ARC Review: "Traitor Son" by Melissa Cave ★★★★★
He had been pushing her away for a reason. She was one of the Emperor’s poisoned gifts. The sweetest and most beguiling poison, a poison so seductive that it was almost enough to make him forget all the hard lessons he had learned and just gulp it down. Let it happen, whatever it was. Give up. Give in. Drown. The sweetness would be worth it.
[Contains some spoilers]
PLOT SUMMARY
24-year-old Remin “Grimjaw” of Andelin’s innocent family was slaughtered years ago by the Emperor, accused of treason. Now a brutal and renowned war hero, he is determined to take back everything he has lost. When he returns from a seemingly suicidal mission of recovering lands for the Emperor, he is granted any wish he desires. Naturally, he decides on the title of Duke, the lands of Brede and the Emperor’s daughter of the stars, princess of the House of Agnephus, for his wife. That way, the family name can never be erased.
18-year-old Princess Ophele Agnephus is the illegitimate daughter of the Emperor, raised in exhile by Lord and Lady Hurrell in Aldeburke essentially as a prisoner. She has had a very sheltered life having never left home and is very timid, but exceptionally clever. Their meeting hardly goes the way one would expect, with the princess up a tree and the duke livid and insulted on the ground. And their journey to Tresingale, the city Remin has started building, is hardly ideal with various embarrassing and awkward moments between the pair.
Their marriage on the way there does ease the tension, and once in Tresingale undeniable feelings are forming. Ophele begins to believe Remin is not the mean brute everyone has had her believe, but can be distant. Remin has trust issues from having more attempts on his life than he cares to count. He believes that, despite her innocent appearance and kind yet reserved nature, Ophele may be the Emperor’s very weapon that will bring about his greatest downfall.
With the incoming threat from assassins and monsters, Remin is torn between keeping Ophele at arm’s length and protecting her from harm. But Ophele is hiding a dangerous secret, one that concerns both their families and bring about the Empire’s destruction.
This is told from the third-person past-tense POV of Remin and Ophele.
OVERALL OPINIONS
I think this has to be one of the best fantasies I have read this year! Seriously, I don’t think I have read anything that has made me smile, laugh and swoon as much as this. What a thrilling find this is! It did take me a chapter to get into it, but I knew from then on this would be an incredible read. And I adored this so much that I devoured it in practically one sitting, which is when you know it is good! The opening lines are:
“In the Greater Court of the Imperial Palace in Starfall, Remin knelt at the Divine Emperor’s throne and prepared to be knighted. Or killed.”
From this, I was instantly hooked and intrigued. Who is he, why would be possibly be killed?
This story reminds me a lot of the anime “My Happy Marriage” as the main character is also very kind, shy, raised in an abusive household and is wedded off to a man they believe is mean and cruel who turns out not to be as horrid as people think. There was also a touch of mystery-solving and alliances akin to “The Three Musketeers”, with monster-slaying a bit like “The Witcher”.
Melissa Cave has produced a debut that everyone should praise to the skies! The world-building, characters and plot are phenomenal, masterfully woven together to tell a beautiful tale. Full kudos for Cave to provide a Glossary with a pronunciation guide at the back of the book and a map at the front. These are extremely useful – nay, vital – to include as they help the reader go through the story better. Maps, to me, are invaluable and they help me visualise where things are.
But it is not just the effort in the grander scale of things that is impressive, the small details are just as thoughtful like having the chapter header image as the owl, a representation of Ophele as this is what Remin thinks of her (due to her wide often solemn eyes). Indeed, I assume the publisher’s name Owl & Bear, LLC is not a coincidence either, since the bear refers to Ophele’s perception of Remin as he is all big, dark, fierce and grumbles like a bear. It is cute they compare themselves to animals.
Book 1 in the upcoming Empire of the Stars trilogy, this has left me looking forward to the next instalment. I confess it took a long moment to realise this was part of a series (I must have been blind), so I was expecting more in the way of action – but, considering there is more to come, this is absolutely fine pacing-wise! I confess I am relieved because I have become so fond of the characters already, I cannot bear the thought of anything happening to them!
Remin and Ophele’s relationship are, of course, my favourite parts of the story. Cave does an amazing job at pushing them away and bringing them back together. It is through miscommunication (ironically one of my least favourite tropes but it was done exceptionally well here) that they misunderstand one another as neither have had much experience with the opposite sex. Remin especially does not understand what women want. I do like that they both try to understand the other person, and it wasn’t just one-sided with Remin understanding Ophele. They both grow and learn to communicate and I love that.
There are so many scenes with them that I am obsessed with, I cannot possibly list them all! I think my all-time favourite moment is their wedding night, it’s so steamy. Indeed, there are about 3 spicy scenes and all incredible. They are not too graphical nor do they lack details. It is the perfect balance of all things sensual and hot that I prefer and wish more books would do. I also loved when they are in the market, and he watches how excited and happy she gets there (and is bewildered at the glass bear she asks for). The scene when they both dance with each other is the lovliest thing. I was smiling, I was squealing with joy!
There were plenty of descriptions throughout that were so gorgeous, like this one:
The stars in the vault of heaven looked down upon them, each one offering its own gate to paradise, reached only through great struggle and suffering.
Others elicited grins from me. One such thing that had me laughing out loud was this:
Remin knew how to dance, even if his long-ago dancing master had once witheringly described it as what one might expect to see if a fireplace poker decided to promenade through a ballroom.
The scene where they changed Remin’s password was also funny wherein he tries not to swear in front of his wife.
<< Positives >>
🠚 The descriptions are beautiful.
🠚 The storyline is very up my street, I loved every moment reading it!
🠚 Remin and Ophele’s relationship with all its ups and downs.
🠚 The spice!
🠚 The found family that both Ophele and Remin have through Remin’s friends the Knights of the Brede.
🠚 The chapter header image of the owl was cute.
<< Negatives >>
🠚 This probably comes into play in the next book but at the wedding, Ophele’s skin glows with star magic. Why does this never happen before or since?
🠚 Again, this is probably the next book’s plot but I thought, since the secret is brought up in this book, that the secret would be revealed by the end of it. I am glad it did not end on a cliffhanger, though, as I detest those haha!
🠚 I thought there was going to be a scene where they celebrated Ophele’s birthday since it is hinted at.
🠚 Sir Justenin was a lovely companion for Ophele, I wish there had been more of him.
🠚 I think I would have liked more moments of Ophele being bold, though it is heartwarming to see the strong woman she becomes at the end of the story.
🠚 The names of towns on the map were a little too small, I think the names should be printed larger.
CHARACTERS
-ˋˏ ꒰ Ophele꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ I love Ophele with all my heart she is so selfless and brave, enduring much and complaining little because she feels she is indirectly responsible for Remin’s misfortunes. She touches the hearts of everyone, and she certainly touched mine too.
Purpose was the gift of imperfection. The divine world was perfect, flawlessly ordered, but in a perfect world there was no purpose, no reason to learn, to work, to grow. There might be debts owed in an imperfect world, but they could be paid. An imperfect world was a work in progress. An imperfect world could be changed. *She* could change it, if she was brave.
-ˋˏ ꒰ Remin꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ Remin deserves the world and it was lovely to see him become so caring and protective of Ophele. He goes from always having his guard up to finding a safe place with Ophele.
His men called him Remin Grimjaw, impervious to pain. At seventeen, he had already survived five years of war, starvation, arrows, blades, poisoning, multiple attempted assassinations and two severe battlefield injuries only to grow almost insolently enormous, as if he thrived on mortal peril.
-ˋˏ ꒰ Other characters꒱ ˎˊ-
↳ Sir Miche very quickly became a favourite. He has an excellent balance of comicality and sentimentality that it is always a joy whenever he comes on the scene, bless him for everything he says and does – especially when reprimanding Remin, with Ophele’s best interests at heart. One of my fondest and perhaps funniest descriptions from the book is this:
When Miche had something on his mind, nothing could shut him up. Remin could have threatened him at spearpoint and he would have cheerfully impaled himself and delivered his remarks with his dying breath.
🠚Wen the cook was hilarious being in a permanent grumpiness, I always chortled at his scenes, especially when he mimics Ophele.
“Came in asking for bloody carrots every morning, I was hearing ‘Master Wen, Master Wen’ in me dreams. And then one day she says, ‘Master Wen, would it be easier to keep the apples and carrots here by the door? I don’t like to trouble you. For Master Eugene.’ ” Wen produced a credible impression of the princess’s shy, start-and-stop speech pattern, though the batting eyelashes were a little over the top.
I like that he tries not to swear in front of her haha. All the scenes with any of the men trying not to swear got me grinning ear-to-ear.
Oh, and let us not forget dear Master Euguene the donkey! A little sweetheart!
FAV QUOTES
• He had waged a perfect war upon them. In seven years, he had not lost a single battle. They could not defeat him, only delay him.
• She was the last thing he needed to forge a dynasty that would last for all time, the foundation for a noble House that could never be destroyed again. And when he was done, Kings and Emperors would kneel before him.
• He had commanded whole armies and ordered thousands of men to march to their deaths, but he had never been responsible for anything as fragile as a girl.
• He had checked her for weapons when he undressed her, but what defense had he against that look on her face? Those soft, trembling lips? Was it possible that she might be his, in truth?
• Remin lay looking at her sleeping face, soft and curving as a flower. Inexperienced as he was with women, he’d never thought about why maidens were said to be blooming. Nothing bloomed, in the places he had been. But his wife did.
• His wife’s case was a complicated one: she might be a target for assassins, or she might be an assassin herself.
• Where was the silent, solemn little owl he knew? She was smiling. Her eyes were so bright, so quick to see everything. Even veiled, hatted, and covered in white dust, he couldn’t help thinking her beautiful. She looked like nothing so much as the clearest and bluest of skies.
• He faced devils every night, but to Remin Grimjaw there was no creature in the world so dangerous as this girl, asleep in the grass with wildflowers dancing above her.
• “I keep looking for thorns,” he whispered. “And there just aren’t any.”
• For a long moment, they just looked at each other, and it seemed as if everything that had passed between them could be forgotten, for a time, in the forgiving shadows.
• her eyes went immediately to Remin, happy and laughing and wanting to share it with him, and suddenly it felt as if everything else in the world dissolved away, leaving only her. The loveliest thing he had ever seen.
• Looking into her golden eyes was like falling into the stars.
• When they walked home together afterward, she couldn’t help looking at him, marveling. Not because he was the great military genius and hero, Remin Grimjaw, but because now she understood how he had done it. And most often, it was with creativity, courage, and brute stubbornness rather than superhuman strength. Oddly, the more human he became to her, the more she admired him.
• She turned to smile at him, and the fronds of her long hair hung around her in damp tendrils, like an enchantress from an old story. Maybe she was one of those dangerous, beautiful women, luring him so subtly and so sweetly that even Remin Grimjaw couldn’t resist her.
• and when she lifted her eyes to his, for a dazzled moment he completely forgot where they were going and what they were doing and even that he had a horse he was supposed to be directing. The smile that spread across his face almost felt like the shattering of a mask, he used it so rarely. But it was also completely out of his control when she was smiling back at him, wide and foolish and beautiful, and he hadn’t known it was possible to be so happy.
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I received an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review and I’d like to thank Mellisa Cave and Reedsy for the opportunity. This has not affected my opinion in any way.
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