I think the narrator was intentionally written to be very unsympathetic, but the problem with that is it doesn't give you much reason to care about anything that happens to him. The run-on and repetitive style of the writing was unique and fit the situation the narrator was writing in, but tedious at length. ( )

recommended by Nick Mamatas here: http://nihilistic-kid.livejournal.com/1550768.html

Compared to Cisco's The Narrator and The Divinity Student (hereafter referred to as Cisco's "other works"), The Traitor is much easier to follow and much less strange. It's also much less interesting- the nightmarish qualities of Cisco's other works are decidedly less pronounced in this book, the inexplicable aspects of the world are mostly relegated to the periphery of the world and the asides of the narrator rather than being put front-and-center. Now, on its own, a strange but more standard narrative compared to Cisco's other works isn't a problem, as it allows for Cisco to tell a more cohesive story than he did in his other works. Unfortunately, the story that Cisco tells through The Traitor suffers from issues of pacing and structure that keep it from being compelling, with some short passages being the exceptions.

Through the narrator, Nophtha, we are introduced to the strange world of this story and the profession of Spirit Eater, an exorcist that can use the energy of consumed spirits to aid others or, in what society considers a darker path, use that energy for personal benefit (thus developing superhuman powers and becoming classified as a Soul Burner). After a torturous childhood Nophtha rises to the position of a high-ranked Spirit Eater, and as a part of that duty Nophtha is tasked with hunting down the Soul Burner Wite. Up until this point I've no big complaints, The Traitor does a good job of establishing the world and what I took to be the main conflict of this book. It's the middle act that I found lacking (spoilers ahead):

Instead of hunting down Wite, Nophtha witnesses Wite kill the entire party of men hunting him with ease, and instead of being killed himself he chooses to join Wite and aid him. From this point through the rest of the middle third of the book (and, really, beyond), Nophtha becomes incredibly passive, merely a recorder of Wite's actions. Not that Wite is particularly active- besides some brief action segments, which make up some of the high points of this book for me, Wite spends the majority of his appearance in the book at his cousin's house, professing his desire for death but hesitating before his plan's execution. While Wite mopes, Nophtha kills time with Wite's cousin. This section is really the heart of the book, but, despite being of the greatest narrative importance, it's a slog. Eventually, and much earlier in the book than I expected, Wite dies. At this point Nophtha gets even more passive than before, his narration even acknowledging this, writing "[t]his is idle talk. This is only idle talk." Wite, despite being physically dead, becomes something elemental, haunting the mountain where his corpse was placed, and in death he becomes even more powerful than he was in life. Under his influence, Nophtha becomes a missionary for Wite, converting the marginalized throughout the land, a series of events that eventually leads to a revolution of sorts. Eventually, Nophtha is captured, and writes his account while dying in his cell.

The problem with this narrative is that it is largely rudderless. The first third had a clear purpose, but, as already mentioned, the middle third is meandering and seems pointless at times. The final third features actions that seem of little importance to the narrator, and which reach an eventual climax that was not built up and that does not feel important even as it is occurring. The main character is passive for the majority of the book, and Wite, who serves as perhaps the true main character, is largely relegated to the status of an ominous presence even while he's still alive, and doubly so when he's dead.

There are interesting parts here- I appreciate how the eating of spirits is not framed as an etherial and spiritual pursuit, but a visceral one. Other authors would frame this story as one of an unreliable narrator of questionable sanity, who may have just imagined the supernatural things occurring- not Cisco, though, who gives us a narrator that clearly doesn't have all his marbles but who nevertheless is experiencing things that are true in the context of this world. Though I've not gone into them in this review, it's the random asides Cisco peppers throughout the book that I find the most intriguing, like an anecdote about a people that can only die on the soil of their homeland, or the beastial Alak minister. There are fewer of these segments in The Traitor than in Cisco's other works, which is why reading The Traitor was a less interesting experience for me than Cisco's other works have been.

I'd consider this a lesser work of Cisco's, though still interesting. Still, I'd recommend both The Narrator and The Divinity Student over this one. ( )

2.5 Stars ( )