Rating: 4/5 Stars

Traitor Son is a slow burn military fantasy romance with a satisfying civilization-building thread and a touching, relationship-focused ending. However, it ends rather abruptly without resolving any of the plot problems. The second book is scheduled to release only 6 months after the first, so I’m guessing it was split for the sake of length, and is really one story.

Synopsis

The Emperor slaughtered Remin’s family as traitors, and he wants Remin dead too, assigning him the impossible task of retaking the Andelin Valley from sorcerous invaders. But after 7 years of warfare, Remin triumphs and returns to claim his prize: the Emperor’s daughter as his wife. But the treacherous Emperor hands him a scrawny, neglected, illegitimate girl instead of the Princess Remin expected.

Ophele, who has spent her life hiding in the library from the abusive nobles who call her ward, is terrified by the new husband forced upon her. But an unexpected spark grows between them as they travel to the Andelin and begin to build the capital of Remin’s new duchy. As demonic creatures, summoned by Remin’s defeated enemies, plague the town, Remin and Ophele must decide whether or not to trust each other and face their problems with a united front.

Characters – 4/5 Stars

This is a character-driven story, based around Ophele and Remin and how they must overcome the abuse and traumas they’ve experienced in order to build a new city and life together. Basically her father, the Emperor, has ruined both their lives. Ophele is shy, sweet, and a total bookworm. It’s fun seeing her gain confidence over the course of the story and apply her book smarts to the efforts of building their new city. She’s the opposite of a morning person, which leads to many jokes I personally appreciated immensely.

Remin was a bit less interesting to me – he’s a brooding giant of a man, surly but loved by his men, distrustful and paranoid about the Emperor’s plots on his life (with good reason). He fits squarely into the “strong, silent type” who gets softened up by the girl. I felt more attached to all of his knights, who are very well developed side characters.

Plot – 3/5 Stars

This plot feels almost identical to Under the Oak Tree, and I don’t know how much of a coincidence that is. After the couple gets married and travels to Remin’s new duchy, most of the book focuses on the minutiae of how they’re planning the town (which I love – leveling up vibe!) and defending it from demons summoned by the former occupants Remin recently defeated. Otherwise, the plot centers on their relationship, or lack thereof. There’s a lot of back and forth about Remin liking Ophele but thinking she’s going to kill him on behalf of the Emperor, and acting like a total brute toward her. Then Ophele sits around feeling terrible about herself, and the misunderstanding drags on despite them both actually liking each other.

This felt rather repetitive and miserable in the second half of the book. However, Remin’s behavior is clearly shown as problematic and the conclusion centers around how they resolve the conflict in their relationship. It was a satisfying ending, except that nothing came of the Emperor’s plots. It felt rather like Chekhov’s gun – a setup that didn’t deliver. But I’m deferring judgement because I really think that this was one story split into 2 books – I’ll definitely read the second!

Worldbuilding – 3/5 Stars

Fun, but nothing super special. They have a Renaissance-level society. I think the best part of the worldbuilding was all the accurate details about the process of planning a civilization from the ground up – infrastructure, labor, moving supplies, planning for sponsoring of the arts. All of this was clearly well researched and I loved seeing the characters achieve each new step in their goals! There’s definitely more to learn about the magic system of both the Emperor’s bloodline and the sorcerers who’ve been summoning the demons. But that was all setup, leaving mostly questions.

Writing – 4/5 Stars

Pretty good – nothing gorgeous, but clear to read and not bloated. I feel like it got better as the book went on! The first few chapters had a lot of passive voice, but I stopped noticing that as I read. I might not have guessed this was a debut – it’s well organized and enjoyable to read.

Content

There are 3 sexually explicit scenes in this book between the married couple. I almost wondered if someone else wrote these scenes because of how flowery the erotic parts are – I couldn’t help but laugh. But there’s good emotional content there too.

The rest of the book reads PG-13.

I received a free advance review copy from BookSirens, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

You can buy a copy of Traitor Son by Melissa J. Cave on Amazon when it releases on November 1st!