Review: "The Traitor" by Anthony Ryan

The latest in Anthony Ryan's series known as "The Covenant of Steel", the third novel entitled "The Traitor" follows "The Pariah" and "The Martyr" in the testament of Alywn Scribe, a former outlaw turned knight and lover of the Risen Martyr Evandine Coulain.

As one might tell from the title, the story is about as cheery and loving as the previous two books, as Ryan continues to abuse his protagonists viciously amid scenes of carnage and torture.

For all that, the story is an enjoyable enough romp with a lot more closure and coherence in it than the "Raven's Shadow" series. There are parallels in numerous characters between the two series, but I find enough differences that I don't give "Raven's Shadow" too much thought as I've made my way through "The Covenant of Steel".

Alywn Scribe's journey continued to keep my attention throughout "The Traitor", though there were few surprises. I found a few plot points introduces in "The Martyr" were left unresolved as "The Traitor" concluded, but Ryan hints there may be another series along one day.

Oddly, the one thing I found that really stood out in "The Covenant of Steel" was how Ryan handles the otherworldly powers. In his other series, magic is usually tied to vaguely godlike entities that are callous and indifferent, if not outright malign. In "The Covenant of Steel", there is, at least, some acknowledgement that there's benign powers out there, albeit ruthless ones.

The series was a fun read. I look forward to more from Anthony Ryan.