 The ending into a trilogy is ever a bittersweet experience, not only because it's time to say goodbye to a principal character whose mind you piggyback for some 1500 pages, but because endings can be hard to get through. I don't know if other readers have this tendency to flinch away from an ending, but I feel it. Is this knee-jerk desire to refuse to say goodbye to characters in worlds that you may never again spend time with? On this aspect, at least, I needn't have worried. The traitor doesn't hammer a final nail in the fantastic medieval world Anthony Rans constructed. Rather, it's the end of a chapter, much like Royal Assassin was merely the ending to the first chapter in the greater realm of the Elderly Saga, written by Robin Hobb. That's not to say that the traitor isn't a satisfying conclusion to the Covenant of Steel trilogy. It most certainly is. The previous two books were defined by the magnetic pole Everdeen Corlaine held over countless souls, including series protagonist Alwyn Scribe. To see the power the Anointed Lady holds over Alwyn reach its highest peak before ebbing away for good. It's a satisfying process, one that unrolls over the first third of the novel, reaching a crescendo with a revelation that Everdeen's closest advisers long tried to withhold from her. Everyone who read the pariah knew that this secret wouldn't stay buried forever, and that it would have cataclysmic consequences on the relationship that has defined much of this trilogy. I'll give it to Ryan, despite the difficulty of pulling this very obvious check of gun, he still managed to do it in a gratifying way. The Anointed Lady's descent into villainy and to madness is both painful and made to look inevitable. The more Alwyn steps away from her, the more he explores the opinions and experiences of former enemies, the more clearly the reader sees how underneath the past figure of Everdeen is hidden, something twisted. For those hints, the warning signs that Ryan has worked into the earlier books become that much more poignant, even before the Marty's closing revelation. The rest of the novel sees a remorseful Alwyn doing the best he can to create a coalition against the self-proclaimed Ascendant Queen. It's a classical fantasy trope, and one I've loved since I first played Dragon Age Origins when I was a wee baron. Alwyn's travels take him from the Duchies of Albemaine to the Carrot Wilds slash Dominion. For my fellow map lovers, this series has some lovely ones, by the way. It all builds up to several epic showdowns, which takes it once deeply personal and sweeping. I never expected the ending to go as hard on the proverbial fireworks as it did. The climax is revelatory at times, especially if you like magical duels shifting both the reader and Alwyn's understanding of the world of its rules and bringing back my personal favourite character in the series. Ryan has succeeded in a task not all fantasy writers pull off effectively. He has created a world whose morality is very much in different shades of grey, but the world in which nonetheless exist forces of absolute good and absolute evil. Or as close to them as to make no difference. In that way, it's a more hopeful world than George R. R. Martin or Joe Abercrombie's. Two settings that could give birth to fruitful contrasts. Fruitful comparison as well, with Ryan's, especially Martin's. Indeed, I'm not the only one who has drawn comparison between Ryan's work and Martin's. Publish a weekly, did it first. I'll continue to bang the drums about how fans of Martin's political intrigue might find Ryan's will scratched the same itch. The traitor had me enthralled. So did the rest of the Covenant of Steel. I loved my time with this series, and I'd love to see what comes next for Alwyn's scribe and his company of closest friends. Not that there are many left. The losses hit hard and fast, with friends turned to enemies, enemies turned to friends and plenty of frenemies around as well. What's next? Well, hopefully we'll find out soon enough. Until then, I'm Philip Magnus, I enjoy books, games and other things, stuff, media, media, even. And I would really appreciate it if you pressed, smashed that like button, in fact. If you share this video with your friends, my reviews of this entire series of books are now live. I even did a little trope check type of thing for the first one. And if you did enjoy checking those out, they're in a playlist somewhere on my channel right now. I look forward to talking about the next book, and the one after that. Probably the next one will be City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky, I just finished it earlier today. That's excellent, as far as fantasy reading goes. New weird. I'm Philip Magnus, I'll see you next time. Bye!