Release Date: July 9, 2019
Thank you to Macmillian Children’s Publishing Group and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel!
This series has some of the most beautiful covers and I’m sad to say that’s all it has going for it. This was a journey and not really a good one. The plotline had potential but was just poorly executed. This final book was unnecessary except to wrap up the relationships and the potential “war” between Demora, Casmun and Kimisar. Nothing really happened in this book. It is all about peace treaties between the 3 countries and how they could meet these terms while all still hating each other? It was odd and slow moving, no advancement on peace until of course Sage steps in.
We finally get to see who gets together, who gets married and where they all end up after it’s all said and done. It was nice to get closure on the relationship aspects of this book versus just leaving us assuming how things wrap up.
I also enjoyed the mystery villain and that it had me guessing the whole time who it could be. In fact, that was the reason why I even bothered finishing this book. I just had to know if my initial guess was right. From the very beginning I thought I know who was behind all the chaos treacherous plans, but as the book continues I found myself unsure and even second guessing my pick based on the new clues Sage and Alex came across. In the end my initial guess was correct but it was nice to not know outright throughout reading.
There were so many recycled plotlines from the second book in this third book. Whether is was Sage and Alex having the same pointless “nothing fights” (thanks Dane Cook) to only Sage being able to bridge the gap between nations and not listening to anyone regarding how to do it. Sage has had no real character growth since the end of the first book and it really showed with her repeating her past mistakes and getting the same results but somehow ending up the hero again. I wanted more for her and Alex.
Clare was annoying as hell and I couldn’t wait to be done with her. I get her fiance dies but that does not mean you get to become a needy, annoying, superior, judgemental bit**. I hated having to listen to her constant snips at Sage and her decisions along with her relationship with Alex. She has always been such a good friend and person and I don’t think Beaty did her justice in this book, in fact she ruined Clare for me.
There were so many secondary characters that I loved from the first book, but throughout this series they had faded into the background until they were just mentioned by name or just seemed to be mentioned just to let you know that they still existed. I missed Ash, Robert, Cass and the other soldiers who seemed important in book 1 but by book 3 they were mentioned at the end like I should have known them but I had no idea who they were anymore.
My final complaint is I still have no idea why this series has “Traitor” in the title. No traitor’s kiss in the first book, no traitor’s are ruined in the second book and there are no true traitor’s kingdom in the second book since there are peace negotiations nor anyone secretly in one kingdom working for another. I wish the series had been titled differently with a little more of a hint as to what you were getting into.
Final Thoughts:
If you like a light read with some fluff and relationship drama thrown in then you might enjoy this series. I was expecting something more like “The Winner’s Curse” series by Marie Rutkoski, especially after the first book, but that was far from what I got. I’m glad all the loose ends were wrapped up though and that it was sort of a happy ending, but it wasn’t like I was expecting anything else.
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