Addiction can be a controversial topic, but its nature is both interesting and debatable. There are certain substances which are known to cause a physical reliance, with well documented withdrawal symptoms. Some things are a bit more wishy-washy though. Is it really possible to be addicted to reading, for example? I'm not sure scientists would say so, but at times it really does feel like it.
Failing miserably to consume a varied diet of books I plunged straight into the third book of the Traitor Spy trilogy. As you would expect, this continued the plotlines laid out previously and brought them together into wider conclusions. Broadly speaking this boiled down into one outcome in each country, but naturally each of the sub-threads had its own result. Some aspects are those you know will appear in a book of this kind, but I wasn't actually certain how the main elements would play out.
It was less than 48 hours from the time I started this book to the time I finished it. I'm not sure it would actually have been possible to read it any quicker without completely neglecting my baby. Part of it will have been the back-to-back reading, but I was drawn in straight away and wanted to stay drawn in. I cared about so many of the characters and sat hoping to see the best for them, as well as worrying which main character would be the inevitable end-of-trilogy sacrifice.
The Traitor Queen covers a range of themes, reaching far beyond the fantasy genre (as is so often the case). Social issues are raised in different ways, from dealing with drug addiction to equality in society. Issues such as whether it is right, or even possible, to judge another society by your own rules are at the forefront. It's always nice to read something that manages to make you think without being too preachy.
And of course there are the relationships between characters, which I really can't leave out. While fairly transparent, the attachments formed were one of the elements that kept me wanting to read on. You're left waiting until the last chapter before the Epilogue to confirm something that has been building up since the first book. But waiting is no bad thing. It just meant that it was in the section I had to re-read - speed reading the last few chapters of a book is a really bad habit of mine.
All in all I thoroughly enjoyed these books and really didn't want to leave the world behind. I know that there are many other good books out there (hopefully many of them are on my to-read pile), it's just that sometimes the right book crosses your path at the right time and really makes its mark. Oh, and I confirmed a suspicion that I've had for some time now. I'm definitely the sort of person that benefits from waiting for all three books of a trilogy to be out before starting to read. I dread to think how bad the withdrawal symptoms would have been.
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