Written by contributor Graceley Knox
Review may contain spoilers, so stop reading now if you haven’t read the book yet… or continue reading if you’re a rebel!
First off, can I just get a round of applause for the hauntingly atmospheric fantasy writing that is a Bridget Collins novel? Please, Bridget, from me, don’t ever let an editor chop your prose from a book. My word loving soul couldn’t take it.
After her breakout debut hit, The Binding, in 2019, I opened up my copy of The Betrayals fully expecting to have my mind blown, and each and every one of my senses enthralled from page one. And for the most part, I was completely enraptured…. But, the layout of this book was a bit tricky for me. (Disclaimer, I did receive an advance copy of this book, so the layout could have changed from the time they printed ARC’s to the final text of the finished book).
That being said, I’ve got severe ADHD, so I tend to stick to novels with no more than two POVs… Trust me when I say, George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones series was like my worst nightmare, despite it being one of my favourite series. It just required flow charts, character lists, and seven rereads for me to fully grasp it.
So if you’re like me where too many time jumps within a novel—that’s not meant to be a time travel romance—will pull you off the story, then you might really need to take your time and sit down with this book without having to put it down for any reason. And I do mean sit with it without any distractions, have a pen and paper nearby for notes (I did!), and definitely plan on a reread, so you can fully grasp the deliciously mysterious and magical novel that is The Betrayals.
I’m not saying that Collins’ writing in The Betrayals wasn’t as spectacular as it was in The Binding… because man oh man can Collins pen a novel, but there was something just a little bit off within the story that didn’t make this as unputdownable as The Binding was for me.
I’m not sure if that’s in part due to the covers looking so similar that I had certain hopes that Collins would interweave the two worlds (a fangirl can dream right?!)… Or if it’s because of how the novel is broken down with four different points of view (The Rat, The Magister Ludi, Léo, and the past Léo). Perhaps it could have been that within those four POV’s there were a lot of scene breaks that jarred me out of the story, and it took me a minute to refocus back on what was going on each time, even if scene breaks normally aren’t an issue for me. However, in this case when I say scene breaks, I don’t mean like one scene break in a chapter. I’m talking 3-4 scene breaks on a single page multiple times throughout a chapter and the entire book. At one point, I counted 14 scene breaks in one chapter, even when the character hadn’t switched over. I get that some parts of it were meant to serve as a sort of diary entry format, that part didn’t escape my notice, but I think that would have worked better if this novel wasn’t as complex a mix of mysterious events, secrets, arcane arts, and unknown parties, as it is.
Out of the four POV’s, only one seemed to keep my interest fully with the other three almost seemingly unnecessary to keep the story moving along. Unless their purpose was to keep the reader from ever feeling like they could fully grasp the true concept of the story, but overall I felt as though each character was competing to explain how they’re involved in The Grand Jeu (which is an inexplicable and mindboggling game that I’m still confused about) to the point where it was almost as if the completion of their tasks to create the game was more important than what was actually going on with each character’s journey, as a person. An example would be Claire (The Magister Ludi) and Léo’s romance within the book where in first half of the novel, their relationship grows and the development of it is wonderfully presented, but as it went on, it almost seemed irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
Collins did note that this book was inspired by The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse which, if I had read previously to this, I might have gotten more from all the little unexplained word meanings and world quirks, but I haven’t so there’s that.
That being said, break out your Latin dictionaries because you’re going to need them! I took a few years of Latin in high school, but it’s been a minute. Knowing that, or having a glossary and a map included (hopefully there will be one in the finished edition), I think it would have aided in my understanding of the world just enough to take this from a seven star read to a ten star read.
On a final note, the entire provocatively peculiar world that Collins has crafted in The Betrayals is a darkly thrilling and fantastical mystery that lovers of mind-bendy novels are sure to love. However, for this reader, it either went over my head or I haven’t read it enough times to fully grasp the full picture that is surely cleverly hidden within the pages. Either way, I am still looking forward to seeing what Collins writes next as her mastery of descriptive words are works of art, in and of themselves.
The Betrayals is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
Will you be picking up The Betrayals? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
If everything in your life was based on a lie
Would you risk it all to tell the truth?
At Montverre, an exclusive academy tucked away in the mountains, the best and brightest are trained for excellence in the grand jeu: an arcane and mysterious contest. Léo Martin was once a student there, but lost his passion for the grand jeu following a violent tragedy. Now he returns in disgrace, exiled to his old place of learning with his political career in tatters.
Montverre has changed since he studied there, even allowing a woman, Claire Dryden, to serve in the grand jeu’s highest office of Magister Ludi. When Léo first sees Claire he senses an odd connection with her, though he’s sure they have never met before.
Both Léo and Claire have built their lives on lies. And as the legendary Midsummer Game, the climax of the year, draws closer, secrets are whispering in the walls…
Is it a standalone or a series??
Every time I read about the novels of Bridget Collins, it’s how her first was better than her second. For me it was the opposite. I loved The Betrayals, but found The Bindings so depressing that I put it down after a significant character died (was murdered?). But her writing, with its splendid word pictures, is always top notch.
this book sounds so good! thanks for sharing.