#traitor's blade

[whumpofalltime]

Whump Book of All Time: Preliminary Match Up #5

Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell vs The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

Traitor's Blade

The Way of Kings

Voting ended onNov 15, 2025

Propaganda under the cut!

New propaganda will be added and reblogged, and will follow the winning entry into the next round. Positive propaganda only, please.

Preliminary rounds are open for one week.

Traitor's Blade:

fiollaigean: "we come in with a strong start as the main character get paralyzed by poison. he then gets shot in the leg by an arrow, and then we stay with him as his friends remove said arrow and it's extremely painful for him. and we're still in the cold open. then he dissociates really hard through a trauma flashback, kills a guy, and goes a little nuts emotionally about it. plus his leg still hurts. then he gets very sleep deprived cause he's being chased by guys who want to kill him and he can't stop long enough to rest for a while. Gets poisoned again. Gets poisoned*again* this time with magical powder that makes the target feel intense and senseless terror. Then he gets kidnapped. And tortured for a few chapters. And rescued but restrained and raped* by his rescuer. He gets hit on the head real hard in a fight before being near-fatally wounded (and poisoned *again*) and then the book is over. and through the entire story we occasionally flash back to the Inciting Incidents from his past where a few people he loves die horribly and he's thoroughly traumatized, goes catatonic with grief, kills a few guys, and has a breakdown about it.

*as in she physically restrains him so she can have sex with him even though he tells her to stop. But he ends up being into it and they end up as an endgame couple???? which is so weird and ngl I really hate it but that's the scoop on that, if you want to know"

The Way of Kings:

catbunblue302: "Slavery! Identity crisises! Major character death! Childhood trauma! Literally every character in this book has something massively fucking wrong with them.

Szeth embodies the living weapon trope. Kaladin spends the entire first book enslaved and spends the rest of the series working through the aftereffects of it. Shallan is so traumatized she literally blanked out pieces of her childhood. There is so much more I could put here if I didn't want to avoid too many spoilers, but I don't think I can think of a single character that hasn't had some horrific trauma.

[fiollaigean]

[what-life-is-really-like]

Me, reading/watching any medieval fantasy fiction: Wow, getting my period there would suck more than it already does.

[libertyreads]

February TBR--

February is going to be the month I TRY to force myself to stick to my reading goals. I failed spectacularly in January by reading 8 more books than I had on my TBR. God, this is so the opposite of a problem. But I will say that January had me reading such small books that reading never felt like a chore. So, trying to stay in that mindset, I’m also going to be reading some shorter stuff in February.

1. Make a Wish by Helena Hunting (Spark House #3)-- I’m so excited to get to the finale of this companion series. The Spark House series follows three sisters who run an event hotel in Colorado Springs. This time it’s the youngest sister’s turn at love. We follow Harley and the guy she used to nanny for when he and his daughter move back to town after 6 years away. Can they navigate this romance with so much baggage weighing them down?

2. The Magic Misfits by Neil Patrick Harris (The Magic Misfits #1)-- I got this at a library sale...last year? The year before? At some point. It ended up being 50 cents or something like that so I thought I would take a chance on it. This one is the first book in a Middle Grade series that follows a street magician named Carter who has to save the town of Mineral Wells from the clutches of Bosso and his crew of crooked carnies.

3. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith-- This is another book from the library sale. It was also super cheap so I decided to give it a shot. It’s a 2012 YA Romance so we’re going to tread lightly here and keep our expectations low. It seems like this one is set over a 24 hour period and both at an airport and in an airplane so that will be fun to watch play out.

4. The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons (A Chorus of Dragons #1)-- Okay, so maybe this isn’t a shorter book, but I’ve heard too much hype. I have to read it. We follow Kihrin who is a bastard orphan who grew up loving stories about dragons, demons, gods, and heroes who always save the day. But when he’s claimed by a treasonous prince as his long-lost son, he learns the stories aren’t all true. He lives as a prisoner to his new family’s power plays and ambitions.  But let me give you my FAVORITE part of the synopsis: “Then again, maybe he’s not the hero, for Kihrin is not destined to save the empire. He’s destined to destroy it.” Let’s GOOOOOO. I’m trying not to give into the hype, but...come on. Come on.

5. Traitor’s Blade by Sebastien De Castell (Greatcoats #1)-- With this one, I’m continuing my 40 Books Before 40 TBR as well as my Kindle Clean Out Project. I didn’t know a ton about this one before I put it on the TBR. I got the recommendation from Jade/JadeyRaeReads on YouTube. This is an Adult Fantasy novel that follows the Greatcoats who were trained in the fighting arts and travel to uphold the King’s Law. Or at least they used to. Until they stood aside while the Dukes took the Kingdom and impaled their King’s head on a spike. The Greatcoats are scattered far and wide, reviled as traitors, their legendary coats in tatters. All they have left are the promises they made to King Paelis, to carry out one final mission.

6. Stars and Smoke by Marie Lu (Stars and Smoke #1)-- I have to say that I am SO lucky to have an ARC of this one. I really didn’t expect to get it when I put in the request on NetGalley. I’m trying to decide if I read it as soon as possible or if I wait and savor it at the end of the month. I’m going to keep the synopsis SO BRIEF to go into this knowing as little as I can. This one follows a superstar who has been tapped to become a secret agent and the reluctant young spy assigned to be his partner. I’m literally squealing over here. Shut your whole face. I don’t know exact what genre this story is going to lean into since GoodReads has it marked as a YA Romance/Contemporary/Mystery/Fantasy, but I’m here for it.

7. Greymist Fair by Francesca Zappia-- Another NetGalley ARC for this month. I’m also excited to get to this one. It’s slated as a suspenseful and inventive murder-mystery inspired by lesser-known Grimm fairytales. As someone who has read the whole of the Brother’s Grimm’s fairytales, I’m beyond psyched for this one. I’ll give you the brief synopsis from the top of the Goodreads page for this book: “The People of Greyfair Known that the woods are a dangerous and magical place, and that they should never set foot off the road. But when a young tailor discovers a body on the road, her search for the culprit reveals even more strange and dark happenings around her town.” Is this the right time of year for this sort of book? Depends on who you ask. Me? I’m always down for something good and dark.

[whisperofthewaves]

oh no Falcio is my type of character

[aleamaris]

I'm currently rereading Traitor's Blade and wow - Kest is ready to throw hands because Falcio uses "you hit like a girl" as an insult in chapter 3 and I just love this man

[foreverlostinliterature]

2/6 Book Deals

Good morning, everyone! I hope you’re have a wonderful week! I’m back again with some books on sale, and today it seems like there is a pretty nice selection today, so definitely take a look. Assassin’s Apprentice and The Lies of Locke Lamora are always good options to check out if you haven’t! :)  Have a great day, everyone!

Today’s Deals:

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb - https://amzn.to/2GYGoZ3

Fatal Throne: The Wives of Henry VIII Tell All by Various Authors - https://amzn.to/386p0NM

Conceal, Don't Feel by Jen Calonita - https://amzn.to/3858rBV

All Our Names by Dinaw Mengestu - https://amzn.to/31wG11b

The Hidden Flower by Pearl S. Buck - https://amzn.to/2vdqdUV

The Search for the Green River Killer: The True Story of America's Most Prolific Serial Killer by Carlton Smith & Tomas Guillen - https://amzn.to/31wqbnc

The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn by Robin Maxwell - https://amzn.to/2SnZhKf

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch - https://amzn.to/2Uw1rKE

Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey - https://amzn.to/373Q6E7

Traitor’s Blade (Greatcoats Bk. 1) by Sebastien de Castell - https://amzn.to/3878Vrh

Behind the Mask: The Story of Jane Seymour by Angela Warwick - https://amzn.to/384Py27

NOTE:  I am categorizing these book deals posts under the tag #bookdeals, so if you don’t want to see them then just block that tag and you should be good. I am an Amazon affiliate in addition to a Book Depository affiliate and will receive a small (but very much needed!)  commission on any purchase made through these links.

[books-tea-and-magic]

My last read got 5 💫