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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I received an ARC of this title from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This review intends to avoid spoilers, but has been written pre-publication.
4.5/5 stars: ★★★★1/2
"You did one honorable thing and you think that makes everything all right. Love conquers all. But it doesn't."
In a world that is eerily similar to 1930-40s France, including its takeover by the Nazi party, we follow a set of characters through their time at an enigmatic school for teaching young people how to play something called the "grand jeu." This game, based on Herman Hesse's "The Glass Bead Game," is a mysterious mixture of math, art, and performance that is never fully explained but that I as a reader decided to imagine as a kind of performance, in which the person with the most complex and cohesive performance involving as many areas of study as possible wins the Game.
But while the setting and mysterious "grand jeu" that students learn while at the school of Montverre are characters themselves, it is the human characters that this story focuses on most thoroughly and successfully. This is both a mystery and a romance, stretched out over at least a decade, and with twist after twist or, as the title suggests, betrayal after betrayal. The complexity of the plot that these betrayals created, combined with interesting characters and the lyrical writing I fell in love with in Collins' earlier work, "The Binding," made it difficult to put this book down once I got into the meat of it.
This is a multi-layered story of friendship, romance, competition, tradition, modern politics, racial/religious/gender discriminations, and art, and what happens when all of these things collide in a series of oppositional, violent clashes. This story kept me on my toes, always wanting to know more. It left me greedy after every chapter, desperate to consume more of the prose, and the drama, and the twists, but most importantly, the story that tied them all together. I also felt drawn to the seemingly accidental betrayals most of all, and how so many of us are morally grey without even realizing it. That gentle encouragement toward introspection, without Collins ever saying it outright, was relatable to me on a very personal level.
Despite the fact that the winning part of this book is the character dynamic, I will not describe the characters as individuals too much here, as many of their identities intersect in ways too important to the plot. But the lives of Leo, Claire, and everyone else swept up into their world, into their game, created a symphony of emotion and truth. A "grand jeu" all their own, if you will.
4.5/5 stars: ★★★★1/2
"You did one honorable thing and you think that makes everything all right. Love conquers all. But it doesn't."
In a world that is eerily similar to 1930-40s France, including its takeover by the Nazi party, we follow a set of characters through their time at an enigmatic school for teaching young people how to play something called the "grand jeu." This game, based on Herman Hesse's "The Glass Bead Game," is a mysterious mixture of math, art, and performance that is never fully explained but that I as a reader decided to imagine as a kind of performance, in which the person with the most complex and cohesive performance involving as many areas of study as possible wins the Game.
But while the setting and mysterious "grand jeu" that students learn while at the school of Montverre are characters themselves, it is the human characters that this story focuses on most thoroughly and successfully. This is both a mystery and a romance, stretched out over at least a decade, and with twist after twist or, as the title suggests, betrayal after betrayal. The complexity of the plot that these betrayals created, combined with interesting characters and the lyrical writing I fell in love with in Collins' earlier work, "The Binding," made it difficult to put this book down once I got into the meat of it.
This is a multi-layered story of friendship, romance, competition, tradition, modern politics, racial/religious/gender discriminations, and art, and what happens when all of these things collide in a series of oppositional, violent clashes. This story kept me on my toes, always wanting to know more. It left me greedy after every chapter, desperate to consume more of the prose, and the drama, and the twists, but most importantly, the story that tied them all together. I also felt drawn to the seemingly accidental betrayals most of all, and how so many of us are morally grey without even realizing it. That gentle encouragement toward introspection, without Collins ever saying it outright, was relatable to me on a very personal level.
Despite the fact that the winning part of this book is the character dynamic, I will not describe the characters as individuals too much here, as many of their identities intersect in ways too important to the plot. But the lives of Leo, Claire, and everyone else swept up into their world, into their game, created a symphony of emotion and truth. A "grand jeu" all their own, if you will.
I will always love Collins writing style and her twists that are hinted at just enough for you to know its coming but not enough for you to know with any certainty. I am glad but also a little upset that I was correct about this twist. I enjoyed the book but found the elusiveness of the Grand jeu frustrating at times. I was also constantly mad at Léo's naivety and denail of his own actions and motives.
Overall though i really enjoyed it and especially loved the ending. For once an open ended finish to a book left me satisfied.
Overall though i really enjoyed it and especially loved the ending. For once an open ended finish to a book left me satisfied.
adventurous
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-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
I read this book a few years ago and absolutely loved it. Having just read, and been disappointed with, The Silence Factory; I thought I’d reread The Betrayals to see if it was as good as I’d remembered. IT WAS! The beauty of the setting and the depth of feeling between the main characters is breathtaking with a chilling the dark undercurrent of background fascism. The Grand Jeu itself is ethereal and Intriguing and all the better for remaining so. And Leo’s self centered naivety is just heartbreaking. A magical and haunting book.
For the first 30 pages or so, I was unconvinced. It felt slow and boring and confusing. However, once you get past it there is so much magic and beauty in this book that I struggled to put it down. The character relationships are beautifully crafted and I wanted to believe every word was real and happening somewhere. I wanted to be in Montverre and watch it all unfold.
DNF @25% I am such a massive fan of the binding, I recommend it to everyone, I think it’s just such a brilliant book. But I struggled with this one. Just found it really dull and never wanted to pick it up; always something better to read. But sad.
DNF. I got to 150 pages, and I still had no idea what the f*** was going on.
It is really beautifully written, in the same way that a philosophy book is written where there is a ton of allegory and lots of metaphors, combined with reflections on the pointlessness of human existence and how we're all trash inside. The author is heavily influenced by Hermann Hesse, and I never want to read Hermann as a result (in between, you know...my [b:Ice Planet Barbarians|25128811|Ice Planet Barbarians (Ice Planet Barbarians, #1)|Ruby Dixon|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1551411246l/25128811._SX50_.jpg|44825213] books...).
It is really beautifully written, in the same way that a philosophy book is written where there is a ton of allegory and lots of metaphors, combined with reflections on the pointlessness of human existence and how we're all trash inside. The author is heavily influenced by Hermann Hesse, and I never want to read Hermann as a result (in between, you know...my [b:Ice Planet Barbarians|25128811|Ice Planet Barbarians (Ice Planet Barbarians, #1)|Ruby Dixon|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1551411246l/25128811._SX50_.jpg|44825213] books...).
DNF at 149 pages. I tried, and I thought maybe I was just in a reading rut & that’s why I wasn’t engaging with this story. But after reading other reviews I realize it’s definitely not just me — there’s too much happening & none of it is truly explained (another reviewer said it perfectly, there is such a thing as too much mystery) and it appears those explanations never come. And based on other reviews, it only gets worse. Moving on.
While I loved [b:The Binding|39964740|The Binding|Bridget Collins|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1524759055l/39964740._SX50_.jpg|61870369], The Betrayals just didn’t work for me. The writing was lovely, though I found the plot and most of the characters lacking. At first, I was intrigued by the game, The Grand Jeu, though it felt a bit pretentious. I never really understood it, something to do with music, art, math, poetry and philosophy and the students come up with their own variations of the game for their marks. How this was presented in both paper form without performance was never explained. Apparently, this was inspired by Herman Hesse’s [b:The Glass Bead Game|16634|The Glass Bead Game|Hermann Hesse|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386922806l/16634._SX50_.jpg|2959456], which refers to a similar mysterious game.
Unfortunately, this ambiguous game overshadows the characters and the story while the twist at the end was easily predictable if you were paying attention. There were also some odd politics thrown in here and there with discrimination against women and very specific persecution of Christians by the government relating Christianity to “old” religion (I’m not even going to touch that one, though I found it rather uncomfortable that Christianity was the only religion mentioned) while the game is the “new” religion that should bring you closer to God.
Overall, the story was just not one I enjoyed though I did enjoy a bit of the relationship between Carfax and Leo at points. The fact that it was built around the game and their discussions of the game ruined even that for me.
Thank you to William Morrow for an Advanced Reader Copy provided for an honest review.
Unfortunately, this ambiguous game overshadows the characters and the story while the twist at the end was easily predictable if you were paying attention. There were also some odd politics thrown in here and there with discrimination against women and very specific persecution of Christians by the government relating Christianity to “old” religion (I’m not even going to touch that one, though I found it rather uncomfortable that Christianity was the only religion mentioned) while the game is the “new” religion that should bring you closer to God.
Overall, the story was just not one I enjoyed though I did enjoy a bit of the relationship between Carfax and Leo at points. The fact that it was built around the game and their discussions of the game ruined even that for me.
Thank you to William Morrow for an Advanced Reader Copy provided for an honest review.
I felt like I was trying to read the fifth book in a series without reading the previous 4. What is the grand jeux and why should I care? What do you mean the rat? Why is it special a woman is magistrate? Why should I care that Leo lost his political carreer?? Like I get that you cant reveal the whole damn plot in the first 50 pages but at least explain the whole grand jeux part and why I should care that one of the MC's is sent to study it. Did not care about any of the MCs in the first 50 pages and no clue what this book is actually about, therefore its a DNF for me and donating it.