Bridget Collins has just beautiful, captivating prose that her books are always a joy to read.
I don't think the plot of The Betrayals is quite as strong as The Binding however i do think it was a great read and would recommend to all.

I honestly went into this with higher expectations than I should have done. Friends had recommended the author to me, and I wanted to give her work a try. I felt like this didn't hit the right spot for me. Although it was historical, it felt very generic, and I felt like every other page at the beginning really just gave me more questions than answers.

Towards the middle, I started to enjoy it more. It felt like a very slow start, and it just wasn't as enjoyable as I wanted it to be.

The Betrayals - like The Binding - is beautifully written, and I don't think I will ever get enough of the author's prose, and the book outside of the 'grand jeu' was wonderful, and I enjoyed the setting and characters. What, did lose me a little, and made me debate whether to round up to 4 stars or not, is that the 'grand jeu' itself left me feeling as though I was flailing around in the dark parts of the book, and even when the answers were reveled towards the end, I felt as though there was something beyond my grasp. However, I did enjoy the book and it was a engrossing read, albeit confusing in places, and in the end it was the writing that pushed this to a four stars for me.

This is the first Bridget Collins work I have read, so I went into it with no particular expectations. I found a book that was captivating, beautiful, but frustrating. Definitely a solid 4 out of 5 for me.

The plot here is original in its concepts - a university in a sort of alternative universe version of Europe circa the 1940s (assuming I picked up the time setting clues correctly - I read in small chunks when my baby is napping so sometimes I miss things like an explicit date being stated) where students study the elusive 'grand jeu' - more on that later - while a recently elected government begins to implement sinister policies and a decade-old diary gives insight into some infamous events of the school's history. The author's notes reference inspiration from Herman Hesse, an author with whom I am not familiar, but I felt there were elements of Brideshead Revisited as well as a similar atmosphere in some parts to Joanne Harris's St Oswald's novels, just all in a vaguely fantastical setting - there is no explicit fantasy element here, but the mysterious grand jeu and the ancient school building lend a certain magical feel to the story. I struggled at first to keep track of which narrators were in what timeline, but once it became clear that all but the diary were concurrent, it made more sense.

The characters are compelling, though none of them are particularly pleasant: Léo Martin is selfish and rude, and I was never quite sure whether the nice things he did in parts of the novel were purely altruistic or for his own benefit; Carfax is snobbish and, while a victim of bullying, does nothing to attempt to ingratiate himself with his classmates; Magister Dryden is cold and too tormented by the past to really live in the present. Some of the secondary characters are downright evil. All of the characters are shaped by their past traumas, which play out through the events in the diary.

The plot is, at times, vague, sometimes to good effect and sometimes not. The exact details of the Party, for whom Léo has, until recently, been a senior minister, and its new sinister Purity Laws are only hinted at, which makes it creepier than if it were all explicit. It also suggests the mindset of the characters themselves, many of whom know that something is happening to the Christians who are removed from the school, but cannot imagine quite what. The vagueness of the grand jeu, however, did not work for me. It's music, but also maths, but also it's just written down, but also someone can sort of conduct one for the audience to follow in a programme - I have no idea what it is. The author's notes credit Hesse for the idea, so perhaps it's clearer if you're familiar with his work, but I was just frustrated at trying to work out what on earth a grand jeu was, especially when it is so integral to the plot.

The writing is beautiful and has a certain dreamlike quality to it, which further adds to the vaguely fantastical air of the story. The twists and turns of the plot were well-telegraphed so that the reader could arrive at conclusions a little before the characters did and enjoy watching them work out the same things.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this, but I kept hoping that the grand jeu would be clarified or that Léo would show some more convincing character development, although I concede the latter may just be me being cynical and interpreting his actions throughout as self-serving, though it is a different kind of selfishness by the end to at the start. I would certainly read more by the same author.

Many thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for allowing me to read this novel in exchange for a review.

I absolutely loved The Binding, so I was very pleased to be given a chance to read this. I didn't enjoy it as much though, mainly because I couldn't get my head round what the grand jue was all about and I found that very distracting. I know it's supposed to be elusive, but there wasn't enough for me to picture it. Apart from that, the writing is stunning and the world building first-class,

The Binding was a real surprise find for me, having picked it up at random in a book store. It was magical, and mysterious and i adored it.
When i saw Bridget Collins had a new book out, i couldn't want to read it.
I find with her books especially, its better to go in knowing as little as possible. Bridget writes in such a captivating way, i find myself spellbound by her stories. This was no exception.

Not really sure about this book to be honest. I gave up on it pretty quick. I also read the binding which for me was just nothing to write home about and as i read till the end Nd was left sorely disappointed i gave up on this book pretty early in as i didn't want to be left feeling id wasted my time on a book i just wasn't in to. Not sure if its the author or the books themselves but i just wasn't feeling it at all.

Bridget Collins will not disappoint lovers of the 'The Binding,' with her new book 'The Betrayals'.

Inspired by Hermen Hesse's 'Magister Ludi,' Collins tells the story of Montverre, an ivory tower of a school, where young men can go to learn to play the Grand Jeu. Based in a dystopian universe, where Christians instead of Jews are persecuted and the Grand Jeu is defined as the national game, Collins' novel centres around Leo Martin, an ousted Culture Minister, who is sent to Montverre as punishment for questioning the regime.

The initial chapters in 'The Betrayals' left me a bit unclear about what is happening, and I was uncertain if this was a book for me. However, once I passed through them, I was completely immersed in the world that Collins creates and I absolutely loved this novel. It is very rich, imaginative and well plotted. I found the characters believable and enjoyed the use of diary extracts to fill in a very one sided view of the past. I would definitely recommend this novel.

This book is the second adult novel by Collins, and one which I eagerly, if impatiently, anticipated; The Binding has become one of my favourite books, and I was not surprised that it became a bestseller shortlisted for awards. I had hoped so much that The Betrayals would follow suit.. and I’m delighted that it did.

This novel is set in the prestigious and arcane Montvarre academy somewhere in Europe around the 1930s, where the gifted and affluent study the national game known as the grande jeu. Our protagonist Leo Martin works as a government minister, but finds himself forced to resign when he disagrees with elements of a Parliamentary Bill. The Party banishes him from public life to Montvarre where Leo also attended as a younger man. From here on the story is told in parallel parts; his current time, and his previous experience told in his younger voice though his diaries which have been discovered by Claire Dryden, the first female to hold the high office of Magister Ludi. We learn how Leo’s earlier attendance at Montvarre was marred by lies and deceit, and ultimately cut short by tragedy. In the current narrative Magister Ludi has secrets of her own to keep, and with the climax of the year approaching where she’ll have to perform the Midsummer Game, lies and secrets of past and present threaten to destroy all that she’s worked for.

This novel is quite spectacular. Firstly - and rather brilliantly - The Betrayals does not fit into any single genre. Metaphysics meets dystopia in this quasi-historic fantastical mystery! The totalitarian regime sets the scene perfectly and allows for several dark themes to run through the novel; religious oppression and persecution, and inequality and conflict allow for a plot with substance, and characters with depth and soul.

As the national game, the grande jeu is embedded in the history of the country and its present day politics, and whilst we are never really given the details of the grand jeu, the allusions to math, music and art allow us just enough to visualise this art form. The grande jeu is almost setting, plot and character all by itself.

The pace progresses as the story develops and I loved the twist at the end. Although tiny hints at the outcome were scattered throughout, the climax was skilled and satisfying. This abstract and mystical book ticks all the right boxes for me, I adore Bridget Collins’ writing, her cryptic imagery and ambiguity make for a perfect novel. I can’t wait to see what she writes next.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Bridget Collins and The Borough Press for allowing me to read and review this arc.

I wanted to read The Betrayals based on my love of The Binding. This too promised a historical fantasy with a slowburn plot and a romance at the centre. Great, I thought. I’m certain to enjoy it.

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.

What I loved about this book was the writing and worldbuilding. Bridget Collins excels at historical fantasies, those ones that lean more on the fantasy side than quite historical. Think C. L. Polk’s Kingston Cycle. And that was definitely the case here. I loved the world that was created, and the writing that built it was just beautiful. It was a book I wanted to savour, just to read that writing for a little while longer.

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.

Of the two main characters, I preferred Clare, obviously, but even so, I’m not sure I could tell you a whole lot about her as a character. She was a somewhat nebulous combination of grand jeu and… honestly I don’t know what. Nothing about her particularly stood out for me. Meanwhile, Léo was arrogant, a misogynist, and a member of a fascist-esque (if not full on fascist) party, meaning I found it very hard to like him at all. In fact, the only time I did like him was in the flashbacks, although they were tending towards tragedy and I could tell even as I read them. Also, while Léo did seem like he was starting to change, to go against the party line, it didn’t feel like it came fast enough, or extremely enough, for me to grow to like him.

Which, really, is my next point: nothing truly compelling happens until a good 70% through. I don’t mean to keep harping on about The Binding, but in that one, for me, the first part hooked you and the second part revealed more, leading up to the third part. Here, there wasn’t really that hook until Emile showed up for the Midsummer Games. That is when the storylines started to converge (namely, the Rat’s with the rest of them). What kept me going with the book was the writing (which I cannot stress enough how much I loved) and the flashbacks via Léo’s diary. It was a character-driven plot but, while that worked in The Binding, where the scope of the world is very much limited to the characters, it didn’t really so much here, because there was a more expansive world.

But, while this review may sound pretty negative, I did still like this book. And it has definitely cemented Bridget Collins as a go-to author for me.

I was kindly approved for an e-arc via NetGalley.

Following the success of The Binding, The Betrayals is Bridget Collins' second adult novel. I am yet to read The Binding, but I have a copy that I'm excited to read soon, especially after enjoying this novel.

The Betrayals takes us to Montverre, a school in the mountains dedicated to the study of the grand jeu. Leo, who attended the school 10 years previously, has been forced to return whilst on exile from his governmental position and we follow as he faces his own memories of his time at Montverre and the events that transpired in his second year there. We also follow the first female Magister Ludi, Claire Dryden, as Leo's return impacts her and causes her own memories and emotions to stir. Collins' novel is full of suspense and intrigue as we learn about the past and uncover secrets and lies that have been kept for years, but will soon be revealed.

I really enjoyed this novel and I think Collins builds the intrigue of it amazingly. Her writing is beautiful, and I got lost within the narrative. Unfortunately, I did guess one of the plot points but the intrigue was such that I was constantly second guessing and so it did not spoil my reading. It was the intrigue of what would happen and what characters were hiding that kept me gripped to this novel and Collins carefully chooses when to reveal information, both to her characters and to her reader.

What I love about this novel are the characters and relationships that Collins builds. She gave me a clear sense of Claire, Leo and Carfax and she crafts well-rounded and complex characters. They've all had to keep secrets and tell lies which complicates their relationships and heightens the tensions between them. As more was revealed in the plot, I awaited the character’s reactions and what would happen when truths were finally revealed.

However, I felt that the 'grand jeu' was difficult to comprehend, especially to picture in my mind, and I think I would have been fine for that part of the narrative to be simpler. That said, I did get an idea of it and perhaps it was me thinking it was more complex.

I did not expect this novel to deal with issues of religion and gender, but it does so very cleverly. As Claire is the first female Magister at Montverre, Collins depicts a patriarchal structure both at the school and government that Claire must battle against to maintain her position. It was interesting to see how Magister Dryden felt and dealt with this as well as how the men reacted to her. One of the plot lines looks at opinions towards religion and what that means for Christians in the novel and I found that this made me think about responses to religion through time as well as in today's society. This novel brought up issues and questions that are relevant today and that was unexpected for me, but I loved that element and think it adds a depth to this fictional world that brings up thoughts of the real world.

The ending of the novel was satisfactory but left me to imagine what might happen next. I also came away with a few questions, but this novel was so full of intrigue that I did not expect an ending where every question was answered and every thread neatly tied up to resolution. What Collins gives the reader is an ending that finishes the narrative arc of the novel but leaves room for your mind to imagine what may happen next.

I find the genre of this novel hard to place because it feels like it could be historical fiction, but also felt quite modern (I think the novel is set early - mid 20th century, but I'm not sure), and it also felt to me like it had elements of both fantasy and dystopia. As I was reading, I liked this mix and I loved the feel of the novel as Collins transported me to the mountains and Montverre.

Overall, Collins creates the perfect setting, complex characters and an intriguing narrative. She deftly ties together the strands of her plot so that different plot lines weave together and cross over, including the narrative of the Rat.

The Betrayals is released on 12th November 2020 and is definitely one to look out for.

I wasn't sure what to make of this book. I read Bridget's first book 'The Binding' and was really disappointed. The first third had such an interesting premise and I was looking forward to seeing where it went but the rest of the book felt like a different book and for me, it didn't live up to its early promise.
I was apprehensive about reading 'The Betrayals' but the synopsis sounded really good and I was pleasantly surprised. It felt like a completely different author with a consistent style and great direction.
I will definitely be interested in seeing what Bridget writes next.

I really enjoyed the binding- had never read anything like it before and I’m pleased to say the Betrayals has the same effect on me. I was gripped from start to finish, just couldn’t put this book down. Bridget Collins has a beautiful writing voice, you can step inside her books and be whisked away to another time and place. Detailed descriptions and complex plots all make for happy reading.
Don’t miss out- this is a great book!

Unfortunately, I DNFd this book. I absolutely over Bridget Collins' book The Binding, but I really didn't get along with the writing style in The Betrayals. I found the paragraphs and chapters to be too long and the language choice just wasn't for me. I just found that what I did read, dragged too much.

That being said, I'm super intrigued by the concept and I might pick this up on audio once it has been released.

Super magical and genuinely mysterious, I'll be sure to check out more by Bridget Collins. Really, truly engaging.

Having just finished reading The Betrayals, I feel as though in a daze. It was such a wonderful, well-crafted and brilliant tale of "alternate" historical fiction which I couldn't put down.

The setting is that of a boarding school, presumably in an alternate reality of 1930's England, where for the first time a female has been appointed Magister Ludi where previously only men have been allowed to study the Grand Jeu - a spiritual game combining philosophy, mathematics, music and literature. There are flashbacks to a decade previous, where the schools' two brightest students, initially rivals, slowly begin to form an allegiance. Yet there is tragedy, in more forms than one, which change the course of their lives forever, and the ghostly voice of a little girl who haunts the halls.

There's so much to enjoy in this finely-tuned novel: politics, religious persecution, the role of women in society, the meaning of friendship and love, and above all, betrayals. I found it fascinating, immersive and utterly wonderful.

For anyone seeking further insight into the practice and nature of The Grand Jeu, read Collin's afterward in which she explains how she was inspired by Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game. This was for me an unfamiliar title, though now having this insight I am able to appreciate The Betrayals even more.

A disgraced member of a sinister political party whose critics have mysterious "accidents". A lone woman in a patriarchal college who plays a game (the grand jeu) combining maths. music and creative disciplines which their society puts a huge value on. A scared girl hiding in the shadows who calls herself the Rat and shuns human contact. Three interlocking stories that gradually reveal their hidden pasts and yes, their betrayals. I found this book slightly chilly to get into, almost as though the arcane and excluding nature of Montverre (the college) had seeped off the pages. However there were enough secrets and twists to keep me reading to the end.

I adored Collins’ previous novel, so was really excited to get my teeth into this.

There’s some really interesting world building here, in the ‘immediate world’ of the school as well as the further reaches of a country run by the Party.

However, I didn’t really feel any connection to either of the two main characters. It seems as if more effort is into world building than character development.

An interesting read, but now where near as good as The Binding. I’d still be interested in reading future Bridget Collins books though.

I had high expectations for this book, having read Bridget Collins "the binding" and I was not disappointed! I was hooked from the start. Highly recommend you order the waterstones special edition of this, the book is beautiful, and you won't be disappointed by the story

Bridget Collins' last book, 'The Binding' was one of my favourite books of last year, so I was very keen to get my hands on this one. I had literally no idea what to expect in terms of plot, but was hoping that it would be every bit as immersive and compelling as 'The Binding'.

The story follows Leo Martin, a disgraced politician, who is sidelined from 'The Party' and sent back to his old university, Montverre. Here, he can continue his work on the 'grand jeu', a mysterious game that seems to have elements of music, mathematics and mysticism. The narrative follows him as he experiences life as a guest at the college and, in particular, his building of a relationship with the Magister Ludi, a teacher and 'grand jeu' expert. Alongside this, we read of Leo's first stay at the school as a student when he built relationships with fellow scholars that continue to impact his present experiences.

As with 'The Binding', it's so hard to do justice to the plot and characters as the whole book is so intricately crafted and it all slots together beautifully in the end - but it's virtually impossible to describe as everything is linked! Collins has created a book which is so incisive on humanity and relationships, yet so difficult to pin down in other regards.

It is a historical novel in the same way 'The Binding' was - a sense of rich history, place and time, without it ever being made totally clear. Instead, the reader is left to put together the puzzle pieces - for my money, I think Montverre is in a (possibly imagined) European country and the historical markers (e.g. a reference to the Depression) make me think this is 1930s, although I really am not sure. It's certainly rooted in reality, even if the reader is on constantly shifting sands in relation to understanding some elements - there are references to places and historical events throughout and the corruption of the country's government reminded me of 1930s Germany - however, in this case, the persecution is of Christians. The 'grand jeu' itself is another mystery and one I still have no clear idea about. However, none of this matters - as long as you are prepared to be swept along by the narrative.

The novel centres on the theme of - surprise! - betrayal, but again this is multi-layered and there are many perceived and actual betrayals in the book. Again, the reader is on shifting sands as situations and motivations become clearer and sympathies shift.

Overall, I'd recommend this to anyone who loves historical fiction and dense, rich narratives. The only proviso is that you have to accept that not everything is clear - this is deliberate, but I know that some readers will find it uncomfortable. If you're prepared to go with the flow, this is a glorious and immersive read.