This book is really hard for me to rate, I found the first 60 per cent slow, and incredibly boring. There was a lot of travelling and romance, and when the characters finally settled into one place the book became stagnant. Only after the invasion did things start to speed up. However this book felt like a lead up to book two. A nearly 600 page lead up. I feel like the author could have cut out most of the unneeded sections (which I felt like was a good portion of the first half of the book), and focused more on answers and more aspects of the invasion.

On top of this I didn’t like Aven and Raena’s relationship. Personally I wouldn’t have had an issue with it if Raena has being open and honest from the first kiss. After they took their relationship further and Raena was still lying, it started to make me feel really uncomfortable. All I could think about was how I would feel if the person I was doing those things with was lying to me about that. Aven was consenting to who she thought Raena was, not the truth and even though it worked out all dandy, Raena should have being honest to start off with. Their relationship was literally built on a massive lie.

I don’t believe that I will read book two, as the ending was quite disappointing, and felt like it was trying to make up for how lacking the rest of the book was. I liked the Boen invasion and that was about it.

Traitors of the Black Crown, the debut offering from Cate Pearce, is a book that seeks to tackle large issues while providing an entertaining read. It follows the story of Raena Schinnen, a noble forced to disguise herself as a male knight after the execution of her fathers house on what the reader is given to understand are trumped up charges. As we follow Raena no her journey as she seeks to avenge her families death the true story unfolds. Along the way we are confronted with issues of gender, sexuality, governance and nobility. In fact, Raena herself soon comes to realize her complicated legacy has more far reaching political implications than she first imagined.

It is clear that Pearce has spent a great deal of time in the world building. It is layered and complex and I got the distinct impression that it was just the tip of the iceberg, however where this book truly shines is in the development of the personal relationships between the characters. In fact I often found myself wishing we could learn less about the world and more about the characters perceptions of it. This is not a book that buries its gays and for that I am truly grateful.

Although the story comes to its own conclusion it ends on a very obvious jumping off point for the sequel and I do believe that readers will not be satisfied without it, so be on the alert for the next one!

After reading certain books, I tend to crave a signed copy addition for my library
⁣Do you suffer the same as I?
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Thanks to @cate_pearce and @hansenhousebooks and @netgalley for my amazing book arc.

My Thoughts
A book that has a female night and definitely some good Ole William Shakespeare The Twelfth Night elements!
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What happens when a woman disguised as a man, stealing the heart of a duchess?
Sir Rowan is not all what he seems to be. That’s because Sir Rowan is actually a young woman in hiding named Raena. When her complete family was destroyed by the queen, she has found her way in life as a squire. Rising through the ranks Sir Rowan…aka Raena becomes a knight. When a lavishly turned out tournament his held by the the treacherous Queens son, Prince Zander. Rowan’s life takes a turn when she finds herself banished far to the East Shore. She is to serve in the Duchess Aven household.
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A richly detailed fantasy with a sapphic love story. Cate Pearce uses multiple POV’s to give the reader a front and center seat in this engaging book.
A heart filled romance, and some wonderful LGBTQIA + representation makes this book really standout. Rich historical elements in this fantasy read will keep you glued to the pages. The backstories in this first installment helps set up what looks be a captivating start to what could be a great series.
Slow burn romance and political intrigue, with one of the best worst villain I have read in awhile.


#TraitorsoftheBlackCrown #catepearce #hansenhousebooks

Traitors of the Black Crown had a really promising synopsis/concept but unfortunately fell a little flat for me! 2.5/5

I was excited by the story outline which I think is creative and has a lot of potential. Raena has disguised herself as a man, a knight in fact, and is deadset on avenging her family by killing the Queen Zarana. Things go wrong at a Knight's trial and she is essentially sentenced to serve at House Colby, where she meets Lady Avenna.

I unfortunately found this read really slow to read with a plot that at times I wasn't sure was there.

I didn't connect with any of the characters, the dialogue wasn't engaging and the story was super politics heavy. I enjoyed some aspects of Raena and Avenna's relationship but it was a little insta-lovey (BUT some people love that, so each to their own).

The world was interesting and would probably become more fleshed out in the second book. My favourite scene was probably the knight's trial, I really liked seeing Raena and Finley interact during it and it was a decent action scene. I found Zander to be a very 2D villain.

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The depth of this book astounds me. I loved the political intrigue and the slow winding way the world came together for the reader. This book sucked me in from the start; I wanted to know how Raena had come to her situation and how she was managing to stay in it.

I loved the romance from the start. The idea of an f/f knight's tale was so exciting to me and this book did not disappoint! The sweetness of the romance contrasted well with the slowburn story and the excitement of the action.

I also loved that there were multiple POVs. I think this really gives a fuller understanding of the characters and the story as we see the issues faced from many different sides.

Though, I loved the slow pacing, there were a couple times I hoped things would speed up which is why I left this at 4.5 stars overall. Altogether a gorgeous debut that I would recommend to those that enjoy Sapphic romances, knight's tale stories, or something similar to The Priory of the Orange Tree. I can't wait for the next book in the series!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC!

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I struggled to finish this book. It felt two dimensional and every character seemed like a parody. The speech of the characters felt stilted and forced. Although the premise seemed interesting the plot was sadly predictable and much too slow to read, particularly in the first half of the book. Although there was a lot of potential with the book I found it difficult to truly immerse myself in the world and care for the characters.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but overall I did enjoy it. Lady Knight in Disguise trying to avenge her family and having some unexpected love along the way? Sign me up!

Raena/Rowan at heart is a good and strong protagonist who really does make the book enjoyable. She wants to he fair and just even when she herself doesn't want to. The side character ensemble as made the story flow wonderfully. Lady Avenna, the duchess love interest in the story, shows how royals should be in treating others with respect and understanding when they've earned it. The romance between the two was good but I hope with the next book it's developed more. It went at a comfortable pace for this book but it would've been nice to have seen them more involved toward the end, despite their predicament by the final chapter.

The conflict with the queen and prince were good in causing pain for others (they were both far from good themselves even at the end when the truth of the results of their actions stared them in the face) but at times felt the Queen was lacking in some ways, particularly in the end of the novel. I am ok with cliffhangers if executed at the right time and I admit I felt cheated for this book. It felt like I was told but not shown through actions in a rush how things were supposedly to be resolved. That's my only issue with the story. I do look forward to the next book in the series and more character development for Raena and also Aven. This book had so many secrets and I hope the next one finally addresses them and gives further closure than its predecessor.

The Traitors of the Black Crown is a quite slow-paced fantasy book. It’s a mixture of romance, politics and history.

I requested this book, because I like reading about stories with women main characters and I wasn’t disappointed at all. It had well-made romance with actions and we get to know a new world. The only negative thing in the book was that it was a little bit slow built in the beginning for my liking. The characters are nicely done, and the several point of views makes the reader to get to know the story from different angles.

It’s a well-written LGBTQ read, with strong women characters, and interesting storylines.

2.5 stars

Raena Schinen has been living disguised as Sir Rowan for the last decade or so. She spent all these years training and hiding from the crown with one goal in mind: getting revenge. Reana wants to kill the queen and the prince to avenge her own family who was slaughtered on the order of the queen. However, Raena's plans get disrupted when she is punished and sent into the service of Duchess Avenna Colby, far away from the capital. Avenna is intriguing and seems to genuinely care about her people, but Raena must remain on her guard since Avenna also holds a deep love and loyalty for the queen.

I was expecting an action-packed adventure, but this book is more a slow-paced romance with a few sexy and steamy scenes, some action scenes and a lot of traveling. My main issue with this book is the very slow pace (that seems even worse with all the neverendeing traveling), and the plot that is not really a plot. Not much happens in the first part of the book, and even though the second part has more action, I didn't feel really connected to the characters so I didn't really cared about what happened to them.

The plot is simple but still has the potential to be intriguing. It mixes politics, fighting, and a cute romance. There are a few different POVs in this book. Some chapters are told from Raena’s perspective, others from Aven, and some are even from the queen of the prince’s point of view. The world-building and history are interesting and well presented.

The author does a good job of providing us with background information without relying on info-dumping. I have to say though that sometimes, mostly in the first half of the book, it felt like the characters were constantly talking about the previous war. It’s fine if it serves as a reference to know the geography and division of the land, but sometimes it was a little too lengthy.

The women in this book are leaders, and Aven is a good leader. She cares about her people and tries to do what’s best for them while dealing with the challenges of being a lowborn woman living in an elitist and patriarchal society. She loves the queen and is very loyal to her, yet she is willing to sacrifice her relationship with the crown if it’s what’s best for her people. I really liked her strength of character and her drive. Raena is also a good character, but I am not as impressed with her as I am with the Duchess. I admire her capacity to move from male to female gender roles depending on the situation and the person she’s with. It was also refreshing to have a book about knights, without too much macho masculinity among the knights. Some of them cried and were not ashamed of it, they even encouraged Sir Rowan to shed some tears and not to keep everything bottled up inside. Overall, the characters were likable, but I didn't find them particularly engaging.

Zander is a good villain, compared to the rest of the characters. He is a spoilt, manipulative, and cruel prince who enjoys cruelty for no reason except that it amuses him. The whole political aspect gets more important in the second half of the book, and we can see how unfit he is to rule.

There are a few details that bothered me though while reading this book. First of all, how is Finn aware of the Prince’s plans in detail when they leave the castle and he secretly meets with Raena? Isn’t he a disgraced knight that the Prince decided to keep in his entourage only to punish him? How and why is he privy to sensitive information? Also, regarding Raena and her whole cross-dressing to pass as a knight… I'm not sure how she can still fool everyone and pretend to be a man after living with them for many months, and many years for some. It may seem like a stupid detail to focus on, but how does she deal with her periods while living with a bunch of men who thinks that she’s also a man? And how can she ALWAYS remember to pitch her voice low, even when she laughs?!

Overall I was expecting more from Traitors of the Black Crown.

I enjoyed this book, it was an easy read in a good way. I enjoy books set in historical/fantasy settings and this book fit those categories - with squabbles over kingdoms, knights, power struggles and people with mysterious powers. Raena was an interesting main character and I liked how her story developed but I would have liked to see more of Finn in the story. LGBTQ+ representation is high and great to see. It can be read as a stand-alone book but the ending clearly hints at what might be to come in the second installment.

Will I buy the second book? Yes.

Traitors of the Black Crown is about a woman named Raena who was raised as a boy in order to protect her from the queen that killed Raena's entire family. Raena becomes the night Rowan and falls in love with the woman she is supposed to serve. If this sounds like the plot of 1000 different fanfictions...you're right. There's nothing overly original here. But as we all know, tropes aren't bad and even derivative work can be good.

Unfortunately, that's not the case here. The characters are bland, the villain is cartoonishly evil, the plot feels like three different books jammed together (and at times makes no sense), over 100,000 people are killed off screen, and the last minute twist feels heavy handed and emotionally unsatisfying.

My big issues were I didn't care at all about any of the characters because they had no depth. The only one I could describe at all is Aven and beyond being "kind," I couldn't think of another adjective. The queen is the only one with any sort of moral ambiguity to her but there's no explanation of empathy for her actions until the last 5 pages when it's too late to feel anything for her.

As for the plot, there are three of them jammed into one long thread and nothing gets resolved. Rowan spends the entire book chasing after the one other survivor of her family's massacre but when they're finally reunited it's off screen. We see them together in the last few pages but nothing comes of it.

I give it 2/5 stars because there's nothing in here that I absolutely hate and the writing was decent prose. It's just boring.

First of all, thank you so much to Netgalley and Cate Pearce for giving me a chance to read this book.

Wow. Just wow. I loved this. Okay, so it took me over a week to read it, but that was purely down to other things going on in my life. I loved the diversity of the book and all of the characters, minus one (looking at you Zander, you little pissant).

Traitors of the Black Crown follows three main leads - all female (ha, take that men). We have Raena/Rowan the sole survivor of the massacre of her family who only has one thing on her mind. Revenge. Taking on the persona of 'Sir Rowan' a knight, she hopes to bring down the woman who ordered the deaths of her entire family. Queen Zarana. This all goes to hell in a handbasket when she gets herself exiled and into the services of the duchess Avenna - a kindhearted young woman. Raena finds herself drawn to Aven, something she never thought possible for herself.

The Queen is frail, but still a force to be reckoned with. Confined to her bedchambers she sets out to discover the truth behind 'Sir Rowan'. There's something familiar about him and she won't rest until she gets her answers. Zarana also cares deeply for Aven, wishing only for her safety and her happiness, though her son, Prince Zander, takes great joy in tormenting Avenna.

Avenna is in the middle of grieving for her husband when Rowan joins her duchy and, as such, fights her growing feelings for the knight. This is helped by her decision to break away from the crown and their lack of support, even from Queen Zarana and to unite the other duchies.

Traitors of the Black Crown has everything: epic adventure, diversity, lgbt, friends to lovers, betrayal.

If you're a fan of Game of Thrones you will enjoy reading this. Also Prince Zander reminds me a lot of Joffrey Baratheon, so it's no wonder I hate him.

WHO ENDS A BOOK LIKE TAHT????? a crazy person. wildest read of the year i am invested. i really loved the world building and reina’s character development from chapter 1 to the end. was a little lost at times and it could have been a bit shorter but it is still a great book

Characters
Raena/Sir Rowan: Forced to disguise her self as a man to avoid be killed by the queen who murdered her whole family. Raena's life is once again turned upside down by the queen's son Prince Zander when he sends her to be a knight to Aven separating her from everyone and everything she's ever known. Now she's unsure what her future holds, who she can trust or if she will be able to keep her secret. Plus she is now even further from the her goal of killing the queen to avenge her family.

Aven: Once a maid in Zarana's castle Aven got married to a Duke and became Duchess when her husband died. Now instead of the legion of warriors she was promised she get's a loan knight who is probably spying on her for the prince. But there is no denying the instant attraction she feels for that knight.

Queen Zarana: The Queen she holds the throne until her son fathers an heir at which point he will become king. But she is getting older and there is no heir insight and she is starting to forget things leaving Zander to take over even if he doesn't have an heir yet.

Princ Zander: An all around asshole who thinks he knows better than everyone around him and is generally terrible person.

characters:9/10

Plot
The plot of Traitors to the Black Crown is fairly straight forward and felt like a standard fantasy story. A tyrant king (well prince) and the people on a quest to stop him. I found the beginning of the story a little slow and it took me a second to truly get into it. But I found that it was worth it. The romance between Raena and Aven is an odd mix of insta-romance and slow burn. With longing from the first meeting but not much action until later. However, I found the plot around Zarana the Queen to be the most interesting and also the one with the most questions still open by the end of the story.
plot:5/10

World building
The world building actually took me a bit by surprise in this book. The beginning of the book feels very standard medieval fantasy, and it doesn't go far off that track. However I was a bit surprised by the second antagonists who show up which expands the focus of the story to a much broader scope. There are certainly fantasy elements in this book but it is a low magic world and if you are looking for dragons and mages maybe leave this book for another time.
World building:7/10

While I didn't find the plot super compelling I really loved the characters and look forward to reading more about them. This book is very much centered around the characters and their relationships with each other and less of an epic battle than people might think from the description and this book might benefit from a different blurb.
overall rating:7/10

Traitors of the Black Crown failed to keep my interest. I was not drawn into the story world or made to care for the characters. It just fell flat for me.

Traitors of the Black Crown was such a wild ride! I honestly enjoyed this book so freaking much today. Each twist and turn made this book a page turner for me. It was really hard to put down too.

In it, you will meet Raean. She was such a fun character to read about because she was just a complete bad ass in my eyes. Plus her sarcasm and fierceness just made me love her even more. So when she's pretending to be a Knight name Rowan.. I just knew things were going to be very interesting. Also, her bestie Finn was completely adorable and their bantering was very cute.

Then there's the lovely slow burn romance between Raean and Aven. Oh how I loved these two being together. It was just pure and genuine. Made my heart all happy and shit. I'm hoping I get more from these two in the next book because I will riot if I don't.

It's safe to say that you will get a lot of betrayals throughout this book. The reason why it is easy to accept would be Prince Zander's doing. He's a real pain in the ass. A huge conceited asshole who thinks he's all that and a bag of potato chips. Real charmer.. and I wanted him to die a very painful death after our first meet and greet.

After each horrible decision, made my the prince douche, lots of people die. If you have ever watched an episode of Game of Thrones, or read one of the books, think of that being child's play. Mostly because Prince Zander would sacrifice anyone and everyone in the entire world. It's also safe to assume that shit went downhill quickly once he became King.

In the end, that little cliffhanger gave me some whiplash. It also make sense that the little monster is a fake. Now I'm wondering where the real heir is and I have a few theories as to who it could be. I definitely need the next book now and I can't wait for it to become available!

This was a fun read that takes off from the beginning. The pacing was a bit inconsistent though. It started with a lot of action, however, it slumps and drags at some points.

There are multiple POVs but Raena’s is the most fleshed out and interesting. I would label this more of a romance than anything and the it was definitely a sweet one! Zander is a great villain. You love to hate him.

Although this was entertaining to read, I just wanted a tighter plot, with consistent story-building.

I really wanted to give it 5 stars because this book has a lot of good stuff. It has representation, sapphic romance, lots of action, comedy, charismatic characters, twists... But it wasn't good for me. I didn't find the reading smooth, I spent a good few days without reading a single word of it, but I managed to finish. There are a lot of people who liked it, as well as people who didn't like it. If you also like the things I mentioned at the beginning, it's worth reading. Maybe this book is perfect for you.
But despite all that, I wanted to say that the author did a great job. Everything was described very well, I felt like I was there, watching everything happen.

** I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. **

To survive in the empire where her family was massacred, Raena (Rowan) masquerades as a boy, becoming a knight and vowing to murder the Queen in retribution. However, Rowan’s plans are halted when she is unexpectedly exiled to serve Duchess Aven. Rowan has to learn to navigate the precarious political situation in the Kingdom, as she grows closer to Aven and learns who her real enemies are.

Let me start this off by saying I did not finish the book. I’ve had it for almost 3 months and I just have not been able to get through it. I understand with fantasies you generally have to get past the first 75ish pages before you really can into the book, but it seems never ending with this one.

That being said I did enjoy the relationship between Raena and Finn. Finn’s overall character was amazing and I loved seeing him on page .

DNF @ 25%

Final Rating: 2.5 stars

Thank you to Net Galley and Hansen House for the ARC.

This was an amazing debut book with strong points but also some let downs. The romance was my favorite part but it took so long to get there. I didn't mind the politics and I thought it was well done but not for me.