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3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
**2.5** From the start the game annoyed me as although the author clearly had an idea of what the game was in her head, she didn't give enough information to form your own idea so there was lots of times, especially at the start, where they were talking about it and it made no sense. I would have loved to have known more about it so I could conceptualise the games. And why do people even care so much about it? And the religious aspect seemed to be Christianity is bad but grande jeu is good - what?? Why?! No explanations were provided for what seemed to be the start of ethnic cleansing.
I found the setting weird. When listening to the diary it felt like you were following a 12 year old boy, and it was clearly a very boarding school set up, yet the men were actually 19/20 so it was presumably some kind of university. And what country were we in? Who knows, but we're clear its definitely not England as that's somewhere they go to. I felt the sexuality bit was weird too. Like Leo was clearly bisexual, but by the end it's kind of like she's saying 'well really, carfax was a girl all along', and that didn't really sit well with me.
I found it overly wordy and long, and several bits of it seemed very drawn out, even listening at 1.5x (Leo's eventual revelation was infuriating). I felt like there were several elements of the story that had potential but never really went anywhere or had any depth (the rat, the fascist regime etc), maybe the author was trying to pull in too many different elements? I seem to have had a run of books with frustratingly dense/oblivious main characters, and this was unfortunately not an exception. And don't get me started on the characterisation of mental health problems!
I found the setting weird. When listening to the diary it felt like you were following a 12 year old boy, and it was clearly a very boarding school set up, yet the men were actually 19/20 so it was presumably some kind of university. And what country were we in? Who knows, but we're clear its definitely not England as that's somewhere they go to. I felt the sexuality bit was weird too. Like Leo was clearly bisexual, but by the end it's kind of like she's saying 'well really, carfax was a girl all along', and that didn't really sit well with me.
I found it overly wordy and long, and several bits of it seemed very drawn out, even listening at 1.5x (Leo's eventual revelation was infuriating). I felt like there were several elements of the story that had potential but never really went anywhere or had any depth (the rat, the fascist regime etc), maybe the author was trying to pull in too many different elements? I seem to have had a run of books with frustratingly dense/oblivious main characters, and this was unfortunately not an exception. And don't get me started on the characterisation of mental health problems!
These characters have stayed with me months after reading. My favourite novel of the year so far
Many thanks to Jonathan Ball Publishers for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
After reading The Silence Factory, and loving it, a couple of months ago, I have been looking forward to this ever since. I do not have The Binding nor have I read it.
This is a story about an arcane and mysterious game, called the grand jeu, and the people who make it, teach it and play it; most specifically, the masters at Montverre Academy (where only the best and brightest are trained for excellence).
The plot follows Leo (and various others) as he is disgraced as the Minister for Culture and is sent back to Montverre to study the game and, hopefully, make amends. This is a story of intrigue not action, more character- than plot-driven; it is atmospheric and, at times, immersive.
From what I can tell from the two books I've read so far, Collins seems to have bisexual themes for her main characters, and I am here for it.
The problem I had with this, though, is that I don't understand what the game is - was the author being deliberately obtuse? - other than a mix of music, poetry, mathematics, and religion with its own language, movements and gestures. BUT NEVER IS THE GAME ACTUALLY PLAYED! This almost made me put this book aside.
However, there was plenty of intrigue for me to continue the story and the characters were great.
Rating: 3.5 stars
After reading The Silence Factory, and loving it, a couple of months ago, I have been looking forward to this ever since. I do not have The Binding nor have I read it.
This is a story about an arcane and mysterious game, called the grand jeu, and the people who make it, teach it and play it; most specifically, the masters at Montverre Academy (where only the best and brightest are trained for excellence).
The plot follows Leo (and various others) as he is disgraced as the Minister for Culture and is sent back to Montverre to study the game and, hopefully, make amends. This is a story of intrigue not action, more character- than plot-driven; it is atmospheric and, at times, immersive.
From what I can tell from the two books I've read so far, Collins seems to have bisexual themes for her main characters, and I am here for it.
The problem I had with this, though, is that I don't understand what the game is - was the author being deliberately obtuse? - other than a mix of music, poetry, mathematics, and religion with its own language, movements and gestures. BUT NEVER IS THE GAME ACTUALLY PLAYED! This almost made me put this book aside.
However, there was plenty of intrigue for me to continue the story and the characters were great.
Rating: 3.5 stars
Couldn't get into it when I picked it up - may try in future
The real betrayal here is having to read over 400 pages without a crumb of context.
Poah, wat een boek. En niet per se op de goede manier. Het vorige boek van Bridget Collins, The Binding, heb ik beoordeeld met vijf sterren. Als ik er meer kon geven, had ik dat gedaan. Dus mijn verwachtingen voor dit boek waren hoog. Die werden al minder toen ik erachter kwam dat dit geen vervolg was. Ze waren door de grond gezakt toen ik niets eens door de eerste paar hoofdstukken kwam. Ik heb het boek een halfjaar laten liggen en ben op een gegeven moment maar verder gegaan. De voorleesfunctie op mijn ereader en uiteindelijk het audioboek hebben mij hier doorheen geholpen.
De taal is namelijk onmogelijk te begrijpen. Het spel (?) waar het hele boek omheen gebouwd is, wordt eigenlijk nooit duidelijk. Het is een combinatie van schaken, muziek, wiskunde en beweging??? Ik heb geen idee. De drie hoofdpersonen zijn niet uit te staan en ik heb eigenlijk ook geen idee waarom een van de drie erin zit.
De enige reden waarom ik het boek twee sterren geef en niet min een miljoen, is vanwege de plottwist in de laatste tachtig bladzijden of wat. Die heeft het boek enigszins gered. Maar daarvoor hoef je niet per se die vierhonderd pagina's te lezen.
De taal is namelijk onmogelijk te begrijpen. Het spel (?) waar het hele boek omheen gebouwd is, wordt eigenlijk nooit duidelijk. Het is een combinatie van schaken, muziek, wiskunde en beweging??? Ik heb geen idee. De drie hoofdpersonen zijn niet uit te staan en ik heb eigenlijk ook geen idee waarom een van de drie erin zit.
De enige reden waarom ik het boek twee sterren geef en niet min een miljoen, is vanwege de plottwist in de laatste tachtig bladzijden of wat. Die heeft het boek enigszins gered. Maar daarvoor hoef je niet per se die vierhonderd pagina's te lezen.
Took me a bit to get into this one, but once I stopped stressing over what exactly The Game was I really enjoyed the fact that it was basically a love story. It was full of angst and rivalry and would build up so much tension, dangle a tiny bit of happiness to melt your heart, and then yank it away again. It was a wonderful read.
This left me with a lot more questions than answers. There’s this grand jeu that’s never explained throughout the book that this school is based on. Is it a game? Performance? WHAT IS IT?? I didn’t quite understand the purpose of the rat character perspective in the book. The romantic relationship was disappointing at the end of the book, however, I did enjoy the lead up and suspense of the main characters relationship. An ok read but don’t feel like you’re missing something if you choose to not read it.
Merged review:
This left me with a lot more questions than answers. There’s this grand jeu that’s never explained throughout the book that this school is based on. Is it a game? Performance? WHAT IS IT?? I didn’t quite understand the purpose of the rat character perspective in the book. The romantic relationship was disappointing at the end of the book, however, I did enjoy the lead up and suspense of the main characters relationship. An ok read but don’t feel like you’re missing something if you choose to not read it.
Merged review:
This left me with a lot more questions than answers. There’s this grand jeu that’s never explained throughout the book that this school is based on. Is it a game? Performance? WHAT IS IT?? I didn’t quite understand the purpose of the rat character perspective in the book. The romantic relationship was disappointing at the end of the book, however, I did enjoy the lead up and suspense of the main characters relationship. An ok read but don’t feel like you’re missing something if you choose to not read it.
3.5 stars
Vastly prefer The Binding by Collins... this book was so unnecessarily vague and aimless. Immaculate vibes and writing though, so there's that.
Vastly prefer The Binding by Collins... this book was so unnecessarily vague and aimless. Immaculate vibes and writing though, so there's that.