After The Binding, Bridget Collins gives us this entrancing blend of dark and unsettling historical fiction and fantasy, beautifully written, with a gothic flavour, ambiguous and intriguing, its not made clear where and when the story takes place. 32 year old Leo Martin is a disgraced politician who is not happy to be returning to Montverre, an ancient exclusive educational academy for men who study the critically important Grand Jeu, a place that open the doors to power if you attend. It's never made entirely clear what the Grand Jeu is, although it involves music, maths, art, philosophy, religion, and performance, all of which culminates in the legendary Midsummer Game. In a male dominated place, the Magister Luidi, Claire Dryden, is a woman that is deeply resented. Leo has never met her before, so why does he feel such an odd sensation of connection with her?

The extraordinary atmospheric world building is richly imaginative and detailed, of traditions, of betrayals, lies and secrets, a country with a repressive, autocratic, nationalist political government which is anti-Christian, that alludes to the era of Nazism in Europe. In a story and mystery where the past haunts the present, we follow the developments in Leo and Claire's relationship, the tragedy in Leo's past, his friend and rival, Carfax, when they were both students at Montverre, the trauma of happened which has never left him. The lives of Leo and Claire are embedded in lies and secrets. There are a wide range of characters, one of my favourites is the Rat, and her importance becomes clearer later on in this slow burn of a thrilling novel as the various threads begin to come together.

You are going to require patience and pay attention to the details, otherwise I can see many readers finding this a frustrating experience, for much of the time it is hard to know precisely what is going on, some readers might not be comfortable with the level of ambiguities, nor the slow pacing in the book. I found this an utterly compulsive and gripping read that I became immersed in, chilling, multlayered, complex, and with a prevailing sense of menace and unease. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

I loved every page of this book! The unearthly feeling of Montverre is beautifully evoked, I could see the dust motes in the air, hear the creaking floorboards, shiver in the cold and sweat in the heat.
The mystery unfolds slowly but it's a book where the main story is almost unimportant as it's such a wonderful read.
The grand jeu, an ancient and mysterious contest, is a fascinating concept and the tension and secrets between Claire and Leo draw the reader in and grip until the very last page!

The Betrayals by Bridget Collins

I'm a little on the fence about this one.
Firstly Bindings was brilliant , and this one not so much , but still readable.

The plot – whatever there is of it – is very difficult to describe, as the reader seems to spend a great deal of time inside the two main protagonists' heads, with excursions into Léo's diary entries during his training at Montverre, and the enigmatic character of the Rat. While this isn't exactly a page turner, the internal dialogue of Léo and Claire gets under your skin, and I couldn't stop thinking about the two of them. I felt there were sections where the novel definitely dragged – the passages about the intricacies of the grand jeu, for example.
It is worth a read but I found it heavy going in places.

Liked it, but expected more from it. Found it tried too hard to be clever that it just missed the point. Didnt feel invested enough to thoroughly enjoy it.

Now, I have Bridget Collins' debut The Binding, on my TBR shelf but have not read it yet. However, on the strong positive feedback of that, I downloaded this new release, The Betrayals, and opened it, high with anticipation.
Can I be totally frank, here?
I was confused. (Quite apt, because throughout the story, you find elements of confusion that cause chaos in the characters lives, too.)
Who was the Rat? Why was she important?
The Grand Jeu? What on earth was it? A game? A piece of music? a performance?
I had mind to end the confusion, and just stop reading, after it took me a long while to reach around 12% of the book.
However, big HOWEVER, I am glad I carried on reading, as I finally became immersed in the story.
There is time-hopping, though it is never totally clear when this book is set.
But we go from the days of one of the main characters, Leo, was a student at Montverre, to the present (in the book) when he is an adult. The other character, Claire, or Magister Ludi, is another complex piece in the puzzle that is The Betrayals
There is romance, of a different kind, within the pages, too.
Would I read it again? I'm not sure, but it was an interesting premise, even though I still don't know what the Grand Jeu is!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was so pleased to receive a copy of this book to review, but having spent several hours reading 26% of it I can't be bothered to read any more. It is confusing, pretentious and not very interesting. Like The Binding, the time in which the book is set is open to interpretation but the 1920s is my bet. And references to drinking with the leader in beer halls and reigious symbols becoming compulsory on the school pupils' uniforms smacks too much of early 20th century fascisim for me. The grand jeu is actually grand ennuyeux

Brilliant, complex, a masterpiece!

The betrayals is a complex web of a story that explores what it means to be human. The story is told by Leo as a student, Leo as an adult, and The Rat.

While the beginning is confusing as I tried to figure out who was who and what the Grand Jeu actually is. The first fitted into place beautifully as the book went on. The writing is beautiful and easy to read, which kept me going even when confused. The second, I still don’t have figured out. I guess it will always be part mystery.

I loved that the book appeared timeless, it feels like it is set centuries ago but also on the present.

The complicated lives of the characters kept my attention from beginning to end. Just like a Grand Jeu, the book has a central theme and motifs brought in about religion, equality, women’s rights and so much more.

This is a book that I feel I will return to and think of often.

A beautiful, captivating tale.