The Traitor’s Game was probably my favorite book I’ve ever read from Jennifer Nielsen. It was a little more mature in content, and by mature, I mean it was written for a higher age group (young adult) rather than middle graders, so the plot was darker, the stakes higher, and the characters richer. 

Told in alternate points of view, we get to read from Kestra’s perspective as a daughter of nobility coerced into treachery by rebels intent on bringing down a cruel and corrupt ruler, and from Simon’s perspective as one of the aforementioned rebels whose past life of slavery and barely-escaped execution have made him bitter towards Kestra’s family. 

The worldbuilding feels really grounded with a nicely-written structure in place, and I’m interested to see how the author further develops her countries in forthcoming novels.

Perhaps my only complaint is that I often felt the author’s characters tend to be “same-y.” For instance, Kestra is basically Sage/Jaron from the Ascendence Trilogy, and Simon is basically Nic from her Mark of the Thief trilogy. Other than that little complaint, I quite enjoyed this book and I’d recommend it to readers of Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen books, or The Winner’s Trilogy by Marie Rutkoski.

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by Scholastic

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  None 

Violence/Gore:  Many instances of violence, including but not limited to: characters are said to have a piece of their heart replaced with iron; characters are ambushed and slaughtered; characters are often threatened with injury and/or death; characters are frequently threatened with drawn weapons; a character is badly wounded by a weapon; characters are sometimes captured; characters occasionally relay stories of past violence in their lives that deal with kidnapping and escaping execution; a character jokes about banishing someone’s heart from their chest; characters often remember/discuss a devastating war; characters plot to murder an immortal person with a special knife; a character hears someone getting tortured; a character is cut with a knife; a character is bound to a chair; characters attack soldiers; in an extended scene, a character has to hide in a small space, which triggers claustrophobia and memories of a time when she was kidnapped and held in a small space; a character defies her master and is tortured with magic; a character is almost killed by the magic contained in a weapon; characters ambush guards, knock them out and bind them; a character hears a boy getting beaten by soldiers; characters are pursued by soldiers and some people are killed; a character stabs someone with a sword; in an extended scene, soldiers attack villagers, characters are attacked by both condors and the soldiers riding them, cannons are fired demolishing buildings and property, and some characters are killed; characters riot during a ceremony. 

Sex/Nudity:  A boy searches a captive girl for hidden weapons, running his hand down her body (not sexual); a girl removes a garter from her thigh; a boy and girl, trapped in a small space, become aware of the other’s proximity; a male character thinks about kissing a female character; a character jokes about a girl not being unobvious in a dress ripped halfway up to her thigh; a rival boy and a girl have secret feelings for each other; a maid helps a lady bathe, non-sexual; characters feel their pulses quicken when they look at each other; a man kisses a girl’s hand; a man flirts with a girl; a girl’s touch sends chills up a boy’s spine; a man asks a girl’s permission to kiss her; a character switches clothes with her maid while a boy is present but facing the wall; a male character holds a female character comfortingly while they are in a dungeon; a character realizes she is falling for someone; a characters asks a boy if she loves a girl; a girl notices how handsome a boy is and how he makes her heart flutter; a male and female character caress and almost kiss; characters caress and lean in for a kiss; characters link hands; a character changes her clothes while a boy is apparently asleep; a boy jokes about only seeing the last few minutes of a girl changing; a boy and girl lay together (clothed, not sexual); characters confess feelings for each other and passionately kiss; a character raises her skirts to remove a knife strapped to her thigh; characters caress as a farewell.

Mature Subject Matter:

Kidnapping, death, ambush, arranged marriage, war, murder plot, child abuse (verbal and emotional), socioeconomic conflicts.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Characters drink once or twice.