A novel of power struggles and revolution in an imagined land, The Traitor Baru Cormorant is a dark fantasy that gets into the fine details of how territories and their peoples are conquered and oppressed. Baru Cormorant is the brilliant daughter of one of these lands, who vows to climb the ranks of the Empire of Masks—her home's conquerer—in order to bring it down from the inside. As complex and sneakily smart as a Grandmaster's chess game, The Traitor Baru Cormorant will have you biting your nails the whole way through.