The Traitor Baru Cormorant cover art

The Traitor Baru Cormorant

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The Traitor Baru Cormorant

By: Seth Dickinson
Narrated by: Christine Marshall
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About this listen

In Seth Dickinson's highly-anticipated debut The Traitor Baru Cormorant, a young woman from a conquered people tries to transform an empire in this richly imagined geopolitical fantasy.

Baru Cormorant believes any price is worth paying to liberate her people-even her soul.

When the Empire of Masks conquers her island home, overwrites her culture, criminalizes her customs, and murders one of her fathers, Baru vows to swallow her hate, join the Empire's civil service, and claw her way high enough to set her people free.

Sent as an Imperial agent to distant Aurdwynn, another conquered country, Baru discovers it's on the brink of rebellion. Drawn by the intriguing duchess Tain Hu into a circle of seditious dukes, Baru may be able to use her position to help. As she pursues a precarious balance between the rebels and a shadowy cabal within the Empire, she orchestrates a do-or-die gambit with freedom as the prize.

But the cost of winning the long game of saving her people may be far greater than Baru imagines.

Action & Adventure Classics Epic Fantasy Military

Critic reviews

“Smart. Brutal. Gut-wrenching. You'll be captivated from the very first page. Dickinson is a sly, masterful writer who pulls no punches. Get ready to have your heart ripped out through your throat. Highly recommended.” —Kameron Hurley, author of The Mirror Empire

“Not many books have me literally flailing with delight. The Traitor Baru Cormorant did. Fascinating characters, a world imagined with wonderful depth, and storytelling that succeeds on both an epic and a powerfully intimate scale. This is really something special.” —Sunny Moraine, co-author of Line and Orbit

“A beautiful, perfectly formed crystal of a novel borne out of a tight plot mated with elegant language.” —John Chu, Hugo Award-winning author of ‘The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere"

“Seth Dickinson skillfully combines intrigue, action, and philosophical musings to create a suspenseful and deeply satisfying read. An intelligent and accomplished first novel reminiscent of Le Guin in its reflections on imperialism, colonialism, and the attractions and corruptions of power.” —Una McCormack, New York Times bestselling author of The Crimson Shadow

“Dickinson has written a poet's Dune, a brutal tale of empire, rebellion, fealty, and high finance that moves like a rocket and burns twice as hot. The Traitor Baru Cormorant is a mic drop for epic fantasy.” —Max Gladstone, author of the Craft Sequence

“An extraordinary debut--powerful, complex, and passionate. I was blown away by it.” —Kij Johnson, Hugo Award-winning author of "The Man Who Bridged the Mist"

“Amazing and inventive.” —Tobias Buckell, New York Times bestselling author of the Xenowealth series

“A provocative work, the sort that makes readers wonder: just what is the author doing here?” —Locus on the short fiction of Seth Dickinson

All stars
Most relevant

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Traitor Baru Cormorant?

The end,even though i worked it out it still had an impact.

Which character – as performed by Christine Marshall – was your favourite?

Tain hu

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

money conquers

Any additional comments?

On of the best novels of the year

Best of the year

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A genuinely great story but with narration issues. I think they may have sped her up as I listened to it at 95% speed and it was so much better, so it could be production at fault. Regardless, it wasn't a, deal breaker and I can't wait to see how the rest of the story pans out.

Listen at 95% speed

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See above! Well written plot, great characters, gruelling fates and everything you could possibly want from a good book

Excellent book and excellent reader

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An unusual fantasy as it was rooted in political intrigue rather than the usual fantasy tropes.
Certainly thought provoking. Quite a dark tale.
Wish its sequel would be available on Audible

A Geopolitical Fantasy

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The performance is awful. Actually, it's beyond awful. The narrator reads the entire book at the same plodding pace with no intonation, inflection or emotion. When there's no personal pronoun in the text, you'll have no idea if spoken text is by a man or a woman, let alone who they are. Improper annunciation left me really struggling with the fantasy-style names of people and places, many of which are very similar. Listen to the audio sample and decide if you can live with 14 hours of it.

The production isn't great either for not only are there some edit mid-sentence which are completely obvious, there are even a couple of bad splices causing a bit of a stutter.

I found it a painful listen which totally ruined the book for me.

Listen hard to the sample before you buy

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