The Traitor Baru Cormorant was well received by critics. This choice protects Baru from blackmail, leaving her free to pursue revenge against the Empire. In obedience to her lover's wishes, Baru allows Tain Hu to be executed. Hu signals that she does not wish to be used as a pawn. They then offer to spare her in exchange for Baru's loyalty. As a final test of loyalty, the Masquerade committee members ask Baru to kill Tain Hu. Baru reveals that she has been an agent of the Masquerade throughout the rebellion in exchange for crushing the nobility in Aurdwynn, she will be given rule of Taranoke and elevated to the Masquerade's ruling clique. The rebellious dukes and duchesses are all killed except for Tain Hu.

After a brief victory, the Aurdwynni army is ambushed by the Masquerade navy. Baru uses her financial powers to grant loans to the commoners, which enriches Aurdwynn and ensures that her rebellion will gain popular support.īaru leads an army against the Masquerade forces and takes Tain Hu as her lover. Eventually, Baru becomes friendly with Tain Hu and other Aurdwynni nobles she agrees to join them in revolt against the Masquerade. This causes rapid inflation and widespread poverty, but crushes an incipient rebellion by Duchess Tain Hu. Baru uses her financial expertise to manipulate the Masquerade's fiat currency system. Farrier elevates her to the position of Imperial Accountant of Aurdwynn, a province of thirteen duchies that often rebels against Masquerade rule. She is noticed by Cairdine Farrier, a high-ranking Masquerade official. Baru is educated at a Masquerade school, but vows to work her way upward within the Empire and eventually free her island.Īt her school, Baru demonstrates extreme mathematical prowess.

They kill one of Baru's fathers and institute their own rigid belief system focused on hygiene and puritanical sexual ethics. A third novel, The Tyrant Baru Cormorant, was released on August 11, 2020.Īs a child, Baru Cormorant's island of Taranoke is annexed by the Imperial Republic of Falcrest, called the Masquerade because of the masks worn by its officials. A sequel, The Monster Baru Cormorant, was released on 30 October 2018. The novel follows Baru, a brilliant young woman who, educated in the schools of the imperial power that subjugated her homeland, sets out to gain power to subvert the empire from within. It is based on a short story Dickinson wrote in 2011 for Beneath Ceaseless Skies called 'The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Her Field-General, and Their Wounds'. It was published as The Traitor in the United Kingdom. The Traitor Baru Cormorant ( / ˈ b ɑː r u/ BAH-roo) is a 2015 hard fantasy novel by Seth Dickinson, and his debut novel.

The monster baru cormorant