The Betrayals - Bridget Collins

 "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…"

This is an extremely atmospheric novel, with the abstract concept of the grand jeu, a tragic death, a nefarious government party, and elusive characters all vying for interest. There is a mysterious feeling to everything and Collin's prose is deeply beautiful and highly readable. The books main focus seems to be on the characters, which I'm not quite sure was the best decision, as this leaves the multiple outside forces not fully explored, and the story was hindered because of it.

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.

But its inherent emptiness and incomprehensibility is alienating, and while that's a perfectly apt metaphor for the themes in the book, it's going to leave a lot of readers dissatisfied. There's so much mystery shovelled into this book that it seems to burns all, or at least much, of the emotion out. The Grand Jeu (no real explanation given), the Rat (evidence of a past mystery and a mystery in itself), the Party (some kind of fascist government who want something abstract from the game, the school, and apparently to persecute Christians.)All of these mysteries are left unexplored or only very lightly touched on. 

The romantic element was disappointingly resolved, a beautifully depicted and unconventional relationship developed in the first half of the book turned quite mundane by the end. I did like the mystery's conclusion and the small amount of bi representation that it afforded us. 

That being said, I just could not put this book down. Something about it sucked me in and kept me engaged. I think the writing has such a charming and enveloping nature to it, that I didn't want to stop reading it.

Definitely not as good as BCs debut novel, in my opinion, but still worth reading.

Age Rating 17+ Sex, abuse, suicide, mental illness, prejudice.