Please note this review contains references to some of the events in this novel. No overt spoilers, but please read with caution.
When Elegy Ahn, spare to the Sword of Cedre, is brought to neutral territory to consult with the great augurs, she does not expect to be handed a prophecy that could determine the fate of her nation. A soldier of Cedre, Elegy has spent her life holding back her country’s sworn enemy: the Talusar—an empire that embraces a fever that has brought nothing but death and strange abilities for those who are reborn. Set to receive this prophecy, Elegy is surprised to learn that the augurs are divided and the prophecy could instead belong to Rava Vidar, the Butcher of Calgara, and grand-niece to the emperor of Talusar—one who has also been brought to hear this foretelling. Elegy learns this outcome hinges on three: one who bears the Vidari name, someone who has tasted Cenobium salt, and a person she is doomed to love, one who will bring about her death. Sworn in as the Hope of Cedre, Elegy is now in need of protection and is granted a Knight. That man is Theren Forint and all he has ever known is his charge, to protect the Sword or die. To determine the outcome of the prophecy, one must control the three points of the pyramid, but when fate is placed into the hands of the prophecy bearers the only thing ensured is that there can be one victor. Elegy is determined to embrace her destiny and secure Cedre’s triumph, even if that victory spells her death.
I would say “Veronica Roth I didnt know your game” but that would be a lie because I expected nothing less than this. For anyone who has kept a close following on Veronica Roth’s career, Seek the Traitor’s Son marks both a return and a prophecy fulfilled. A return to her superb meld of science fiction fantasy set within a world that is most certainly our own—be it in the far distant future, and a dystopian fantasy epic that takes incredible risks to craft and accomplish something earth shattering. Seek the Traitor’s Son is the kind of novel that defies definition. It feels a bit Dune, a bit The Expanse, but where it takes form is something original and utterly Veronica Roth. In Seek the Traitor’s Son a prophecy emerges in an earth ruled by fever, and two competing nations fight to control the fulcrum: the trio through which the outcome of the prophecy relies. A soldier bound to her lineage, an oath sworn knight forced to serve, and an inquisitive scout are tethered against the prophecy that could doom their world or reveal its triumph. This could not be more Veronica Roth: complete with a deeply tormented man and a romance that made me want to be sent to the seaside to recover my health. A planet transformed, fantasy and science fiction leanings, fatal fevers, and fated romance each find place in this dystopian marvel. Seek the Traitor’s Son is the kind of life altering dystopian-fantasy that quietly takes hold, building its roots to a fierce power that cannot be rivaled. To read this is to emerge reborn, a resurrection of its own.
Seek the Traitor’s Son is without a doubt Veronica Roth’s best work to date. She honed her craft in the crucible of Divergent, her characters and dynamics in the Curse Bearer verse, and now we get to bask in the overwhelming light that is this work of fiction. No matter where you are in your Veronica Roth journey, she’s always been there sharpening the blade and here is where you must fall. Seek the Traitor’s Son offers something unique to every fantasy lover, but as a reader who loves deep character work that utilizes plot as the vehicle for change and challenge, this book is a beacon. Seek the Traitor’s Son unites three perspectives: Elegy, the Hope of Cedre, Theren Forint, an exile forced into knighthood, and Hela, a transplanted Talusar scout. Roth instills a foreboding air, an understanding that these three will be shaped by the events of prophecy and reaction. This is first realized twofold as Elegy faces a prophecy that brings nothing but death, and Theren is transformed in the wake of betrayal and suffering. Seek the Traitor’s Son is not overburdened in any regard, finding balance in moments of stark feeling and levity. When Elegy and Theren are not building up angst city brick by brick, Hela is out there Fox Mulder-ing with a side of plant hallucination. Roth is sure to ground her novel in every facet of humanity. Be that bloody, humorous, or hopeful, Roth embraces it all.
Now I know I have a specific type of character when I see one and go: onto the collection you go. See here: man burdened by guilt and torment (Theren), and woman burdened by prophecy and a tremendous desire to bring about change (Elegy). What to say about Theren Forint other than wowwww you survived all that? Because this man is so tormented. His byline: The knight who forsook his oath to you just had the worst four years of his LIFE. Slash: If he’s your oath sworn knight then why is he in MY gladiator arena. But seriously, I am here for characters profoundly impacted by a single event which altered the course of their life, who come out the other side a shadow of their former self. They’re not doomed by the narrative, they’re haunting the narrative they were doomed by (and just maybe clawing it back). If Theren is the stoic character on a quest for redemption, then Elegy, our reluctant hero of prophecy, is that dose of heady spirit. She’s not about to let Cedre fall even after a self exile, and she needs little determination to mount a rescue of a man who forsook her four years ago. Despite their differing motivations, Theren and Elegy are evenly matched in their call to action, harmonic in how they embrace their destinies and hold to each other. It’s not a joint recklessness, it’s an inherent belief that they can rely on the other. And as that has already been tested there is nothing more magnetic than such mutual trust.
Romance between Elegy and Theren is inevitable. It is after all fated by the Augurs, by prophecy itself. But what does fate compare to the past Elegy and Theren surmount to choose each other again and again. Love is an essential cornerstone for Roth—the love that perseveres even after death, the love that limits because it is flawed, and the love that restores you even when you thought yourself broken. Like all things in this novel, the romance creeps in like a fever. Ironic since it was written down from the start, but Roth plants a seed of doubt: whether Elegy and Theren are going to be able to move past the events which first separated them. United in their respective grief, tragedy is almost a union of its own. The moments of grief and betrayal become these cornerstones for Roth to build to her larger character studies and core themes. It’s some of the most delicious character writing I’ve read and it sets up the romance to be that invigorating blend of angst and softness. Elegy and Theren are being tested by a prophecy that could destroy the world—a classic—but they still manage to have grace for each other. The tenderness through which one character cleans the others wounds and the other shows up ready to rescue them having committed horrific acts of bloodshed? PEAK. Elegy and Theren are my favorite niche blend of curiosity at first glance and knight x the shielded. I don’t need to know what it’s like to be infected with the fever when they exist.
On a craft level, it’s undeniable how every part of Seek the Traitor’s Son was carefully chosen and poured over. Narrative structure is where this novel tethers itself to a specific path to character interiority. It’s as simple as how information is conveyed and when. Roth offers glimpses into the past not to just inform our understanding of certain characters but to provide insight into the part of their story to which we already know the end. Like a stone skipped over water Veronica Roth momentarily strikes down on the past, offering glimpses into events we have never seen in the shadow of their end. These events hold a greater weight not only because we know how they have concluded, but the tragedy in witnessing them come to pass, in knowing and still bearing witness. These shifts backward strike like a knife, there’s a helplessness in their telling. It’s masterful how Roth wields narrative like a blade, a two sided assault from the plot and her use of past and present. Memory is power, not just for those that can view the past in retrospect. Memories are needed for our trio to reveal the three points of prophecy, a fulcrum constantly reshaping.
It’s fitting how the most iconic voice in the dystopian genre has returned with the best dystopia and book of the year….*whispers* or is it prophecy? When the world needed her most she vanished, wrote an amazing urban fantasy novella series set in Chicago that said be gay do crimes (amidst many other novels), and then wrote this masterpiece. Seek the Traitor’s Son has a gravity that pulls one down into fever, betrayal, and exile. Veronica Roth sharpens her blade and cunning in her science-fantasy epic across a fever ravaged earth that presents a stark look at autonomy and sacrifice. Characters Elegy, Theren, and Hela face the perilous nature of prophecy and the politics in untangling its meaning and the strange communications with forces beyond the known universe. We are never in better hands than we are with Veronica Roth, someone who deep down understands the power in embracing destiny, in choosing resistance even if it means walking down a path you never wanted. Experience the particular agony in not knowing if everything is predetermined for these characters. Seek the Traitor’s Son knows there is always time for angst, even at the end of the world (and pre destiny is certainly part of that). Seek the Traitor’s Son blends fantasy with science fiction and the resulting magnitude is certainly akin to a fever. There are few places I would not venture for Veronica Roth so loving this is just all the more vindicating. In Veronica Roth I have never wavered and in her—and in The Burning Empire duology— I will forever trust.
Thank you to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing me an advance review copy.
Trigger warnings: death, war, torture, murder, emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual assault
Literaryrobin 