Review: Treason by Althea Claire Duffy

Publication Date: 25^th March 2015
Publisher: Less Than Three Press

Huge thanks to Netgalley for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review

In the port city of Auragos, seven merchant Houses vie for control of the trade that has made the city wealthy. Raised as a spy for House Corellis, Elunet has played so many roles that she's sometimes unsure of who she really is. 
Sent to uncover proof of possible treason by their greatest rival, House Mellas, Elunet will be more than happy to see such a despicable family brought down. But then she meets Tavia—heir to House Mellas, student mage, and nothing that Elunet expected. And the treason she hoped to unmask instead proves to be an entirely different, but equally dangerous secret…

‘Treason’ is one of three novellas featuring strong LGBTQIA women being published by Less Than Three Press and I was so excited to get stuck into it. Unfortunately ‘Treason’ falls into the trap of many novellas where the idea is so intriguing that there simply isn’t enough space to cover everything and you end up with a very cropper view of the story as only one real element is brought to the fore. I could have quite happily read a full novel set in this world.

The world itself is intriguing and there is so much set up, so many names and places and intrigues and not enough time devoted to them. I wanted more, I wanted detail, but instead the sheer volume of information being thrown into these pages made me feel overwhelmed and I found it really hard to keep up with all the different houses and plots.

I also found the start of the relationship a little bit too rushed. There was a big surge of attraction and then everything simmered down to almost non-existent before another surge out of nowhere at the end of the story. It felt too random and the relationship itself too forced. It suffered from the same problem as the world – it needed more time to develop.

All in all this is a short, quick read that offers an interesting insight into Auragos, but skims over most of the exciting stuff and doesn’t really give the reader enough depth to invest in the story. Elunet is a fascinating protagonist though and I did really enjoy the story, I just wish there could have been more!