Breakaway Books

Authored by Veronica Roth; Published May 2026; Science Fiction/Fantasy

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 🏖️🏖️🏖️🏖️

Seek the Traitor’s Son is a romantasy novel, but it is not just a romance with some fancy magical decoration. It is an intricately built dystopian world with rebel politics and cryptic prophecies fit for the genre of science fiction.

In Seek the Traitor’s Son, Elegy is prophesied to be the hope of her civilization, Cedre, to attain victory over the Talusar, who have taken over much of the planet Earth. Unfortunately, the prophecy is a complex one, declaring that it will be either her or her rival from the Talusar who will be the victor and finally end the wars between their peoples. But right when the prophecy is set to be announced to Elegy’s people, the Talusar strike, killing her mother and her husband, and kidnapping the knight sworn to her service. Four years later, Elegy is drawn out of her mourning, ready to rescue her knight and confront her enemy.

There is something alluring about cryptic prophecies pronounced at the beginning of a hero’s journey. They’re like puzzle pieces placed in front of the reader that will be turned at a unique angle to fit into the end of the story just right. Elegy’s prophecy looms over the novel from start to finish, as Elegy fights against it, mourning the loss of her family, and her rival embraces it and uses it to guide her every move. It also sets up a dramatic love triangle, which, well, what do you expect? What kind of fantasy novel doesn’t take the obvious opportunity to be a romantasy novel in this day and age? But I found the more interesting aspect of this novel to be the unlikely ways that the prophecy was fulfilled and how it will unravel in future novels. 

What I am impressed by in this novel, though, is the lore. The plot takes a lot of set up, but it manages to be a positive rather than a negative. When I closed the novel, all I could think was that there was so much more to explore in this world. The basic premise–Earth survives, but was wrecked by an infectious disease shortly after a friendly alien visit–is simple to understand and provides lots of material to work with. In this novel, the religion created by those who survive the disease is explored in depth (and is fascinating!), but only tantalizing hints are given to the nature of the alien visit and the future relationship between the earth-bound civilizations and the extraterrestrials who reached out to them. It makes me excited to read the next book in the series.

Seek the Traitor’s Son will introduce you to a wide, new world and a sizzling love triangle, to boot. What’s not to love?