Oct 062015
Washington Post: Narrated by a young woman seeking revenge, Seth Dickinson’s first novel, “The Traitor Baru Cormorant,” is a fascinating tale of political intrigue and national unrest. Baru Cormorant is just a girl when the Empire of Masks conquers her island. The new rulers create roads and better sanitation, but their strong-fisted policies erode the country’s economy and punish the people cruelly if they don’t adhere to a rigid code of sexual conduct. Baru decides that the only way to fight such oppression is to infiltrate the government. But just how brutal will she have to become to undermine an empire? Dickinson moves the plot steadily along as he explores issues of sexual oppression and colonial power.