The Rogue by Trudi Canavan

Book 2 in the Traitor Spy Trilogy 

My review of book 1, The Ambassador's Mission, can be found here

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Living among the Sachakan rebels, Lorkin does his best to learn about them and their unique magic. But the Traitors are reluctant to trade their knowledge for the Healing they so desperately want and, while he assumes they fear revealing their existence to the world, there are hints they have bigger plans.
Sonea searches for the rogue, knowing that Cery cannot avoid assassination for ever, but the rogue's influence over the city's underworld is far greater than she feared. His only weakness is the loss of his mother, now locked away in the Lookout.
In Sachaka, Dannyl has lost the respect of the Sachakan elite for letting Lorkin join the Traitors. The Ashaki's attention has shifted, instead, to the new Elyne Ambassador, a man Dannyl knows all too well.
And in the University, two female novices are about to remind the Guild that sometimes their greatest enemy is found within.
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First off, note to self - review books shortly after finishing them. Leaving it too long reading and a dozen other books makes it hard to remember the fine points.

But what do I remember? I really enjoyed it. Canavan is juggling quite a handful of POVs as usual, but in my opinion she does it really well, keeping the story flowing and captivating.

There were a few details I couldn't quite remember from the first book and as such was a bit behind on the significance of some things, but mostly it was easy enough to pick up this book #2. We follow 3 familiar characters, Lorkin, Sonea and Dannyl, getting a deeper understanding of who they are and we are introduced to a new girl, Lillia, who I think will play quite a significant part in the third book.

The book's ending is quite typical for the second book of a trilogy. Though not a whole lot of action takes place throughout the book many essential things still happen keeping the plot moving forwards and it was never a chore to pick up and get reading. I am very curious how it's all going to end. So far the major obstacles and "bad things" are dealt with before the end of each book, and (though my memory is arguably impaired right now) I can't think of anything major that combines them besides the characters' individual story lines.. Oh and black magic of course. Mustn't forget that.*

*Also, the next book is called The Traitor Queen so that gives a bit of a hint. (The third and final book is due for release in just a few days! on the 14th of August)

512 pages / published in 2011

 Review by Iben Jakobsen, BoB, 2012