Traitor's Hope

Chronicles of Gensokai #2

by Virginia McClain

Betrayal of mind. Betrayal of power. Betrayal of heart.For centuries the Rōjū council silenced all who opposed them, spreading lies and killing innocents to insure that female Kisōshi were little more than a myth. Now, with the corrupt council deposed, the land of Gensokai reels as it takes its first steps towards recovery. As the New Council attempts to gather its allies and subdue its enemies Taka takes charge of a frontline infirmary, placing her in the heart of battle and forcing her to rely on a person she cannot possibly trust. At the same time, Mishi sets out to lure a vicious band of mountain raiders into the open. Yet she’ll have to face down more than bandits if she hopes to survive. Her mind is betraying her, and she fears it is only a matter of time before her kisō and katana turn against her too.Surrounded by enemies and with betrayal only ever a heartbeat away, can Mishi and Taka survive long enough to bring peace to their fractured homeland?

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Science Fiction Fantasy

291 pages, Paperback

First published October 14, 2017

About the author

Virginia McClain is an author who recently stopped daylighting as a Spanish teacher in Arizona and switched to writing full time in Winnipeg, Manitoba. When she's not writing she can often be found climbing to the top of large rocks, running on trails, backpacking, and generally engaging in any excuse to go play outside. Now that she has moved to the Great White North she will probably add snowshoeing, cross country skiing, and ice skating to her list of outdoor adventures, but as it's still warm out she'll start with canoeing (something she hasn't done in years) and see how it goes from there. She lives with her husband and their furry, canine companion Artemis.

Reviews

[Shai · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not aware that the Traitor's Hope is the sequel to the Chronicles of Gensokai series. But despite that this is the second installment already and that I still haven't read the first book, Blade's Edge, I was able to still follow what the story is all about.

After the battle in Roju City, Mishi felt that she's broken because of what happened. But she still wants to seek out new female kisoshi or an elite warrior. During the battle, Mishi would have died if Taka, a healer, wasn't able to save her. Mishi used so much of her kiso (fire) power during the battle that resulted to her fear that she might harm others; she thought that she can't control it. However, Tsuku-san and Yanagi-Sensei told her that she must use her kiso daily because it will help her channel it and will make it grow.

Mishi was tasked by the New Council to fight once more, but she tried to decline because she thought she can no longer do it. Nevertheless, she still accepted the offer and together with the natural tracker Mitsu, they were assigned by Tsuku-san to track the group(s) of sanzoku or the mountain bandits.

The former enemy Kusuko, a hishi or an assassin, became an ally during the battle of Roju. Yet, Mishi was still cautious of this former ex-foe because Kusuko killed Sachi, which can be read in Blade's Edge. But Kusuko was able to prove that she's no longer an enemy when she was able to protect Taka from her own father, Mamushi-san.

Traitor's Hope is quite a long novel and I'm not familiar with the Japanese words/terms, but the author included a glossary of terms in the beginning of the book for easy access. The storyline is unique and those who are fascinated with the East Asia or Japanese culture, as well as fantasy fiction novels, will certainly enthralled them by this book of Virginia McClain.

[chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

YES! YES! YES! I LOVE THIS SO MUCH.

Things I liked loved about the book

• Alternate POVs. We get to know about every character's thoughts and learn more about them. It's really enjoyable to read the story in multiple perspectives.

• The romance:
Mitsu and Mishi are so sweet together. Mitsu, after learning about Mishi's flaws, continues loving and supporting her. #ship!!!!
Kusuko and Taka!! Taka came out in this book and I love her even more :D Kusuko + Taka = perfect together!

• No grammatical/spelling errors! I'm can't stand it when people write "your" when they are supposed to write "you're". Same goes for "their" and "their".

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• The action! The fighting scenes are all very detailed and I really enjoyed reading them. I also loved reading about the characters using their magical powers to defeat the enemy.

• The badassness of it all. Mishi's a warrior, Kusuko's an assassin and Taka's a healer. Together, they're invincible. Although they don't really trust one another, they are always willing to make sacrifices and help each other <3

• The happy ending. I love happy endings. Everything turns out to be alright not so messed up in the end, and I feel so happy for the characters!

Things I disliked about the book

• (I mentioned this in my review of Blade's Edge) The similarity of the characters' names - Mishi, Mitsu and we were also introduced to a little boy called Mizu. It. Was. So. Freaking. Confusing!!! My brain nearly exploded when I was trying to figure it out.

Overall thoughts

I would recommend this to fans of adventure, romance and diverse books! (Also oh my gosh when is the next book coming out? I can't wait to read it!)

[S. Bavey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Traitor’s Hope is the sequel to Blade’s Edge which I read last month. I was excited to return to the fantasy world of Gensokai in order to continue the story of the amazingly powerful healer Taka, and Mishi, the extraordinary young warrior, and the people who love them.

Events begin soon after the battle at Rōjū City. A new council is in place with Tsuku in charge. Mitsu is sent on a mission with Mishi to find bands of Roju-allied warbands terrorizing villages and razing them to the ground wherever they expect female Kisōshi are being harbored. They are still loyal to the old order and many villages are handing over the female children with kisō to avoid destruction. The New Council has its work cut out to change the old male-dominated ways:

“The supposed ‘threat’ of women with power rising up and taking over is what made the Rōjū Council accept the laws that killed newborn babes in the cradle for centuries. It makes sense that they would continue to use that mindset, even with their hired mercenaries.”

Mishi is struggling with PTSD and dangerous nightmares and visions which take her right back to the battle she fought in at Rōjū City and she is worried she will react violently and kill one of her beloved traveling companions. Taka and Mitsu want to help her and decide their tree spirit mentor Yanagi-sensei might be able to help more than they can. Yanagi-sensei was one of my favourite things about Blade’s Edge and it was fantastic to have him back in this book:

“A face—was it still a face when it consisted of bark and moss?—came into view then, and Mishi knew that she must be meeting Yanagi-sensei, Taka and Mitsu’s longtime mentor. She sat up and slowly took in the bark that shaped itself into a nose and mouth, eyes the color of hardened tree sap, bushy eyebrows of moss and lichen, and the body of what looked like a willow tree. It had as many long, arced and trailing branches as would be found on any normal willow, but also seemed to have legs, or something approximating them.”

The budding friendship between Mishi and the 21 year old Mitsu is very sweet and respectful. It is delightful to see their mutual respect develop into something more as they travel together and become quite the double act, in terms of fighting. Mishi is only sixteen, but she has seen so much fear, loss of loved ones, war and violence in her short life that I was really happy she eventually allowed herself to be cared for and to develop her own feelings for Mitsu too.

Taka is possibly the most talented healer in Gensokai and is sent on a mission to the front lines to head up a team of healers. She has to overcome extreme prejudice towards female Kisōshi, but luckily her training and past experiences have stood her in good stead and Kusuko becomes an invaluable bodyguard and support to her.

Kusuko was my favourite character, a complicated, many-layered assassin with a chequered past working undercover as a prostitute or “daughter of the winds”, in this book we learn more of her difficult childhood and relationship with her cruel and uncompromising father, the chief spymaster and leader of the assassins, Mamushi-san. She is petite and looks like a beautiful doll but this appearance belies her strength, agility and quick-witted reactions befitting the top assassin in the realm. It is never clear throughout the story whether or not Kusuko can be trusted. Does she even trust herself? We discover as the story progresses that she is not as heartless and immune to feelings as she and her father like to believe, despite all of her training:

“She had always thought of herself as a snake, shedding its skin with each identity she left behind, and growing into a new one, but now…now she felt rather more like a phoenix. She had burned through everything within her, emerging as something entirely new and unexplored.”

I thoroughly enjoyed this story of strong women in a harsh and uncompromising world dominated by men.

[Sara (A Gingerly Review) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a surprising book.. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

FRTC

Full review can be found here: https://agingerlyreview.wordpress.com...

This book was such an enjoyable read! It is the second in a series so don’t go into it thinking this is a standalone or first of a new series. I had not read the first but that did not stop me from really liking what I read. It was easy to follow and figure out as I kept reading. The overall story itself was very intriguing, thoughtful, and action packed. It really does not read like a second book so it doesn’t have that second-book syndrome. The characters were so thought out and well developed that it was easy to connect with them. I felt like I was on the journey with them and I couldn’t wait to see how everything ended. I was in this for the long haul.

There are only two small grievances: some character’s names were too closely spelled the same and as a result I sometimes got them confused. AND some of the POV chapters were so short – only a page or two – that it left me wondering why it was included. But please know this did not take away from the overall story. I still kept reading and I still liked this in the end.

Please, give this a try and you won’t be disappointed!

[Jena · Rating 5 out of 5]

First, I loved the first book. LOVED! The world building! The characters! The magic! I loved it all! I even loved the darkness that the world presented. Traitor’s Hope kept the same pacing and tone from Blade’s Edge and leveled up!

We still get narration from Taka and Mishi, both grown and traumatized in their own ways from the war fought. Instead of hearing from Tsuko this time, we get the perspective of Kusuko instead.

Assassin turned ally, Kusoko was one of the most interesting characters in the book. Her story of how she came to be a hishi assassin highlights the cruelty and brutality of the crumbled regime. But we get so much more than a heartbreaking story from Kusoko. We get an interesting look at the psychology of lifelong abuse and brainwashing. The depth we get from her is quite astounding, and made her not just an integral part of the story, but really brought to life what the New Council was fighting against.

The themes in this book are no less severe than in Blade’s Edge. We are still in the aftermath of war, with factions attempting to start a new one. The island of Gensokai is no less violent than before, and it still holds on to it’s negative views on anyone other than male Kisoshi. The war may be over, but the old regime is not going to be easily reformed.

“The illusion of power can make men blind to many things.”

And there is a lot to love in this sequel! First, I adore that even though this is the second in a series, and the story is obviously building on the first book, the story isn’t reliant on the first book. You could easily read this on its own, and while the experience won’t be quite as deep or rich, it would be enjoyable still. The second thing is that we get a glimpse of what a society looks like after a war. Often in a series, we get the ending of the series at the end of the conflict. So we don’t get to explore what the next steps in that rebuilding of society looks like. Here we do, and folks, it isn’t as easy as we would hope.

“I hadn’t considered that there would be men evil enough to keep harming innocents even once they knew the truth of their own actions.”

As the society is dismantled and rebuilt, we also get more information about the elemental magic kiso. Learning more about how the elements work, and even how they can combine both within an individual and with Kisoshi working together was fantasy at it’s best! I wish we could have gotten a bit more with my favorite Dragon and Tree Kami, but I get it, rebuilding a society isn’t about training, so we didn’t see quite as much of them.

And talk about plots! Plots with plots, schemes within schemes! The brilliance of the title is that you go in suspecting someone of being treacherous. What you don’t expect is how many people that could possibly be! I gave up trying to figure out who was going to betray who, because the double crosses on the double crosses became impossible to guess. I really liked that each character presented, both old and new, were as vividly complex as before. And this complexity made predicting treachery nearly impossible. But it isn’t simply treachery between characters. McClain shows us the danger in betraying our true selves.

In keeping with the first book and taking an unflinching look at tough themes, this book dives deep into exploring PTSD. The emotional wreckage that violence leaves is real. And even if you’ve been training for war, the reality of it is often very traumatic. I loved that McClain really let us see how deep these wounds can be in a character. How patience and time and understanding can help heal those wounds.

“She was very afraid of what lay beneath the visions that haunted her dreams, both waking and sleeping.”

Finally, we get to see a budding same sex romance. It’s fantastic to see an author seamlessly introduce the budding sexuality of her characters and include diversity in that development. The romances are slow, and sweet, written more from the emotional development rather than focusing on the physical. That was refreshing and added to the emotional growth of each character.

This is a world I am deeply in love with. I love the characters, and want to know what happens next. I love how McClain isn’t afraid to explore some really intense topics, and she does them justice. Whether it’s revisiting old characters, or getting to know new ones, the dialogue and personalities are such joy to read! This is a series that I will be continuing as long as she writes them!

Thank you Rockstar Book Tours for the opportunity to participate on this tour; as well as the chance to read and review these books! They are phenomenal!

Hop on over to my blog for chance to win a signed copy of both books!!!!! www.jenabrownwrites.com/blog

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here, then, we return to the pseudo-Japanese world of Gensokai, where lifelong friends Taka and Mishi - the heroes from the first book - are discovering that keeping the peace might be almost as hard as winning the war. Like many second-books-in-series, there's a greater focus on character-building here, a little willingness to let the people breathe and talk to each other rather than rushing headlong into the story.

It also provides a chance for more world-building and a greater sense of the wider universe, which helps contextualise some of the more out-there fantasy elements. The magic system remains one of the best parts, well integrated into the world, story and combat. But perhaps most importantly of all, it gives the author the chance to describe really cool stuff. One element that's definitely remained consistent between books is McClain's gift for a visceral action scene.

The characters other than Taka and Mishi also benefit a lot from the extra space, and supporting cast member Kusuko in particular gets a lot of interesting development - she's probably the break-out character of the series, at this stage. Certainly, I know seeing what happens next to her is probably my biggest incentive to come back for the next one.

This second-book task of expanding on the world means the plot isn't quite as propulsive as the first one, but I think that's expected. It means that when the faeces hits the fan again - and it definitely will - we care all the more about what happens to the cast. Mishi's worries over her violent nature become a little laboured over the course of the whole book, but if I had genuine reason to believe I might flip out and kill my friends at any moment, I'd probably worry about it a lot too.

In short - a strong continuation to a good series. Builds upon the strength of Blade's Edge, makes the world of Gensokai deeper and more interesting and keeps the characters moving forward. I'll definitely be back for book three.

[Julia Sarene · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5*

Traitor's Hope by Virgina McClain is not just a worthy sequel to Blade's Edge, but in my eyes even an improvement!

We get to return to the same world, but some months after the end of book one, and the world is not suddenly all rosy and nice. The fight for the rights of girls / women with power is still ongoing, as a rather big force is trying to go back to traditional views, while our main characters try to save babies as well as whole villages from destruction.

My favourite bit is the many strong female characters, which doesn't mean they are all skilled fighters, but have their own strengths and agencies. We have that fighter figure, but struggling with PTSD. But we also have an incredibly skilled healer, and an ex assassin who needs to find out who she wants to be from now on. I love the way the story handles feminism, and fighting for a world that doesn't dismiss or even kill off women, but it still feels more hopeful and a culture moving forward more than focussing on what's been.

There's a dash of romance in here, and as someone who usually avoids romance, this one I was fine with. There's a lot of angst and going back and forth on being worthy of love, but it fits perfectly well with PTSD and a horrendous past. It felt like a natural part of the character and her growth, so for me it didn't stand out from her overall struggles.
I especially enjoyed the very respectful and thoughtful way the relationship started to bloom, and how there was understanding and acceptance instead of pressuring. I really need more healthy relationships in my books, no matter if romantic or friendships!

This is a good conclusion to the series, not happy go lucky, but also not bleak or hopeless. For me it struck a good balance of resolving main issues, but leaving other bits open, as you never know what the future holds.

[Kerry Gibbons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent novel from Virginia McClain.

Although I sometimes struggled with some of the names being so similar (fun fact: most people don’t read the entirety of proper nouns but rather parse the length, first couple letters and maybe last couple letters - the general shape of it - when they read), this was an excellent follow-up to Blade’s Edge. I liked where the story went. The new characters were great additions but I liked that we continued to focus on key characters from the first book instead of getting overly entangled in the needs of characters we didn’t already have a relationship with.

My only other criticism here is that the glossary is a bit anemic. There are plenty of words (eg “hifu”) that aren’t in the glossary but are used frequently throughout the book. I know the author is fluent in Japanese so these might not be very noticeable to her but I’d like to see this expanded OR contracted. Either the glossary should include EVERYTHING (things any anime/manga fan would know, too, like “ne?”) OR it should almost not be there, trusting the reader to pick up meanings from contextual clues or else look them up. I’m inclined to make the glossary bulkier rather than slimmer, but I find the current state of the glossary a bit perplexing.

But yes, this is a book I would absolutely recommend.

It’s striking to me that, with the exception of manga and anime, I have not encountered a great deal of science fiction or fantasy focusing on Asian cultural touchstones. It seems that this should be prevalent! A sub-genre! Especially for East Asian-obsessed young adults!

[Jonathan Pembroke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This second book in the series picks up several months after Blade’s Edge. Mishi and Taka are now embroiled in helping the New Council pick up the pieces of governance in Gensoaki, while the remnants of the old rulers move around, creating havoc. And now, they must trust an old enemy, who is now on their side … or so they think.

Hope adds a third POV, that of Kusuko, who had been a spy and sometimes-enemy, sometime-friend to Mishi in Taka in the first book. The story hops between all three young women and allows good character development for all three. There are a lot of moving parts in this book—the threat of the old rulers trying to reimpose their tyranny, Mishi struggling with her demons, Taka struggling with sexist prejudice, the actions of the ninja-like hishi … but all of the threads blend together rather well. I also felt the pace was right on target and the story built to a proper crescendo at the right moment.

There are romantic subplots, which I normally like but was split on here. Without giving too many spoilers, I didn’t identify well with Mishi’s. I think the angst felt slightly forced. Taka’s was better. Also, the nature spirits, which played such a pivotal role in the first book, were largely absent here and I was slightly disappointed in that.

Overall, I did enjoy Traiotr’s Hope. This did a good job of continuing the story from the first book and I am looking forward to the next one. Recommend this to folks who like Asian-flavored tales, multi-POV stories, and romantic subplots.

[Shay · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I got this book I had no idea it was the second book in a series. That being said I didn't feel too lost as far as the story went. As a matter of fact it was easy to follow. My biggest issue was keeping the names straight only because there are some that are similar. Besides that this story was great! The story was full of action! The characters were complex. I was in love with the whole love/hate/mistrust issues that were going on between the 3 main characters. It made them real. Here they were thrown together and they had to find a way to make things work. The POV changes worked mostly. (There were a couple places where it almost seemed redundant to have a change over.) Overall Traitor's Hope was an adventure that I thoroughly enjoyed taking!

I received an ARC and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[L.R. Braden · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off, let me say I love the cover, so kudos to the artist. As a fan of Asian cultures, and Japanese in particular, I'm always drawn to books with an Eastern flavor to them. While there were some inconsistencies in McClain's use of honorifics (for example, having a character use one suffix out loud then switch to another while they're thinking, or having them use two different suffixes for the same person during a single conversation) I think she did a good job of integrating them in a way that non-Japanese speakers could still follow.

For the most part I had no problem with the Japanese and Japanese-esk words, but there was one term that threw me off every time it came up. "Hifu" shows up at the very beginning of the book, and several times throughout, but doesn't appear in the glossary and it's meaning seems to change from one use to another. The Japanese definition would be "skin." Most often, this seems to refer to a persona that Kusuko has adopted, but at several points she is actually addressed as Hifu-san, so I'm not quite sure what to think. This could be easily remedied by simply including it in the glossary at the beginning of the book.

The formal tone of the writing also matches what I know of Japanese culture, particularly in an era of swords and wandering warriors.

The writing itself is decent, with some very nice turns of phrase, but I feel it could have been tightened up quite a bit without losing anything. There were a lot of instances of specifying things that didn't need to be explained, and a good deal of telling the reader things that the narrator didn't see or wasn't thinking about. (i.e. Mishi didn't notice... proceed to tell us everything she didn't see.)

McClain's handling of internal monologue was good, and her scenes building attraction between characters was very well done, but the dramatic action left something to be desired.
I don't want to give anything away, so I'm staying purposefully vague, but there are a couple scenes where McClain basically skips over all the action and the characters go from worrying about what's about to happen, to being glad that it's over without anything in the middle. Even when the characters recount the events, they skip any mention of what actually happened, leaving a huge blank spot in the story for the reader to fill. The book focuses very intently on the internal struggles of the characters, which is great, but falls short on actual plot.

The characters are definitely the driving force of this book. While there were three narrative voices, I felt that Mishi was the main protagonist. This threw me off a little at first since both the prologue and the first chapter centered on Kusuko, but I didn't get enough out of those to really relate to Kusuko. It's not until much later in the book that I felt Kusuko became a fully actualized character. It was Mishi's first chapter when I felt like the book really started. Taka is interesting, but doesn't seem to have enough going on at the beginning to be a focal character. In many ways she acts more as a catalyst than a character.

Also, while we're on the subject of narrative voices, there is one chapter a third of the way through the book that is written in a fourth voice, that of a little girl named Mizu. It took me two paragraphs to realize I wasn't reading one of Mishi's chapters and actually look at the name. I'm not sure why McClain decided to write a single chapter from a unique perspective, but my guess is that it was the easiest way to get the reader where she wanted them to be. While I understand this dilemma, it is rather jarring from a reader perspective, and I feel McClain could have found another way to convey the necessary information.

As for the characters' arcs, Kusuko developed the most over the course of the story. In that sense, perhaps she is the main protagonist, but she was hard for me to connect with in the beginning. It's almost like the author did too good a job making Kusuko hide her emotions, so even the reader can't get to know her.

Mishi is the opposite. She agonizes about everything, having the same arguments and voicing the same fears over and over. I understand that she needs to work through her issues, but it get's redundant pretty quickly when your narrator thinks "I'm a monster" on every other page. And while we're on the subject of her thinking she's a monster, I never really got that impression. Since I didn't read the first book, perhaps she does something truly atrocious that I don't know about, but from what I gathered from her confessions, she was just doing the best she could in a difficult situation, and while that might be enough to give her nightmares, I'm not sure it explains where her deep self-loathing comes from.

The other issue I have with Mishi's development is that everyone seems to understand her perfectly, as though they are all sharing space inside her head. There are no misunderstandings, no hurt feeling. Everyone knows she's going to run away, and accepts that she's doing it to protect them. Everyone acknowledges and commiserates with her fears. Everyone voices her deepest concerns before she's even had a chance to realize them for herself. Because of this, it doesn't seem like Mishi has much to do with her own evolution. She lets those around her do all the heavy lifting, then sits back to judge their findings. In the end, she doesn't blaze a trail for herself, but rather follows where she is led.

Note: I received a free copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

[Lukasz · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[L.T. Getty · Rating 3 out of 5]

When we last left our heroes, kisoshi Mishi and Taka helped topple the Evil Reign of the Roju, a chauvanistic regime that regulates women and class, and we soon realize, have infant girls born with elemental powers, Kiso, drowned shortly after birth. The story continues fairly shortly after the the New Council takes control of the Imperial City, with the fall out and aftermath - it's one thing to strike the Empire's head, it's quite another once you realize there are other leaders, generals, and others who weren't there and they found life quite comfortable, thank you, and they'll make the precarious position of the new way extremely hard - burning down villages and making people fear the old way, and realize that the new way will not protect them.

For me this book was a bit of a mixed bag. as it doesn't seem to have as clear cut a mission as book 1. In book 1, we were with the two female leads as they grew up and had to survive, and now they're maxed out and having to deal with threats, as well as internal conflicts and subterfuge. Initially, Taka goes to aid and heal those injured in a war, and is met with sexist pricks despite healing being a typically acceptable female occupation, and Mishi goes to deal with bandits and the samaurai attacking villages.

My main complaint is that it's got a lot of dense prose - basically a lot of introspection, which I'm usually fine with, but it's throughout the action sequences. We don't know how Mishi and Mitsu are really fighting off five people, all we know is that they're being kept at bay and Mishi is going on internally about potentially using a drought. She's developed a distaste for violence - and hey, good character development - but it seemed more about her wanting the trappings of a kisoshi and not realizing what they were about. And hey, good on the author for not wanting her heroine to be a violent sociopath who has questionable motives, but I found it distracting. It didn't read like PTSD, although there were the trappings of her realizing the weight of what she was doing and asking others to do.

Anyway, I thought it was a decent sequel, so if you are interested in a fantasy with the trappings of Feudal Japan, feminist issues, or are a fan of the Avatar: Last Airbender series, this is probably a good little duology to pick up, but I'd recommend starting with book 1.

[Akemi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book only took so long because I kept being too busy to finish it. I loved reading more about the fictional historical Japan McClain has created. It's very common in stories about major uprisings and social political change to end with the change having happened but not have anything about how difficult it is to create a new order. Book two of the Gensokai addresses these in spades.

It was so refreshing to see a female warrior character that doesn't get stuck in the tropes of being a female warrior. I loved that the character's romances felt natural and not forced. Even better there's a male character who apologizes for feeling friendzoned.

I hope there will be more to this series, because I can't wait to read more about Mishi and Mitsu AND Taka and Kusuko (yay for such wonderful fully fleshed out, stong, interesting queer characters!)

[Michelle Kidwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Traitor's Hope

by Virginia McClain

Artemis Dingo Productions
Sci Fi & Fantasy , Teens & YA

Pub Date 14 Oct 2017

I am reviewing a copy of Traitor’s Hope through Artemis Dingo Productions and Netgalley:

If you have a teen/ young adult or are a teen/ young adult who likes Sci Fi &Fantasy then Traitor’s Hope is for you.

Mishi’s mind is betraying her and she fears she will soon be betrayed by her Kiso and Katana as well. And Taka’s heart abandons her for someone she could not trust.

Now two friends are obliged to help peace come to the land of Gensokai, the question is where the next betrayal will come and will the friends find the strength to survive what may becoming your way?

I give Traitor’s Hope five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

[Spokie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mrs McClain's well written fantasy is well worth the time spent to read it. Her characters and background appears very authentic to ancient Japan. This feeling of authenticity is strengthened by her using words, that even though they are many times made-up words, are rooted in authentic Japanese. The prologue sets the tone of violence, betrayals and prejudices that make the backbone of the story. Few things can be worse than being trained by cruel and violent means by your own father as an assassin and spy only to be betrayed by him. Inari is the man that stands out for me, because of his integrity and honour. I am only disappointed and sad that it is implied that there is a sexual attraction between Taka and Kusuko.

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I volunteered to read this book in exchange for a review. When I signed up for it I didn't realize it was a book 2 in a series.

Well written very detailed book full of the three m's: mystery magic and mayhem. Written in multiple pov's

[Stephen Levesque · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't like it one bit, It lack cohesion, was boring and very hard to read. If you are wanting to read this I wish you luck!

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stabby female leads and sof bois. The best kind.

[Edwin Vance Butler III · Rating 1 out of 5]

i couldn't get past the 16yo to 21 yo age gap between mishi and the love interest. this rating is only a reflection of that. it's a 3 for me without me feeling gross about their interactions.

[Jethpage · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book picks up weeks after the first one. Mishi is suffering from PTSD from the battle at Roju city and is afraid that she'll lose control and hurt the people she cares for. As for Taka, she's assigned to a battle camp to take over as the head healer in full of men who think women don't have the power and skills to be healers and warriors. There're so many things I like about this book, first I like how it tackles PTSD, LBTQ+, and consent. I don't want to go to details because of spoilers, but if you've read the first installment, this one doesn't disappoint

[Megan Tee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, this was indeed the most surprising since it is not only just a sequel but also somehow seemed a rather different yet heavily inspired Japanese fantasy.

Although there are no Samurais, and that the system is a little confusing since it was not really explained to me while I had to make some guesses here and there.

However the characters were rather okay, although they blended in at times and I found the plot a tad aimless. It’s like I don’t really know what is happening but the book neither really tried to bridge the gap as to what happened in the previous book.

So I found myself quite lost hut rather liking the narrating characters and the writing felt do incredibly real and even easy to read. Which is really easy for me to read and even understand.

So, overall I really liked the way it is written and the unique kind of fantasy, it takes some aspects and turns it into something new. But I believe that the execution could be better as I found myself quite confused overall.