Of Treason A Novel

Of Treason A Novel – What It Actually Is and Whether You Should Read It

You have probably run across Janny Wurts' Of Treason A Novel somewhere in a fantasy recommendation thread or an old bookstore shelf and gotten curious. It is the second book in her Mages and Heroes duology, following The Serpent Path. The story takes place in the same shared world she built for her later Cycle of the Sword series, but this one is tighter and shorter, which is both its strength and its weakness depending on what you are looking for. Of Treason A Novel follows two protagonists who never really meet until the book is well underway: Zarakiel, a sorcerer who has spent decades hunting a dark force called the Serpent, and Rillia, a young woman thrust into a political war on the island of Vathis. The narrative alternates between their perspectives in third person limited, and the structure works because both threads are chasing the same underlying threat from completely different angles. Wurts is at her best when she is writing about systems of power, magic with rules, and the slow burn of paranoia rather than any single set piece. I picked this up around 2019 after finishing the longer Cycle of the Sword books and expecting the same depth. The prose quality is there, but the book is only about 450 pages in most editions, and that means some plot threads get compressed more than I would like. The political subplot involving the Warlock King's succession barely gets past the setup before it converges with Zarakiel's story, and the resolution feels a little rushed if you are used to Wurts' typical pacing.

What works and what does not

The magic system is concrete enough to follow without constant hand-holding. Sorcerers draw power through rituals, wands, and innate gift, and the book makes it clear that every spell has a cost or a limitation. That kind of constraint is what keeps the tension going. The Serpent as an antagonist is genuinely unsettling because it operates through influence and manipulation rather than brute force, which makes the stakes feel real even when the action scenes are sparse. Where the book stumbles is in its secondary characters. Rillia's section introduces several supporting players who exist mainly to deliver exposition or get killed off to raise the temperature. I found myself skimming some of the middle chapters during the third act because the plotting becomes predictable. You can see the betrayals coming from a mile away. That is not necessarily a dealbreaker, but it does make the ending feel more like an obligation than a surprise.

Who should read it

If you are already invested in Wurts' world and want to fill in the gap between her earlier standalone work and the epic Cycle of the Sword, this is worth your time. It is a decent bridge novel. If you are looking for a self-contained fantasy experience with tight plotting and no prior commitment, you might be better off starting with one of her later books instead. The duology format means the first book does a lot of heavy lifting in worldbuilding, and the second pays off but does not expand the setting nearly as much. I would recommend reading it in order with The Serpent Path. Reading them out of sequence removes most of the emotional weight from the turning points. The Kindle edition runs around $7 to $9 on Amazon, and the paperback is usually available through Amazon's print-on-demand service if the larger publishers do not stock it in your area. Barnes and Noble and Book Depository sometimes carry it too.

Bottom line

Of Treason A Novel is a solid, competent high fantasy entry. It is not Wurts' best work, but it is not a bad use of a weekend either. The prose is clean, the magic system is internally consistent, and the central conceit of a creeping, manipulative evil is handled with more restraint than you get in most genre entries. Just lower your expectations on the second half and you will probably walk away satisfied.