Booklog 16/2019 - Sebastien de Castell: Traitor's Blade – The Greatcoats #1

[jacey]

I really enjoyed this. I've read one Sebastien de Castell book before and liked it, but this was even better. The Greatcoats are, or were, until the king was killed five years before the book opens, travelling magistrates dispensing the king's justice. They are trained in the fighting arts and the laws of Tristia. Their signature greatcoats, made by the Tailor, a mysterious old woman, are a combination of armour and resource. I suspect they have pockets that not even their wearers have discovered yet. Tristia itself is plunging into chaos, thanks to the Dukes, who care for nothing but themselves.

Falcio, once the chief Greatcoat, is travelling with his two closest friends, Kest, a magnificent swordsman, and Brasti, not so bright but an astonishingly good archer. Not that Falcio can't hold his own in a fight, but he's supposed to be the clever one. He's still clinging to his Greatcoat identity and the law. The three of them have a plan to get the Greatcoats recognised as a force again, but that's destroyed early on and they  find themselves on the run and joining a merchant caravan as guards.

As the story progresses and the body count rises we get not only the plot as it unfolds, but also the backstory from Falcio's childhood through to how the king died while his Greatcoats lived. This is smart and sassy. Falcio is a great character, full of flaws (which he is not slow to admit) but also with a great heart and full of innate honour. De Castell goes to town on the blow-by-blow fights, choreographing them in great detail. Normally I find that a little wearing, but he makes it work very well. We meet Aline, remarkably self-posessed thirteen year old, and a murderous fey horse.

It's not grimdark… okay, maybe it is, but it's lightened by quirky humour (Falcio's internal monologue is quirky) and good dialogue. Falcio is very easy to like. He doesn't always get it right, but oh how he tries. I loved this enough to go straight on to the second Greatcoats book, Knight's Shadow.