Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
At the end of the novel, Bridget Collins notes that the story, and particularly her Grand Jeu, was influenced by Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game. Now if I'd remembered my university reading of that book, this one would have made a hell of a lot more sense. My Latin did, finally, come in handy when deciphering 'Magister Ludi' (Master/Teacher of the Game), but that's where my sense of accomplishment ended. The 'grand game' is a complex mix of music and math, philosophy, religion, and life itself, understood by the reader only in the abstract. Unlike us, the students and teachers at Montverre feel the power of the game, working to create the most intricate or clever version in competition with each other. So central is this process of creation that the game becomes more important than any character in the novel.
Both Leo 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... About This Edition ISBN: The decision to have Claire BE Carfax sat very strangely with me. The way it was handled felt very off. The trope of 'woman disguises herself as a man to attend something she wouldn't be able to as a woman' is as old as time, and in this scenario felt extremely trite and uninspired. Perhaps if there had been any nuance whatsoever in regards to how the narrative interacted with gender, instead of the heavy-handed mess that we got, this plot line could have worked better.Ultimately, I've barely any idea what this book was about. Go read the description. There's a school, yes. And a love, or loves, sort of? There's a game that is never explained but is entirely central to the book. There's a totalitarian government coming into power, but is never explored. 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. Léo: was called ‘Arrogant, unkind, self absorbed’ by another character which is nicer than what I would have written. Initially thought the woman called him Theo then realised it’s Leo. Still can’t draw up any sympathy for him. Don’t like the narrator’s accent for Léo - doesn’t fit what a Minister for Culture would sound like to me. Couldn’t even cooperate with his class mate who is top ranked for a grand jeu game - so immature and somewhat emotionally bullies the other. No redeeming qualities that I’ve discovered
As a student, Léo fell in love with his former rival, another talented student, who died at the end of their term. Upon returning to the school, he sees that his former crush's sister is now the head of the school, and they begin to kindle a connection. I won't spoil anything more, but I will say I was expecting canon queer content and was disappointed at the route it took.
Search The Blog
I wanted to read The Betrayals based on my love of The Binding. This too promised a historical fantasy with a slow Where I was a little more let down was in the characters. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t actively hate them. I just didn’t quite connect with them in the same way as I did in The Binding. This is some of the best fiction I've read in a while, and really good too. It's one of the few books I've read that are set in France, and is definitely one of the best. Which is why it just didn’t sit right with me that Léo would want to start something with Carfax’s sister and see her as some kind of replacement for her brother. I could never, ever get behind Léo and Claire as a couple – unless, of course, Claire was Carfax all along. Unless part of Léo somehow recognized who she was, even though he didn’t consciously know it at the time. Unless he was so entranced with Claire because she was Carfax, and everything Léo had loved about him, he could also see in her. A lot is going on with this novel, no doubt, and I’m trying to be as vague as possible to not leave any spoilers. The ending is a bit surprising, even if it is not wholly original (shades of M. Butterfly), and is only successful because it exists in a book. All in all, The Betrayals is a frustrating read to a certain extent because it is so vague and ambiguous — and would be the type of ambiguity that would lead to perversion in John Wayne’s mind, though I seek to make no judgments myself. Again, the setting is not specified, though Collins references France and England as fellow countries in her text. The period of the novel’s setting is similarly vague at best, as mentioned, so we’re never too sure if the fascists are a mirror of the German Nazi party— simply because it is not clear if the story takes place in Germany or not. You have to read a good portion of this novel before it becomes clear that Collins is merely taking liberties with retelling the story of the rise of Nazism in Germany during the ’30s at all — so the book can be rather confusing to say the least. When a car pulls up to deliver some baggage to Montverre early on, you don’t know how the car should look like: modern, or something from another era? I suppose this vagueness is Collins’ way of saying that the story could happen at any time, but the details do matter as they do gradually (sort of) emerge as the story is being told.
Amazingly, it sounds like you loved this book even more than I did! Now let me tell you how difficult it was for me not to say something when you revealed that you had figured out the plot twist but had your doubts!! It was immensely impressed so you should definitely be proud of yourself. My own vague theory was that he/she was transgender, but nothing more specific than that. Like you, I was looking for anything that could prove that Carfax wasn’t dead. And when it was revealed I wanted to hit myself because yes there had been clues! And while I was a bit mad that the grand jeu is never explained explicitly, it does add to the whole mystery of this. Same with a lot of other aspects; the not knowing, and slow uncovering of details and plot lines, inevitably leading a really satisfactory 'Aha! I should have known all along' moments was really the most enjoyable part of this. And let’s not forget that this had my favorite trope of all time!! If you’ve been reading my posts for a while, you’ll know that “girl disguises herself as a boy to achieve something society has denied to her” just gets to me every single time. Okay, well, maybe not in Arabella of Mars, but it wasn’t really the trope’s fault in that one… 🙄 The Betrayals, though, had what is probably one of my favorite executions yet, apart from Tamora Pierce’s Song of the Lioness Quartet. The story unfolds at a measured pace – this is the kind of book that creeps in under your guard and grabs hold of your attention, and it’s truly worth the wait. The main characters, and the complicated dynamic between them, are absolutely fascinating, and I was thoroughly invested in their narratives. At the end of the day, this is a very human story about people and all the curious and often heartbreaking ways they can get tangled up in deceptions, misunderstandings and betrayals. Format I Read It In: Audiobook [Which I would highly recommend! I loved the narrators! And plus, it’s freely available if you have Scribd 😉 ]And I did enjoy it. I definitely liked the story, namely the writing and worldbuilding, granted, but I liked it. I just didn’t like it as much as I was hoping to.
The story follows four threads: the Rat (who opens the story, but only becomes truly relevant later on), Léo in the present (a disgraced member of the governing party), Clare (the Magister Ludi, a teacher at Montverre), and Léo in the past (as a student). It sounds more complex than it is, really, because the Rat doesn’t really get a look in that much in part one, becoming more of a character in part two.This was a beautifully written book with a gorgeous cover. I was excited to dive in and read. I am glad I read with a group, otherwise I may have given up. This has to be one of the most frustrating books that I have ever read. I spent most of the book trying to understand what was happening. All the talk of the grand jeu, the great game, and even after finishing I am not sure what it is! But I am glad that I kept going as the story did mostly come together. Review may contain spoilers, so stop reading now if you haven’t read the book yet… or continue reading if you’re a rebel!
Great Deal 
New Comment