist, Raine, but also because of her "found family" and the great action. I also loved learning about the magical world of the Draoihn (mages) and the terrifying power they can wield. That realization made me reluctantly admire the author for portraying it in a way that made me feel seen but also vulnerable. On the other hand, books are a way to escape the real world for me and I wasn't prepared for the impact of that part. I would like to thank Netgalley, Tor Books, and Ed McDonald for an advanced copy of Traitor of Redwinter. All opinions are my own. Sanvaunt continued to shine as an exceptional supporting character, just as he did in the first book. The same can be said for Esher and Liara, who added depth and richness to the story. While I had reservations about Ovitus in Daughter of Redwinter, my dislike for him deepened exponentially in Traitor of Redwinter, leaving me with an intense loathing for his character. lol! I am itching to into details but alas spoilers…. The development of the relationship between Esher and Raine was both heartwarming and heart-wrenching, filled with tender moments that touched my soul. Similarly, the dynamic between Sanvaunt and Raine evoked bittersweet emotions, tugging at my heartstrings.

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