Anyway, just a little bit of background. Amani is a desert girl who discovers that she is a Demnji - half human children of Djinnis. She is called the Blue-eyed Bandit because it her eyes that mark her as a child of a Djinni. Amani had to leave her backwater (backdesert?) town and join the rebellion of Prince Ahmed to take the Kingdom from his father the Sultan. They are a bunch of humans and Demnji fighting for their freedom.
This installment isn't like any other 2nd books in series. Some would drag the story just to get to the 3rd part of the trilogy where everything starts actually happening before the finale. I saw a review calling that the Middle Book Syndrome (love that.), and I think the only other book that doesn't have that was
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas. That book was where the real action started.
Traitor to the Throne had a different kind of action - more of the subtle and political kind, the ones normally seen in palaces and royalty. Amani was betrayed by her Aunt and sold to the Sultan. She is used by the Sultan to capture Djinnis, starting with her own father. I liked how the author made me rethink about the purpose of the rebellion and the Sultans own attitude towards ruling. There was a part in the story where I was like the Sultan has a point and Prince Ahmed didn't have enough in him to be the ruler the kingdom really needs. And I think Amani saw it as well. The ending had a twist I was already seeing as happening and there was a need for it to cross the story over to the last book in the trilogy.
Thank goodness for small miracles - the romance between Jin and Amani wasn't all that mushy. It's already the 2nd book and they are still feeling around each other even if they already now they want one another and already kissed a handful of times. I have always loved how royalty of the desert kingdoms are portrayed - the opulence, the harem of women, the politics of the wives, even the description of the outfits.
Overall, this a book I'd definitely recommend people to read.