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I've finished: The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

At first I was impressed.

Anti-Colonialism, pro LGBTQ, smart girl uses her wits, stress on the economic and logistical side of strategy… count me in.

Dickinson manages to make the heroine is an accountant trope actually work.

I even enjoyed the strategizing 101 at first.

I studied history ant uni and was fascinated by the decisions that won or lost wars.

But then I learned more, and grew up, and understood how messy life is, and about friction and unintended consequences.

I think what irked me most was how despite her disadvantaged, persecuted background, Baru is incredibly privileged. She is protected by such powerful forces. Especially narrative causality. So many things had to go right, so many points of failure, so many times she should have been crushed and was spared.

Especially these days, with the wars in Ukraine and Israel showing us how strategies fail to achieve their goals. It was hard for me to suspend my disbelief and enjoy this novel for what it is.

A complex novel about colonialism, racism and homophobia, and how hard it is to rebel against them.

https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/d5fdec07-bd6d-4681-9581-95c8127eeeda

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