As Ulovar sickens, seemingly beyond the physical, Raine struggles to contain her growing Sixth Gate, as well as her relationships with her fellow apprentices. Being chosen to work with the Grandmaster, the most powerful and feared living Draoihne, is really the last thing she needs...
But it's a very welcome twist to this series. McDonald's sequel moves along at a more steady pace than 'Daughter of Redwinter', introducing us to the action quickly and embroiling the reader from the get-go in Raine's rapidly complicating world. The Grandmaster takes a fairly prominent role in this book, as Raine's new mentor, and the threat she poses brings a real thrill.

I'm excited to see where this series goes.

Woah! This was great, no second book problems here!

I was late starting this so ended up buying the audiobook and I'm so glad that I did. The narration was excellent; same person that did book one. I did increase the speed a little.

This begins where the previous ended, Raine is still hiding her power and as an apprentice Draoihn is undergoing training. Ovitus (still a jerk) has stepped up as his Uncle, the clan leader, slips further into ill health. Raine's friends provide glimpses into different sides of our hero who at times seems completely self-destructive.

The excitement doesn't let up: murder, witchery, creepy bone users, drinking games and the Grand Master reveals her history. If you've read book one, you know what to expect. If you haven't, what's wrong with you?

I can't wait until book three is released, I'm pretending that it'll be in Spring!

Thanks to Gollancz and Netgalley for an e-arc, all opinions are my own.

Am absolutely thrilling sequel, and a novel that ranks among the best fantasy published this year. McDonald is perhaps my favourite fantasy author working right now. He’s just killing it, book after book

«Traitor of Redwinter» de Ed McDonald es una notable secuela con bastante más ritmo que su primera entrega.

Una aventura en sí misma que no da sensacion de ser un segundo libro. Para el tercero queda explotar de manera definitiva el aspecto mágico que ya deja detalles super chulos en esta.

Me siguen sobrando las partes más estándar de las aventuras juveniles "joven encerrado/a en lugar del que no puede salir" pero las tramas de esta segunda novela son mucho mas interesantes.

Traitor of Redwinter. Book 2 of The Redwinter Chronicles.

This sequel expands on this amazing storyline of shady politics, militant monks, and ancient powers and follows a woman navigating a world in which no one is what they seem. Although slightly slower-paced than book 1 the reader will be carried along happily engrossed with the turn of each page.

Ed McDonald, shows his superior world-building skills in this epic sequel, expanding the fantastic and brutally fierce, magical plotline. The characters are well-constructed with great depth to their personalities. You can not help but be drawn into their world.
Captivating and enthralling
A fantastic equal. I look forward to book 3.

Thank you #Netgalley for the Advanced copy

Traitor of Redwinter by Ed McDonald is the sequel to Daughter of Redwinter. I enjoyed this second book immensely. The pacing at the beginning felt slow for me. However, the combination of plotting, immersive storytelling and action made this an enjoyable reading experience. There is some strong world-building and a ton of magic. The pacing of the story does increase in the last third bringing the storylines and plots together to a satisfying conclusion. As with McDonald’s previous books, the characters are strong and well-rounded bringing plenty of betrayals, tense, and emotional moments with it.

My thanks to both NetGalley and Tor Publishing for an advance e-book. All opinions are my own.

Traitor of Redwinter by Ed McDonald is the second instalment in the Redwinter Chronicles.

This time we follow more adventures with Raine, the Sarathi in training as she gets to grips with her powers, navigates the tricky relationship landscape and hopefully getting to be a fully paid up member of the Draoihn. In the midst of this there’s some dodgy dealings, a bid for the crown and an old enemy to face.

I think that the theme for this book is definitely falling into the SNAFU range of being for Raine.

Unfortunately, this book was a bit of a disappointment for me and I wanted to like it more than I actually did. Mainly due to the fact that I enjoyed the first book so much.

It’s not that it’s a bad book per se, it’s just that I didn’t get along with it at all, and for the first two thirds of the book it felt like I was wading through treacle trying to read it. I just lost all interest in it and there were more than quite a few times that I was contemplating not actually finishing the book.

I found that I had absolutely no interest in the relationship difficulties that the main characters were going through, and to be honest I was getting a bit sick of all that stuff and I was constantly praying that it would just move on. Throughout that first two thirds of the book I was constantly fatigued by the constant to - ing and fro - ing between the two main love interests. It drove me nuts! In addition to that, the emotional wranglings of the main character and the musing about how she wasn’t worth the ministrations of the love interests made me want to throw the book at the wall, and when I finally got to the final third of the book I was glad that something actually happened.

Now don’t get me wrong. This is not a bad book. Ed McDonald is a fantastic writer, and I have seen that others have loved this book, and there were aspects of the book that I enjoyed. His world building is great and the addition of more of the mythology surrounding the magic users of the world was enjoyable. I loved all the fantastical aspects of the book and how the final act played out, but I am not sure it was worth all the constant diversions of the first two acts.

I know that I am in the minority here and loads of people have lapped up this book, but it wasn’t for me, and this may be the point where I tap out of the series. Sorry! But there you go, not every book is for everyone!

"Traitor of Redwinter" is a very good follow-up to "Daughter of Redwinter" and would have been 5 stars but for one thing: the pace. Again, the heart of the story is brilliant, as is the writing. I still feel the characters are a bit, well, not quite right, but now I'm thinking that maybe that's deliberate. Looking forward to book 3.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

Second book syndrome Traitor of Redwinter does not suffer from. It does have shady politics and dirty bastards to throw a spanner in the works. I love that Raine is still utterly flawed character. Yes, she's the main character, but being the star of the show hasn't made her 'one that cannot do wrong' .. in fact, she does a lot wrong. Like, everything?! Ha...

This book definitely has a more oppressive feel, even though Daughter of the Redwinter was already quite dark with emotions when it delivered that representation of depression, and did it well. Traitor has a different kind of gloominess to it. There is a representation of illness, of withering away that delivers emotion so well. The feeling of being caged up, of having no control... That's hard!

The two brief sparks that brought a smile to my face were a certain character from the past and Castus. Unexpectedly. These two coming together (literally? tee-hee) was the light entertainment and joy that I didn't know I needed. And the love interest, love triangle thingy that's happening... again, subtle but quite solid and basically, hashtag Team Sanvaunt because he's the kind of steady, level headed calm that everyone could do with in their life!

After Daughter, I was wondering about the possibilities that this sequel might deliver to the reader, and really, plot wise, all expectations get exceeded. It's blown into epic proportions and major betrayals. But I have to say... I was always suspicious of our villain in this particular story. I knew it. I just knew it!

I do have to say I felt the pace didn't have as much of a spring in its step as book 1 would have had, and the secondary characters, whilst delivering surprises, didn't really go through some epic development, but the story? It's so worthwhile and I simply cannot wait what comes next! I cannot even imagine what trick McDonald has to pull out of his sleeve to top the story so far, but I have no doubts. If anyone can do it, it's Ed.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this early copy of Traitor of Redwinter by Ed McDonald. This was an action packed, magical and enchanting read that I can't wait to share with my students.

Ed McDonald has followed up last year’s Daughter of Redwinter with a roller coaster of a second volume. This is a brilliant epic fantasy and has everything that a lover of fantasy novels could possibly need.
Raine is a now an apprentice at Redwinter and has pledged her loyalty to the crown. However, things are going wrong. Her mentor Ulovar, is mysteriously ill and although Raine is making progress in her studies, her personal relationships go from bad to worse. She seems to have a self destruct button whenever anyone appears to care for her.
I loved this second book in the Chronicles of Redwinter. The world building is brilliant and I love the magic system of the gates. There is an explanatory section of this at the back of the book and I definitely recommend reading it as it really helps with understanding how things work. I thoroughly enjoyed the political intrigue too and the manoeuvring for power by the clans.
The characters are what really makes this book stand out though. Raine is a flawed heroine but she is magnificent. Brave, loyal, impulsive and stubborn – she makes some appalling decisions during the course of the book but also some absolutely heroic ones. Her character arc through the course of this story is amazing and I was rooting for her every bit of the way. Esher, Sanvaunt and Liara are all as brilliant as they were in the previous book and the character of Ovitus just went from bad to worse, but in a completely believable way. The minor characters were all brilliant too. One of my favourite sections was when Raine raised up the grandmaster’s sister, Alianna. I thought it was all going to end really badly and instead it was one of the most light-hearted scenes in the novel.
There were some pacing issues especially in the middle of the book when I began to get a bit bored. Sadly, the e book of the ARC is badly formatted with random numbers inserted into the text as well as a lot of very random line breaks which broke up the sense of the writing and made it hard to focus on what was happening.
However, the final quarter of the book when everything comes together is just phenomenal and I couldn’t put the book down. I also love the fact that the story ended at a pause point rather than a cliff hanger.
Huge thanks to Net Galley and the publishers, Orion, for providing my ARC in exchange for my honest review. I can’t wait for the next instalment.

Traitor of Redwinter follows on from Daughter of Redwinter with Raine now a trainee Draoihn whilst also dealing with the fact that someone is draining the life out of Ulovar and an impending war. Fun times all around.

Everything I enjoyed about the first book is still present in this book. I still like Raine as a character. She manages to be an extremely strong character whilst also having little to no self-worth and keeps sabotaging herself whenever something good might happen. It’s relatable. The plot is strong and there’s a good balance between the wider plot of the mystery of Ulovar’s sickness, the training and the personal relationships between the characters.

Speaking of personal relationships, Raine has two love interests in this book: Sanvaunt and Esher and I’m not completely sold on this. I’m not sure if it is a clumsy attempt at polyamory or if it is a tedious love triangle but I just don’t like it. Raine keeps thinking about both of them but Sanvaunt a). has more page time, b). has infinitely more character development and c). is more intrinsically linked to the story via Raine and what you learn over the course of the book. Esher often feels like a complete afterthought and comes across as very one note as a character. I’m not sure who McDonald has the intention of having her actually divulge her feelings for in the end (if both or either) but the lack of development for Esher as a character overall leads me to believe that if it’s her then it’s just for the f/f representation rather than the fact they have any chemistry together. Then again, Raine spends the book with so little self-worth, she might never say anything but that would just be a waste of character development (or Raine and Sanvaunt, that is).

Ovitus continues to frustrate. He’s irritatingly slimy even when he’s being genuine so you can never believe which is the real him for most of the book. I liked Castus. He’s interesting and he has a painful backstory, which was interesting. Esher, however, has very little going for her outside of being one of Raine’s love interests. Grandmaster Robilar is also awesome to read.

On the whole, I enjoyed Traitor of Redwinter but it is a little frustrating at times. When it’s strong, it’s really strong but it does sometimes get bogged down in relationship drama. The ending is suitably epic, though, and I can’t wait to find out how it all ends.

This one was a lot slower than book one which was hard to latch on to. The characters seemed dialled down and the story itself was paced weirdly.

Lived up to the excellency of the first book and really kept that momemtum going! The character development is so strong here, its intricate and detailed and alongside the immersive storyline made for a winning storyline! The individual characters are so strong and well-rounded i felt like i knew every one of them and how they would act in certain situtations. The pacing is again slower at the start, but just like the first book, it really ramps up for a jam-packed second half that I couldn't put down! Everything from the world-building, to the plot, to the characters to the dialogue is masterfully crafted you can tell the time and effort that went into this! Action, betrayal, emotion, found-family, identity, secrets and plots galore and i loved every second.

McDonald is a pretty talented writer but I felt like this one feel a bit flat for me. I felt bored in places. I am curious to see how it wraps up though.

I was the enemy of the entire world, they just didn't know it yet.

Thank you to Tor for providing me an arc in exchange for a review.

Those that see the dead are stoned, those that meddle with them are hanged, and those that seek to learn the forbidden Sarathi lore met the pyre. Raine is guilty of all. Yet she still wishes to train to become a Draoihn, part of something bigger than her.
There is a recap of book one in book 2 in case you need a refresh!)

I loved book one and couldn’t wait to get back to McDonald’s fantastic writing. I was not let down here. Found family, teasing quips, betrayal, secrets upon secrets, and, most importantly, discovering one’s identity - whether that be sexual identity, culture identity, family, friend, murderer, soldier.

“I am the drinker of blood. I am the chewer of bones.”
“Those sounds like bad life choices,” I said. “You should consider a better career.”

In book one, Raine’s emotions were clamped down on, a seal between her and the world. That’s been torn open now and it seems it has profound effects. Raine is more emotional, quick to anger, and oftentimes seemingly immature. She certainly acts like a teenager in this book, with a lot of pining and self-pitying and social anxiety.

Whilst this does a fantastic job at exploring love and romantic interests, it did, occasionally, feel over the top. They’re about to be killed, be devoured by a demon, go to war; and they somehow have time to have deeply profound conversations and self-loathing monologues about their emotions?
Nevertheless, I felt like this expanded Raine’s understanding of herself and showed us her flaws as she struggles to be fair and good to others. A main character with flaws, yes!

“We don't seem to connect, do we” Sanvaunt said, his voice barely disturbing the night air. “It feels like we're the sun and moon, never quite in the same place.” He sighed and took his hand back. The place where he'd touched me felt colder than before.
“Sometimes there's an eclipse,” I said.

This book seemed slower than book one, and whilst I was immediately drawn into book one, I think I was only as engrossed with book 2 as I was because of the phenomenal start of the series.

Overall, perhaps this suffers from middle book syndrome, but Raine has definitely stepped into her powers and I can’t wait till the epicness of the next book!

This was so enjoyable. I haven't read the first in this series yet, so that is on my list of Kindle reads, and I can't wait to learn what brought Raine to the position we find her in Traitor of Redwinter. Lots of lovely red herrings and clues as to who IS the Traitor or Redwinter, and, as always, I patted myself on the back for putting them all together correctly.
Sometimes there is a little too much world history and magic explanation in straight exposition that could perhaps have been fed in through smaller chunks, but it didn't bother my reader head, only my writer one...
All told, excellent pacey High Epic fantasy. Recommended.