Reviews with content warning for Blood - The Betrayals

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The Betrayals by Bridget Collins

22 reviews

phoe_bees's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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jessiereads98's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

TL;DR: The Betrayals is a poorly crafted, offensive Christian persecution fantasy featuring multiple other discriminatory stances that wants to be taken seriously as a literary work, but has nothing to say.

The Betrayals’ merits begin and end with a gorgeous cover. There is somehow both a lot and nothing going on here. Crucial elements are vague for the sake of vagueness, so much of the book both in major and minor elements is offensive, and the craft itself isn’t even particularly well done.

According to the blurb, The Betrayals centres around the grand jeu. The national game (or not a game, or a performance, or a religion, take your pick honestly) of some European nation (that is not France or Britain or Switzerland but deliberately not disclosed for some reason). The grand jeu is clearly made intentionally vague so the reader can never actually get a handle on what it is, how it is played, or what elements really make it up. This vagueness truly serves no purpose in the story or for the themes of the book. The author is also intentionally vague about what country this is taking place in, what time period it takes place in, and the details of the ruling political party. I believe this was an attempt to demonstrate that fascism can happen anywhere at anytime, but ultimately it is not effective and just leaves things feeling confused and hollow.

This book is also wildly offensive with absolutely no hint to what the reader is in for in the back cover description. This book is actually less about the grand jeu and more about the ruling political party’s oppression of Christians. The Christian oppression complex is weird and disgusting in and of itself, but Bridget Collins succeeds in making it worse. Collins has essentially recreated pre-Holocaust/World War II Nazi Germany and substituted Christians for Jewish people in her ahistorical fantasy world. Collins goes out of her way to inform us that the ruling party in the book came to power by gaining the support of the working class through blaming the country’s struggles on communists and Christians. In this reimagining of history Christians are marked with a cross on their clothing, put on a registry which requires special papers, and secretly rounded up by police then left in a hostile area. There was no creativity here, just a disgustingly antisemitic warping of history to satisfy the bizarre Christian desire to be oppressed. As if this wasn’t enough, Christians are lumped in with Muslims and Jewish people, who are actually oppressed (pages 51 and 78). The author also uses the slur g*psy (derogatory term for Romani people) and maligns their beliefs (page 183) for no real reason with nothing else done to combat that behaviour in the text.

The misogyny in this book both of the time period (which isn’t even specified but implied to be historical) and the characters goes completely unchallenged. Women are repeatedly maligned as less than the men, stupider, more frivolous, overly sensitive, petty. The two main female characters (Magister Ludi Claire Dryden, and The Rat) are almost never referred to by their names but rather their titles. Their supposed differences from other women are also repeatedly pointed out. The result is two dehumanized “not like other girls” caricatures who exist solely to further the development of male characters’ stories (Léo and Claire, Simon and The Rat).

The twist of Claire being the Carfax that Léo knew was predictable and boring. It diminished Léo’s previous relationship with Carfax, his current relationship with Claire, and the significance of Carfax’s death. In conjunction with the rest of the book it also came off as both transphobic and homophobic, whether that was the intention or not. Earlier in the book there is a seemingly throwaway line about an irrelevant side character who dresses in typically male clothing. It is said that, “she’d rather be an honorary man than speak up for women” (page 203). This is the exact attitude that TERFs hold towards trans men and trans masculine people. TERFs believe, that just as is portrayed in this book through Claire/Carfax, that trans men are really women pretending to be men due to not wanting to be disadvantaged under patriarchy. This story seems to play into that belief, and taken in conjunction with the Christian persecution fantasy it entertains, I’m not inclined to give the author the benefit of the doubt. In addition, the story gains little to nothing by retconning the queer relationship between Carfax and Léo other than getting to bury its gays. While there is less explicitly homophobic in this story, eliminating the only queer relationship retroactively once again does not look good in combination with everything else going on in this book.

The least of Bridget Collins’ sins in The Betrayals is the craft, however it also does not hold up under scrutiny. Bridget Collins clearly intended to write a Very Serious Literary Work with Something To Say. Ultimately what she created is something that can’t be taken seriously and has nothing to say. She is vague just for the sake of vagueness, it doesn’t accomplish anything. The character of The Rat seems to serve little purpose to the story. The character’s main function seems to be an attempt to shock readers through grossness and light body horror to enhance the impression of this as a serious literary work. The Rat’s secondary function is to further the Christian persecution narrative through her interactions with Simon, but that is irrelevant to the main plot of Claire/Léo/Carfax. We are also repeatedly told things instead of shown them. Collins just can’t seem to deal in subtleties that would be so much more compelling in this book. She can’t just show us that Léo is is romantically interested in Carfax (although it is obvious), she has to spend two pages telling us that Léo has a crush on Carfax. We are told, seemingly out of nowhere, that Léo loves Claire separately from his memory of Carfax. What led to that? Why are we suddenly being told this when up to that point Claire has been a sort of stand in or surrogate for Carfax in Léo’s mind? It might be shocking for Bridget Collins to find out that readers can, in fact, figure things out on their own and through subtext, and don’t need to be bashed over the head with them. Perhaps, instead of explicitly stating the obvious, she could spend those pages criticizing the disgusting attitudes displayed in this book.

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theirgracegrace's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

What I liked about the book: the richness of the language and the complicated system of roles and reversals that kept me reading. What I disliked: literally everything else. The attempt at Holocaust imagery is absurd, the love story completely overshadows the setting and the threats, and the characters are completely forgettable and ordinary. The author is also a TERF and you can see it in the way that the final reveal is played out. Honestly want my money back.

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ladymickbeth's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

The premise of this sounded like I book I would find ideal, but while I was intrigued, I was constantly frustrated, sometimes to the point of anger, at this book. The big plot reveal at the 80% mark made me literally get up from my chair and yell, it was so oddly placed and confusing. This book goes between a “present time” 1930s in an unnamed European country (meant to be France? Somewhere French-speaking? Somewhere where French culture was just copied and borrowed from?) and flashbacks to when the main character was attending the school, told with diary entries. I most looked forward to the diary entries, but I had to keep reminding myself that the narrator was 19-20 at the time of writing and not somewhere between 14 and 17, which is how I personally think the students seemed to act. The side plot with the Rat seemed like such a random addition that it almost felt out of place for most of the story. Also, maybe it’s because I hadn’t read the book this one is based on, but it was so frustrating to me how the Grand Jeu is never properly explained. I didn’t know it had something to do with music until like 20% in, but there’s also some kind of dance involved? Also math?? They say it’s meant to be worship, but they’re never clear on WHAT they are worshipping with the game. I’m good with a sense of mystery, but the whole time I had no grasp on this main piece of the plot.

My main issue, though, is the allusion to Holocaust-style religious prejudice, complete with having to have a symbol on your clothes to indicate you belong to a certain “other” religion — for the most part, this was Christianity. That subplot and its necessity makes NO sense to me and was uncomfortable, especially with it being set just a decade before WWII began (even though there is no confirmation that this story takes place in a universe where that war happens). I was here for the slow burn enemies-to-lovers romance, and the rest of the time I was left reeling about the plot points and character decisions.

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kindra_demi's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

Honestly, if it weren't for my curiousity in what the Grand Jeu was and how to play it, I would have DNF'ed this book. The twist/surprise only really caught me because I had also spent the 300+ pages before it trying to piece together the game. And all of that was to ultimately never get a complete answer.

I do appreciate a slow paced book, but there are points where it is so slow that I put it down and didn't pick it up for a couple weeks. There are 4 different pov:
- The Rat: her point of view doesn't really matter until the end of the book though you did get to see her grow with it starting in her pov and ending in it.
-Léo (in the past. His journal from when he attended school): probably the pov where you see the most growth. It was typically the only pov I looked forward to because it actually built the story.
-Léo (present day): a man who is so self absorbed he can't see 2 inches past his nose

to realize he is being set up in a trap. I get there was a tragedy where it could have stopped his growth at the end of his journal and into present day him, but that being said, seeing him grow in the journal only to be so ignorant in present day was frustrating. He held records. Played this complex game that was worthy of an elite school (the one he attended). With all of this, I would hope that he would be smart enough to realize that him being forced into quitting his job and return to his old school to "rekindle his love of the Grand Jeu" isn't just that...

-Magister Ludi: One of the heads of the school Léo attended/was forced to return to. And don't forget that SHE must do it alone because SHE is a WOMAN and SHE is going to be the future of the Grand Jeu because women aren't allowed to play but SHE worked for it. Did I mention that the Magister Ludi is a woman? This pov gave me "written by a man" energy. It felt like there wasn't an understanding of being a woman actually, but every time this pov came up, it was overly emphasized.

I don't know if it should be called miscommunication, but that is about the closest thing to describe this whole background of the problem in the book. One character was purposely left in the dark by another. Another character took their understanding of Léo's journal and ran with it in a total opposite direction than the original meaning. It's a journal but in this character's mind, they could have been purposely misleading (like the purpose of a journal is for other people to read).

Before I got to the twist, I was weirded out by the fact Léo went from having feeling for Carfax to having feelings for Claire. After it is revealed she is Carfax, it makes sense, but it just wasn't something that sat right with me.

I know Bridget Collins has another book, and I've seen good reviews for it, but I don't have hopes for it and won't be picking it up any time soon after this book.

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zzaakkiiyyaa's review

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adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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sirissacgluten's review against another edition

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0.25

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dandelionseeds's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

4.75

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natalieabigail's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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queenmackenzie's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is an absolute masterpiece! When I picked it up, I was uncertain, because though I loved her first adult novel, The Binding, I was worried that this one would be a little too complicated, and that I would abandon it before getting fully into it. It doesn’t help that the last two books I read this past week -both of which I had really been looking forward to- disappointed me, and I just needed something to stop me sliding into a slump. I can absolutely say The Betrayals did that and more!

The book follows serval threads; The Rat, a shadowy figure living her life in hiding in the dark corners of Montverre, Léo Martin in the present, Claire Dryden in the present, and Léo’s journal from when he first attended Montverre ten years before the current events take place. All of these string together so beautifully, and actually the structure of the story made me think, by the end, of the grand jeu, the game the characters study and perform in their school. The book opens with a point of view from The Rat, and this was the perfect way to draw me into the world, because her narrative is immediate, simple; she is a young girl struggling to survive in a place she should not be, so she has become something that will slip beneath people’s notice: a rat. Despite this though, the Rat is intimately connected to Montverre, and through this unique perspective I was hooked. I enjoyed her chapters, and also really appreciated the fact that, apart from being just another perspective, her narrative thread was woven through that of the other characters, too.

Then there are the alternations between Léo and Claire, and this strange world of the grand jeu. It took me a long time to even begin to understand what characters might be describing when talking about it. They mentioned music, maths, movement, and I honestly still don’t entirely understand, but I gather that it’s something performed, something that they often refer to as worship, and something that creates metaphors to view the world with. In an author’s note at the end of the book, Collins says that ‘The Betrayals was in part inspired by Hermann Hesse’s brilliant novel The Glass Bead Game (also known as Magister Ludi),’ which I have not read and know nothing about, so I might investigate and see if that brings more to light for me. But not understanding this central element of the story didn’t take away from my enjoyment, because the way Collins describes it throughout the novel is so full of life that I can picture it in the abstract.

It’s hard to talk about this book without giving things away, because there are some achingly good twists in it. Essentially, though, the story follows Léo as he is banished to his old school Montverre after opposing a new bill being passed by his Party, which is currently moving the country towards a ‘pure’ society, eradicating religion and all foreign influence. At Montverre he meets Claire, who is the first and only woman ever to be appointed Magister, and though they have never met there is something familiar in their interactions, and they play a dance of power and information throughout. Despite the twists, the whole narrative has this great sense of inevitability in it, and the characters all feel as if they are spinning towards something inescapable. Collins is really skilled at creating this background tension, especially by using the contrast of past and present, so that even during scenes where the characters are full of joy, you can feel the next disaster looming. It makes for very emotional reading, and I loved the way it tugged at my heartstrings.

What Collins also does very well is longing. Each character wants something, and in some cases it is one of the other characters, and it can be hard to write pining and mutual pining in a way that isn’t repetitive or overwhelming, and I think The Betrayals (and The Binding, for that matter) does it perfectly. There is a sense of longing even in the ending, which can also be hard to do, but I was happy with the way it was executed. The final pages left me wondering, and in some ways wanting to see more, but I was also satisfied with it.

I’m so glad I decided to pick this up; I read it in just over a day and I’m sure I will be thinking of it for many more to come.

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