Rebecca St. Martin works on a station run by the Crops. She is little more than an indentured servant as she works for a few credits a day, lives in a tiny hovel and has no chance for freedom. Rebecca choose this path after being captured as a rebel. This may all change as an old lover walks back into her life.

The pacing of the novel was good. The beginning was amazing as the backstory was introduced. How the world came to be was phenomenal but I wish we could have learned more about the Corps. The middle was a little slower but the ending definitely made up for it. The plot was good, lots of action and suspense.

All the characters, even the villains, were well written. Rebecca is a traitor and as such is just trying to survive while dealing with her guilt and feelings of depression and uselessness. I would have liked to know more about who she betrayed when she decided to help the Corps. My favorite character was Zain, in some ways I wish he would have actually won. Zain was the perfect spy/villain.

The book had hilarious moments with all the references to genitalia and sex.

In summary, this was a good novel that I would suggest to an

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book but I hadn’t really envisioned a heroine who is portrayed as anything but heroic. Rebecca is written as a self confessed coward and yet she clearly never wanted to betray those she cared about but nevertheless here she is branded as a traitor. Her life aboard a space station is dire, she trusts no one and feels watched. Rebecca is without a doubt on a downward spiral , her existence and prospects are bleak but if she did collaborate with the invading Corps and betray humanity why is she clearly falling apart?
The answers are not immediately apparent as the author leaves a lot initially to the readers imagination. We learn that Rebecca believes her then partner died during the invasion but all is clearly not as it seems. Kat isn’t dead and in fact is an active rebel and she’s about to come back into Rebecca’s orbit with a bang !
Looking for a fun, bouncy sci fi story? Then this isn’t it. However I did find it gripping as I wanted to fill in the blanks that were left teasing the reader. It’s not initially action packed although things do start to escalate as Rebecca begins to find her voice again. The supporting characters were pretty unlikeable if I’m honest with Kat coming across as cold and actually one dimensional. The main villain we meet is Zain who is written as a bit of a creep if im being brutal . I just didn’t find his obsession with Rebecca easy to understand as she’s so downtrodden and clearly not part of some amazing rebellion. Plus we are introduced to several other characters who actually are trying hard to fight back and perhaps most notable of those was Mav who I’d like to see more of. This doesn’t exactly end on a cliffhanger but it’s clear there is much more to come. I particularly liked that Rebecca doesn’t suddenly change overnight and she felt believable as she takes baby steps and I cannot wait to see her step away from the dark place and back into the light.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

I definitely read too little sci-fi and it's a shame as the books in the genre tend to engage me strongly. In short, Traitor was great. I devoured the book in two sittings.

The story develops after Obama's presidency is ended by an invasion from outer space. While I'm not American, it sounds like a valid historical account. Anyway, the book can be described as a Space Opera - there's a conflict, things blow and get messy.

On the other hand, in Traitor we don't follow a typical heroine. The story protagonist Rebecca St. Martin is not a hero or a martyr. She's a coward. She's just a woman who wants to live as long as possible despite her life being shitty. She's at the very bottom of her existence. She's depressed and moves through the station like a drone.

Why?

Well, she's a traitor. She decided to collaborate with the invaders and betrayed human race. Additionally, her family died and a woman she loved and wanted to marry cheated on her. Their relationship ended and it seems Kat died at the beginning of the invasion.

Also, and that's just my theory, there's no coffee in this world. There's just no way people can be happy in such a savage world.

Surprisingly, though, it's not a depressive book. There's plenty of humor, creative swearing and genitalia comments. Sure, we know and feel Rebecca's on the verge of a nervous breakdown but it simply doesn't obturate the plot.

And the plot is good, though quite straightforward and simple. And really fast. It doesn't develop. It races ahead. As long as you like mundanity :) I can see that some readers will describe the first half of the book as slow, but I burned through it fast. I love such intimate and cameral storytelling. In the second half of the book, secret identities are revealed, things explode and then there's sort of a cliffhanger.

For me, the characterization was done well. I could relate to Rebecca and care for her. As I've never been a depressive kind of person, I can't say if her state is described with enough gravity. Truth be told, I didn't focus that much on her pained existence but rather on following a rebellion through the eyes of a regular, troubled person who's forced to become involved in a conflict she would rather avoid.

Katherine and Zain were a bit one dimensional but still easy to imagine and dislike. I really like Mav and I hope I'll learn more about him in the future.

Overall, I really liked this book and I'll definitely read the sequel.