this was such a unique fantasy novel! it had some really interesting concepts i feel we don't see too often, so this was really refreshing. all of the characters felt well developed and were so easy to root for. also, seeing the main relationship play out was so fun, i loved them!
i loved so many aspects of this book, but the reason this isn't a five star read for me was the pacing. it could get slightly boring at certain parts, but it wasn't a huge issue.
overall, i think any fantasy lover would thoroughly enjoy Traitors of the Black Crown, there's so much to love about it! 4 stars!! :)

This is one of the few books that I've come across that has ended up in the DNF pile. I brute forced my way through to 14%, and unfortunately decided that this book was not for me.

The world building was a little lackluster, and the themes of the novel were difficult to rationalize against the maturity level of the main character's internal voice. To be blunt, the writing felt like the main character was aged around 12-13.

Thank you to NetGalley and Cate Pearce for a free eARC copy to review!

I very much enjoyed this story. The story was told well and with such detail that I could see it in my mind’s eye. The love story was surrounded by much intrigue and action that it was like there was more than one story being told. I am excitedly, impatiently waiting for the next book.

This book earned a 4.5 stars for me! I loved it, and want it as a centerpiece on my bookshelf this exact second!

When the book first started, I was immediately in love with “Sir Rowan”. Raena is by far my favorite character in the series, from her small struggle with her sexuality in the beginning, to her love for everyone around her and her loyalty. On top of it, she is a badass knight who can wield a sword and woo women? Her moral compass and bravery was just so enrapturing, that I had a hard time putting this book down.

The villains in the book were also written beautifully. The Prince was someone who I immediately hated and wanted nothing more than to have him perish, while the Queen was someone who’s story is further developed and some humanity and drive is give to her in a semi endearing way.

Aven was another phenomenally written character, in the sense that she didn’t just fulfill her duties as a lover interest for Raena, but also was her own strong and courageous self. She was obviously a standout for me and i looked forward to every chapter she was narrating.

The book itself, although wordy, was incredibly written and had a thrilling plot. I have to admit that at times I was overwhelmed with the world building, but it made the story that much better and encapsulating.

Overall, I recommend this book to anyone who wishes to read a thrilling tail of plots, schemes, battle, love, and bravery.

I would like to acknowledge that I was given an advance copy of the book, in exchange for an honest/unbiased review.

I really wanted to love this book. All the right ingredients were there. Great sapphic love story, intriguing fantasy world, and an excellent female lead who is hiding in plain sight. But I ended up feeling slightly disappointed.

My problems with this book stem from the plot and the pacing. The beginning of this book DRAGGED for me. It took me a good hundred pages to get into the novel. That being said, I am excited to see where the story goes from here and would purchase a sequel.

All in all, this book was average. I put a 4 start rating, but if this was storygraph this book would get a 3.5

I wanted to like this book so badly, but it just wasn't for me.

The premise was promising: I love that Raena is a woman hiding in plain sight as a skillfull knight named Rowan, and she has prepared all her life to seek revenge against the queen who pillaged her childhood home. I love that, as her plans get derailed, she is sent to serve Duchess Avena, promising a blooming romance to ensue. The building blocks of this story is killer exciting! And that's just it-- for me, it feels like building blocks hinged together.

Maybe I'm just not a fan of heavy dialogue, but a lot of the conversations read as information dumps where one character at a time will blurt out paragraphs describing the world and politics, whereas, I'm more intuned with stories that weave this sort of information in as information the MC already knows and fills us in through inner monologues at the correct moments (when the information is needed). Frankly, it's easy to get lost in the sauce and easier to zone out.

Then as for the character's themselves, I love how Raena has a wonderful dynamic with people like her fellow knight, Finn, joking and messing around, but the contrasts begin to wither as more characters are introduced, these dynamics feel repeated and it's as if I'm reading only two sets of characters. And then Zander, the clearly cruel and terrible prince, might just be too terrible for my tastes. A bit more subtle terror would enrapture me rather than someone who is so obviously one sidedly disgusting.

I'm sure this book will find its audience and fanbase. Sadly, I'm not it.

Traitors of the Black Crown was wonderfully refreshing approach to knightly fantasy without the reliance on magic and mythical mystique used so commonly to move the story forward. The impending doom of Sir Rowan and his secret is a constant driving force to read just one more page, just one more chapter as he seeks revenge for the slaughter of his family at the order of a queen the Black Crown.

Hopefully this will be the first book in what will be a large and expansive world. As a well paced, can't put it down read I enjoyed the use of foreshadowing, plot weaving, and emotionally driven decisions. The character development is kept to natural feeling pace with events driving shifts in the character's emotions. The feeling of character growth helps shape the mood while following three paths from three different world views cooping with has been, what is, and must come to be.

Absolutely FANTASTIC. Reana is powerful, relatable and captivating. Zander is a brat, wicked and cruel. Aven is kind, understanding and tenacious. The Calamites are up against the a mysterious force after 300 years of rest.

I cannot recommend this book enough. I tore through it so fast. I cannot wait for the second installment!

This book absolutely delivered on its central premise: I really loved the relationship between "Rowan" and Avenna, was incredibly invested right from their first awkward meeting. The author's created a loveable cast of characters that it's a delight to spend time with (even if some of them, you love to hate) and I adored the slow escalation of the political stakes. Very excited to see where this series goes!

I loved this book. A tale of revenge, love, wicked rulers and a fight for the crown. I was rooting for Rowan and Aven throughout, nice to see LGBTQ+ represented without it being a big deal in the story. Excellent world building too.

This was a fantastic read and the start of a great series. At the beginning, the start was a little slow and I worried it was turning into the type of fantasy where there’s lots of description of kingdoms, lineages, and names that makes little sense. However, after the first quarter or so it really sped up. This book was incredibly enjoyable to and full of action. It had romance, political intrigue, action, and some mysterious twists and turns. The beginning reminded me a lot of the Alanna of Trebond series (obviously the disguised-women as a knight similarities). I liked reading the story from the different perspectives - that added a lot of layers to the story and helped propel it forward. I am very much looking forward to the next book on the series!

I received an ARC of this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hansen House for the ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

In short. It's a yes from me.

I was initially a little underwhelmed in the first few pages and the opening conversations felt a little stilted. I felt there was a bit of a slow start, but I think perhaps that was purposeful because very quickly Cate Pearce steers us head first in to some extremely gripping action. Raena, as Sir Rowan, must now navigate her newly exiled life whilst juggling unexpected feelings for her new Duchess, Avenna, and the need to exact revenge upon the Queen who had her family murdered 15 years prior.

There's rich history woven in to each chapter and whilst at first that might sound a little overwhelming, the world constructed by Pearce is seamless. We are reminded of alliances, of historical points of note through character conversation where necessary, and at no point does this ever feel like an info-dump, which is hard to pull off when introducing a reader to a wholly new world.

The burgeoning romance between two protagonists is truly lovely to witness and it's great to see LGBTQIA representation and written so well at that. There was something so soft and heartfelt about this slow-burn romance and I can't convey enough how enjoyable it was to read.

At it's heart we have three strong but strikingly different women struggling to reconcile their pasts, forging and maintaining alliances, all whilst trying to outsmart one of the best, if I can describe them that way, villains I've had the pleasure of reading in some time.

There are a couple of issues I found with sentence structure; some areas did not flow as well as others, but this wasn't a deal breaker for me as on the whole the book read well.

There are some great plot twists and I can say, hand on heart, I did not know the journey this book was going to take me on. I can safely say that I was excited to learn that this is the first in a series and I cannot wait for publication of this and future instalments.

This book was very interesting and I loved the LGBTQ+ representation in it. I did feel like it was somehow both fast and slow paced at the same time but it was definitely a solid book and I would read more from the author in the future.

3.5 stars rounding up to 4

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Review:

Traitors of the Black Crown tells the stories of three strong women, fighting back against the cruel rulers of Candor. For over a decade Raena Schinen has disguised herself as a knight, “Sir Rowan,” and plotted her revenge on the crown that killed her family.

This novel features a blooming queer romance, with two women finding trust in one another. The politics of the world evolve throughout the book as secrets are revealed and characters learn there may be more to the story of their past that was hidden from view. This novel questions what is right, and challenges its characters to uphold those standards regardless of the cost.

This debut novel by Cate Pearce lays the groundwork for a new fan-favourite series, the ending of the first installment leaving the readers wanting more.

LGBTQA/Pan characters written SO SO WELL!

I loved this. One of the best fantasy stories I've read in recent months - everything had purpose and agency. The romance scenes were well written and no graphic details. This worked well as a standalone but left open for more stories.
excellent prose and dialogue. Love it

This was a fantastic book, I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did!

The writing is beautiful and the world building is so well done, the history and politics of the land is detailed but not overly done with too much exposition, it all fits within the pace of the story.

I wondered initially how the story would unfold, with one of the main characters, Raena Schinen who is a woman disguised as a male knight, but I was delighted with the development of her character and her relationship with Duchess Avenna. The characters are multi-layered and it was so interesting to learn more about them and their motivations and history as the story went on.

I was even happier to reach the end and discovered there will be a sequel, which is fantastic as I need more of this story!

This was definitely an interesting story, though sometimes it felt like nothing was really happening my interest definitely picked up towards the the end of the book. I felt like the most interesting part of the book was the Boens but there wasn't really that much time given to them. I am looking forward to the next book to see how everything plays out.

#TraitorsoftheBlackCrown #NetGalley
I have to say I really enjoyed this book! I can't wait to get a physical copy
5/5 stars :-)

This book follows the journey of Raena aka Sir Rowan. Raena had to hide as a boy in plain sight as people want her dead. Things go from bad to worse when Sir Rowan gets exiled to be killed on sight if she returns. So there goes her plans of revenge against the Queen and the Prince and it doesnt help matters that the queen is on deaths door. Read along to find out what happens as she reaches Candor and how she finally gets her revenge. All in all a well written, action packed fun.

I got an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Good story. Lost princess (or similar) hiding identity, fighting for revenge against the usurpers who killed her family. Slight twist as well with regards to a "commoner" who features in the story. Although I think we guessed her proper parentage before it was revealed. Looking forward to the sequel.