The Traitor's Kingdom (the Traitor's Circle #3)

Synopsis

A new queen under threat. An ambassador with a desperate scheme. Two kingdoms with everything to lose.

Once a spy and adviser to the throne, Sage Fowler has secured victory for her kingdom at a terrible cost. Now an ambassador representing Demora, Sage is about to face her greatest challenge to avoid a war with a rival country.

After an assassination attempt destroy the chance for peace, Sage and her fiancé, Major Alex Quinn, risk a dangerous plot to reveal the culprit. But the stakes are higher than ever, and in the game of traitors, betrayal is the only certainty.

Loved

• Okay, I'm still completely in love with Sage and Alex. I'm still swooning over them after three books. I love how their relationship develops and becomes more mature as both Alex and Sage individually mature and become more sefless. It feels realistic how they spend a lot of time apart doing their separate duties, but they grow together as they gain experiences and learn in their leadership roles. Their relationship during this book was refreshing because it was much more drama-free, whereas in the other two books there were a lot of fights and miscommunications. I love how Alex finally realizes he'll never be able to tell Sage what to do, and Sage finally realizes how her recklessness impacts Alex and his men. I love these two and I'm sad to not get any more of them.

• Sage. I think Sage develops much more in this book than in the other two. There were times when she still bothered me with her lack of communication, but this time Sage realizes how her actions impact others. I like that while she is fierce and determined, she has the maturity in this book to reflect inwardly and realize she is being reckless and inconsiderate. I really enjoyed seeing her mature and become wiser in this story compared with the other two.

• The crew. I love trilogies because by the third book, we've got a solid crew of awesome characters that we've come to know and root for. I love the relationship Sage has with Clare, Cass, and Lani. Sage does things that bother and jeopardize each one of them, but they all forgive her and are loyal to her even when she doesn't necessarily deserve it.

• The mystery. This book more than the others had quite a bit of mystery to it in figuring out who the traitor was. There were so many suspects and accusations that I became a little dizzy trying to figure out who was behind all the intrigue and betrayal. But the traitor took me by surprise, which shocked me because I thought for sure I had it figured out. It almost had a murder mystery feel- I was judging everyone's words and weighing everyone's intentions to try to figure out if they were the ones to send the assassins.

• The writing. Erin Beaty's writing is detailed, fast-paced and descriptive. I love that the author actually is in the Navy, which gives credit to all the military culture and strategy. Her writing is so detailed that I had to reread conversations and events to make sure I didn't miss anything. It was breathtaking at times trying to keep up with the detailed intrigue and clues, and I loved how her writing was much like Sage- smart, witty, fast-paced, determined, and straightforward.

Didn't Love

• The detailed intrigue in this story became a little heavy and I found myself bogged down in the middle of the story trying to keep straight who everyone was, what their intentions were, who they were accusing, and what they were plotting. The middle of the book felt slow to me because I was rereading conversations trying to really understand clues to identify the traitor. But toward the end it really picked up and I decided to just roll with the story and not worry so much about trying to figure out whodunnit- which made me enjoy it more :) 

Content

• Language: 
• Frequent uses of "damn" and "hell" and "ass." Infrequent uses of "sh**," and bastard.

• Sexual content: 
• There is a very steamy scene where they become very close to intercourse, but stop to wait until they are married. This scene is described as intense kissing, hands running over each other- including over her breasts, pulling his jacket and shirt off, pulling her dress off, and sliding his hands under her chemise (pg 83.)
• After they are married, they have intercourse, but not described. Mentions of taking off each other's clothes, mouths and fingers exploring each other, his hands over all her curves, intense kissing, and skin on skin contact.
• Another instance afterward, she goes into his tent and it is implied that they sleep together, but nothing is described.
• Some innuendo- jokes of him being her "pleasure consort" and she "orders him to take her to bed."

• Violence:
• Quite a bit of medieval violence in this story, but not quite as much as the other two books. Many injuries and mentions of deaths from arrows, swords and knives.
• An assassination attempt where one man is killed with an arrow through his throat- his last breaths described. Another is wounded with an arrow through the collarbone- the wound is described as bone protruding from the skin.
• A company of soldiers is found who had been poisoned and hidden. The body parts are found underground.
• Memory of main character watching a child's throat slit right in front of him.
• Woman punches another woman a few times and knocks her out.
• Woman stabs another woman in the side, but she does not die.

 Overall Thoughts

I really enjoyed this trilogy. I quickly fell in love with Sage Fowler and her brains and Alex and his integrity. Her relationship with Alex is one of my favorite romances and I have swooned over these two in all three books. I also love the intrigue, the world, the characters, and the strategy. These books honestly felt more like reading historical fiction than fantasy because there wasn't a magic system and the military strategy was so realistic.  The first book in the series was my favorite because Sage and Alex's romance was just developing, but I also loved seeing the characters mature and develop throughout the series. I would give this series a 4-4.5 star rating- meaning it wasn't necessarily mind-blowing or life-changing, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to reading these books again. Definitely recommend this series, even if you just read it for Alex and Sage :)