Fans who didn't love Baru wallowing in misery and alcoholic self-medication for 450 pages in Monster will be pleased to know a bottle of vodka is no longer her only reprieve. Unlike previous books however, characters feel like they take a much more proactive approach when such things happen. The Masquerade has never been a series to shy away from terrible outcomes for beloved characters and Tyrant is no exception. And make no mistake, horrors are visited upon everyone with far reaching effects. Tyrant picks up almost exactly where Monster left off, with Baru and her many frienemies captured by the CancriothĪnd awaiting whatever horrors are about to be visited upon them. It's the sort of nearly-pretentious setup that I would never have expected to become one of my favorite series ever when I first started The Monster Baru Cormorant, yet here we are. There's relatively brief swordplay and the main character is an accountant and economic savant who makes John Maynard Keynes look like a poster on WallStreetBets. Little thought is given to the idea of conquering in battle, focusing instead on reshaping entire cultures' ideologies and economics, like playing Civilization as the Netherlands. All three books are dense, confusing, and lack many of the really fantastical elements of a fantasy novel. The Tyrant Baru Cormorant, like both of its predecessors, is a bit of a fantasy anomaly to me.
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