Review--Traitor's Blade (Greatcoats, #1)

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Traitor's Blade (Greatcoats, #1)Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A swashbuckling delight, sure to thrill fans of Dumas, Sabatini, and people who know that even though Basil Rathbone plays the villain, his sword work is what you want to watch in the film.

I loved the world building. Falcio Val Mond is a Greatcoat, one of the former king's magistrates, trained to sing the law and dispense justice in the king's name. But now the Greatcoats are in disgrace, scattered throughout a kingdom where the rule of law has been supplanted by the rule of venal, greedy men. De Castell does a masterful job of creating flawed but very human characters in Falcio and his companions, and the echoes of The Three Musketeers chime throughout the narrative. The fight scenes in particular are wonderfully done, and worth studying for craft and choreography.

I look forward to the further adventures of the Greatcoats, reveling in this grand fantasy with larger than life characters.


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