I had been super excited for The Tyrant Baru Cormorant since I finished the Monster Baru Cormorant and it left off on a cliffhanger. The Tyrant Baru Cormorant is in my opinion the best of the series because of the way it ties all the character’s emotional arcs together and then leaves off with even more tantalizing clues to the world.
Publisher’s Blurb
Seth Dickinson’s epic fantasy series which began with The Traitor Baru Cormorant, returns with the third book, The Tyrant Baru Cormorant.
The hunt is over. After fifteen years of lies and sacrifice, Baru Cormorant has the power to destroy the Imperial Republic of Falcrest that she pretends to serve. The secret society called the Cancrioth is real, and Baru is among them.
But the Cancrioth’s weapon cannot distinguish the guilty from the innocent. If it escapes quarantine, the ancient hemorrhagic plague called the Kettling will kill hundreds of millions…not just in Falcrest, but all across the world. History will end in a black bloodstain.
Is that justice? Is this really what Tain Hu hoped for when she sacrificed herself?
Baru’s enemies close in from all sides. Baru’s own mind teeters on the edge of madness or shattering revelation. Now she must choose between genocidal revenge and a far more difficult path—a conspiracy of judges, kings, spies and immortals, puppeteering the world’s riches and two great wars in a gambit for the ultimate prize.
If Baru had absolute power over the Imperial Republic, she could force Falcrest to abandon its colonies and make right its crimes
My Thoughts
In Monster, we had Baru at her absolute rock bottom where everything seems to be going absolute haywire. In Tyrant, we see her climb her way out of the hole and triumph through scheming. I really liked Tyrant because it was funny, raw, and a deeply satisfying read. Seth Dickinson truly outdid himself with this book. Like the previous novels, Dickinson spins a tale using concepts from our history to explore what ifs and the devastating consequences of imperialism. The amount of research and touches to our world that Dickinson uses for Baru’s world is what makes it so deeply immersive and unique compared to other political fantasies. I mean, what other book would reference the Franklin Expedition, canine transmissable veneral tumor, euler’s theorem, and the gay uncle theorem? One of the things I loved about this book was that it gave something for all my friends to lose their minds over in terms of references.
The thing that really struck me when reading Tyrant is how frank and on the head, homophobia and transphobia is written in this series. There is a scene in the beginning of Tyrant that perfectly depicts how transphobia works even in times when there is tolerance. It was like a gut in the punch because of the sheer accuracy. Another pivotal moment in the book is the light bulb turning on Baru’s head about internalized homophobia and how the system is stacked against her. Like it was written with such raw emotion and just made me cry because I have been there. Like there are many books that tackle being in a cisheteronormative society and the trauma it causes lgbt people, but I have never read anything before that so fully encapsulated my experiences. The handling of queer trauma in the novel is so well done and handled with grace.
One of my absolute favorite things about this book is that despite the grimness of many events that occur, there are some absolutely hilarious parts including Baru high off her titties, Baru reuniting with her parents in the most awkward way possible, and Baru putting the moves onto a married governor. Since the book includes very dark depictions of genocide and frank dipection of lobotomy, it helps with keeping it from becoming too unrelentlessly grimdark.
Overall, The Tyrant Baru Cormorant is highly recommended. The ending gives some tantalizing clues to the final book’s conflict. I’m calling it that the next form of magic is going to be prionic in nature. Let this blog record my tinfoil hat theory. If Seth Dickinsin decided to have the one magic system be built on cancer, then based on the epilogue, prions aren’t that far out of question. I am looking forward to the final Baru book to see how everything ties up because of the revelations in the final chapters of the book. If you have put off reading the Masquerade series, please take time to read them now. They are timely, deeply rich fantasies that are not afraid to shy away from tough topics involving queerness and imperialism.
Content Warnings: Homophobia, Transphobia, Racism, Imperialism, Psychiatric Abuse, Medical Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Genocide
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