The Traitor God is the story of Edrin Walker, a surly deviant of a magician who has spent the last ten years running away from a past he can’t quite remember. He’s fairly certain, however, that it has something to do with his murdering of a god. But when his best friend is killed and enemies from abroad start to invade, Edrin returns back to his home city in an attempt to unravel the plot and his past both.
I’ll start by saying I listened to this one and it was narrated by Paul Woodson who did a fantastic job of it. His sarcastic flair really helped bring Edrin Walker to life in all his sour, aresholic glory (yes, I just made up a new word for it).
We ride along in Edrin’s head for this one, and he’s a fairly typical anti-hero for the most part. He’s the type of man who claims he’s only there to gain vengeance for his friend, and only cares about those he calls friends… but when the threat becomes bigger than him, he’s the first one to throw himself into the fray. He’s a complex character and best of all, he barely even understands why himself. At Edrin’s core is a mystery, a hole in his mind. He’s fairly certain he killed a god, and he knows there were consequences for that that he’s dealing with even 10 years after the fact, but he has no idea how or why he did it. It’s a compelling mystery with an answer that is 50% drip fed to the reader, and then 50% slammed into the reader’s mind like a magical command.
There’s action galore, witty banter, juvenile banter, heart felt reunions, and horrifying monsters. It’s a bit of a thrill ride really and rarely lets up on the pace once it gets going.
A hearty 4 stars from me, and I’ll definitely be picking up book 2 when it releases.
