Traitor's Gate

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Garry Holmes
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Traitor's Gate

Post by Garry Holmes »

When we begin this volume of Mr Sallust's adventures, he finds himself in danger of being called up for active service (this sort of thing never happened to 007!). Sir Pellinore solves that problem in double quick time, but very soon Sallust is worrying about the gloomy prospects of the war finishing any time soon.
The bane of any DW novel, the dreaded info dump, takes up quite a bit of the first 90 pages of the novel. Sallust and Sir P. discuss Communism v Facism in a way that will doubtless get some of the regulars on this site at each others throats for weeks to come, but ultimately a decision is reached and Sallust is sent to Hungary to see whether they can be convinced to join the allied cause. Sallust is having a wonderful time to begin with, but as DW fans will guess, this doesn't last very long.
This is one of those novels where it is best to finish reading each chapter half way through. If you wait till the cliff-hanger then it will be necessary to go on to the next one. Unlike some of the previous Sallusts, such as 'Faked Passports', 'Traitor's Gate' benefits from a cleverly constructed plot. There is also a sprinkling of what could be called romantic comedy, as Sallust must constantly try to square things with Erika, as she constantly gets the wrong end of the stick and threatens to leave him.
A very enjoyable read, with an ending which can be construed as both cynical and romantic at the same time.
Toohey
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Post by Toohey »

Not the dreaded data dump! That's what spoiled The Black Baroness and They Used Dark forces.
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