My many thoughts on The Betrayals by Bridget Collins

[@chockycake1]

Thank you for this.. I was given this book for Christmas, and I’ve struggled with it. I then picked up The Binding, and loved it. Thought I would re visit The Betrayals, and now I’ve watched you I might just finish it.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Glad you loved The Binding and good luck! The ending makes the whole journey worth it.

[@user-pg9hq1hn4f]

Your voice is so relaxing, gentle and calming. I myself have started to read the betrayals I am only at the beginning but I have to admit quite confused yet intrigued it seems the author as gone for the ‘too mysterious trope’ where everything is covered in a fog. However I will be finishing the book and I shall check out your other videos

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Thank you so much. I get quite a few compliments for my voice and I'm so grateful for every one of them. I'm also glad you feel a similar way about this book but I also need to make every reader aware that a lot of signs point to Collins being a transphobe and so I won't be covering her books again. You're free to enjoy her at your discretion but I can't anymore.

[@user-pg9hq1hn4f]

@@WillowTalksBooks oh dear I have just been spoilt (spoiler alert 🚨 for anyone reading it) But me finding out that Magister Ludi is/was Carfax somewhat upset me as it feels as if the author did a big “No homo”. I love LGBTQ+ romances where the characters attraction/ love isn’t used to hurt them ie bullying and belittling. I ended up skim reading some pages and fully read some of the pages of Léo’s diary entry and I thought those were great. The subtly romantic feelings and enemies to lovers that began to Bud with the two ‘boys’ is what had made me feel attached to the characters. However I also found out about her trans-phobic tweets and found that even more confusing and suspicious seeing as one of her main characters crossed dressed. Also I have began to notice a theme where authors use characters being transgender/being gender fluid/ identifying with either male or female energy as a plot twist. Which has began tiring and honestly such backhanded representation. Why should someone either dressing up as another gender or being a boy/girl all along be used as a plot twist? Anyways that’s all sorry this is so long 😭

[@herekittyyy333]

That’s exactly how I would describe The Binding. Ugh the romance in this book so sooooo gooood!

[@jadetowner7254]

Like you, I absolutely LOVED the Binding. It was one of those books that I read and it really stayed with me for a long time after. So when I was shopping for a totally different book and then happened to see this one, I was so excited to read it, thinking from the blurb that it would have some similarities with the Binding. I'm 133 pages in and I am severely struggling 😭 I can't deal with being kept in the dark about basically everything, I find it so distracting because I'm wasting time trying to figure out if I have somehow missed something, to find out that I actually won't be told anything about what this effing game is. As soon as I start thinking okay this is getting interesting, it'll revert back to talking about something totally obscure and confusing and I lose interest again. Argh I can't decide whether to force myself through to read the last 50 pages 😂

[@WillowTalksBooks]

God I forgot all about this book and video. I gave up on her when I found out she’s a transphobe 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@theeeeoooooo]

Thank you so much for your review! I just finished the book and as yourself I am such a big fan of The Binding and just wish I could read it for the first time again and again. That's why I was so happy to see that Bridget Collins just wrote another book (I haven't read her books previous to The Binding - did you and are they any good?). Opposite to what you described with the fog I really enjoyed having the focus on just the characters and their stories rather than getting to know so much about the Party or the grand jeu etc. I felt like by not giving us so much information Bridget Collins really got us to the point where we as the readers just thought that we know at least these two characters really well so that when the revelation came we were even more surprised. Of course I long for more, more story, more background knowledge, more of C and L. And yes, I get your frustration. Similar to The Binding the beginning didn't catch me right away but I love this slow start and - as you said - her world building. And the way she did it in The Betrayals is part of the mystery, in my opinion. Anyway, sorry for the long speech, I'm just lost in reality because one hour ago I was the Rat, I was Claire, I was Léo.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

I'm so happy to know that someone who loved The Binding as much as I did also got to enjoy The Betrayals in a way that I didn't. Not loving this book as much as I hoped to is only bad news for me; it doesn't mean the book is bad. And you loving it is only proof of that! So, I'm honestly so happy for you! I haven't read her earlier books because they're aimed at younger readers but, since they're still her books, I shouldn't let that stop me.

[@theeeeoooooo]

@@WillowTalksBooks Thanks for answering! I am so glad to have found your KZbin channel and to witness the way you and this book loving community talk to each other. Great work - keep it up! 📚

[@scottgriffiths7651]

100% I saw these glowing reviews for the Betrayals and I was like 'they must be reading something else because this is boring as fuck' I absolutely loved The Binding, truly one of my most favourite books ever. I got the Betrayals for xmas and I've tried to get back into it three times and each time my brain is like ENOUGH ALREADY!

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Sounds like you and I had roughly the same experiences. It's frustrating but I certainly care a lot less now that I know she's a TERF.

[@evalykourgiotis9689]

While I disagree with some of your opinions on The Betrayals, I enjoyed disagreeing and absolutely loved watching someone express the same reaction I had to The Binding. I found the "fog" more compelling than outright explanation and would disagree with the balance of 1984; I feel it's not so evenly weighted and everything is inextricably linked to the politics, but anyway. When reading it (I read the first half one night til 3am, just sobbing) I completely adored Carfax, just entirely and unreservedly, and this coloured my opinion on Claire: because I loved Carfax I didn't like Claire which was a MASSIVE PROBLEM when the twist came because my brain wires couldn't/wouldn't connect but I loved the madness explored in Léo seeking his relationship with Carfax in Claire - so anyway I found it interesting hearing an alternative opinion, thank you :)

[@WillowTalksBooks]

What an inspiring take! As I mentioned several times, I love Collins' writing to death and was upset by my own disappointment with this book. So I can't tell you how happy it makes me to find someone who truly got out of this narrative and these characters what I was hoping to find.

[@evalykourgiotis9689]

@@WillowTalksBooks :) I mean I only truly entirely enjoyed the first half of the book, because it was similar to The Binding in the way their relationship was being written, but then my brain disconnected after the reveal of the relationship between Claire and Carfax, so I didn't fully get the experience I was looking for. Now that it's been a day after I finished the book, I've realised I do want more from it regarding how it ended and just generally the world that was created, but yes, thank you for posting this video, it's nice to know other people feel the same/how other people feel about the book

[@untangomas]

@@evalykourgiotis9689 This is exactly how I felt. I loved Carfax and the diary entries, hated Leo and was unsure about Claire. I don't know why I was not expecting any twists, so I was shocked. Yet as soon as we had the twist, I realised how many clues I'd ignored...

[@maikesch2824]

I am reading The Betrayals at the moment and hoped for some answers to a few questions I have. So I came across your video. I really really enjoyed listening to you. Even though I am not much wiser. Will continue reading the book. Definitely watching more of your reviews.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Thank you so much! Sorry I couldn't answer your questions but at least we share the same confusions.

[@Anna-wh1zn]

I just finished this and you did such an excellent job explaining it. I felt exactly like you. I enjoyed it for the most part but it could have been so much more. The setup was all there- it just needed more story woven into it.

[@cparky3]

Having just finished The Betrayals, you have summed up exactly how I feel about this book (and The Binding!).

[@charlottesnape8086]

I 100% agree, I loved The Binding and was very excited to read The Betrayals. I found it interesting and had a lot of different feelings about it!! However, I do think that the Grand Jeux is so ambiguous to build the tension and give us the chance to be creative and fill in the gaps to what we want to believe the Grand Jeux, I personally found the mystery of the game, not too much of an issue. I do agree that the world building wasn’t the best part of the book but again I think it does help with the intentional vague and curious element of the book.

[@1book1review]

I have never heard of Bridget Collins, but you made me curious to pick up both books.

[@AuburnAfterglow]

OK I finished The Betrayals today (got it for Christmas after not so subtle hints XD) so I thought I'd re-watch this video ;D I know it's flawed, I know it's vague but I kinda loved it anyway!! So I'm happy! :DDD To be honest, I was somehow fine with the grand jeu not being explained but I'm so sad this story/"world" is now over, I would like to read more about it :'((( I'm having such a book hangover right now. I love how she writes her characters!! :) Can't wait for her next books.

[@2bsirius]

You raise some excellent points. I share your criticisms that Collins does not provide a fleshed out picture of the full implications in the repressive society outside of the insular community of Montverre. Another thing I found unfortunate within Collins' novel, much like Hermann Hesse's, is that she provides no definitive explanation of how the intellectual games in each was actually played. To be fair, Collins does a slightly better of this then Hesse does. In Collins' novel she even coined a number of terms to define actions within the game: *stamazon, rendry, fermeture,* and others. However, in neither novel are the rules of play explicated with enough clarity to enable a reader to fully understand how the games were constructed and judged.

[@oaksfromacorns8445]

The Binding is available to read for free on Prime Reading (Amazon U.S.)! Yay! Starting it tonight.

[@dipannitamazumder]

I absolutely loved your review. It made me want to read both these books. Thank you! Keep creating wonderful content.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Thank you so much! Although new information has come to light which seems to have outed Collins as a transphobe. For that reason I won't be supporting her anymore. If you still want to, that's up to you, but maybe buy second hand!

[@dipannitamazumder]

@@WillowTalksBooks I was unaware of this information. Thank you for enlightening me. I guess, my excitement is all gone after hearing this. It's extremely sad how these authors are turning out to be exactly the opposite of who we would have hoped they'd be. Collins after Rowling, this is all too upsetting.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

It is a massive disappointment. I'm sorry I hit you with that but it was very hard for me, too, given just how much I loved The Binding. But these authors are ruining their own legacies with their bigotry and I hate to see it but it's on them!

[@dipannitamazumder]

@@WillowTalksBooks Exactly! It's really disappointing.

[@shelleypriestley8181]

Not going to lie i ended up here a quarter of the way through reading because i still hadn't a clue what was going on. I was like what the hell is the Grand Jeu? Everyone says its such a good book but as an avid book reader I'm struggling to see why. I feel like the whole things so erratic like im trapped in a dream thats jumping about and nothing really makes sense 🤔

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Yeah this book feels borderline esoteric at times. It has no business being as vague with its world-building as it is. Everything feels underdeveloped. It's such a crying shame when I still hold The Binding in such high regard. If you haven't read it, don't let reading this book stop you!

[@chockycake1]

Same here, but I read the The Bindings and it was so good that I have picked up The Betrayals again. This video had helped me realise that I’m not only the only one who hadn’t a clue as to what was going on and I’m looking forward to a big finish . 😊

[@zamith1817]

I just finished this book today and was looking to find other people's opinions of it. I definitely preferred the Binding, however I also enjoyed the Betrayals. My only issue with it is that I didn't particularly like any of the characters that much through the majority of the book. I think what mostly kept me invested throughout the story was the diary parts. It was also a little bit frustrating that all the characters seem to have major trust issues 😅

[@moominbyeol]

I started reading this book & after the first 4 chapters, I had to stop reading it because I did not understand anything and it felt boring. I read The Blinding and I did like it.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

She’s transphobic so I don’t care anymore (found out shortly after posting this video. I never took it down because KZbin penalises creators for doing that)

[@trvelayuthan]

Wow ❤❤❤ I love your reviews, very insightful and lovely

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Please don’t buy this book. She’s a transphobe.

[@trvelayuthan]

@@WillowTalksBooks sure I won't

[@AuburnAfterglow]

I loooved The Binding, I'm scared to watch this video xD OK, watched it. I'm so intrigued, I need to wander through that fog myself lol I've actually read Hesse's Steppenwolf this month and really liked it, then I read on goodreads about the Glass Bead Game and probably will never ever read that brick but still I'm a little fascinated by its premise. xD I love this review so much!!! :D

[@WillowTalksBooks]

I loved it, too. With all my heart. Rest assured, The Betrayals is very very good. I just had so many nitpicks (big and small) that gnawed at me from beginning to end.

[@AuburnAfterglow]

@@WillowTalksBooks I will so read this. I'm so tempted to order it right NOW but I've got quite extreme with my bookbuying lately so I really really should wait a couple of months... xD Love your channel, hope you get many many more subscribers 🥰

[@cindyohcindy3405]

Hopefully this video helps with imagining what this game is: kzbin.info/www/bejne/opCpgYuZlLB-sMk At 10:52

[@ferdusaraali8270]

They’re not in Switzerland, they’re in Russia. In a chapter 20, Carfax and Leo talk about going for walks over the bridges of Konisberg, which is in Russia. :).

[@WillowTalksBooks]

omg I forgot about this book and this video lol. Thanks for clearing that up

[@ferdusaraali8270]

@@WillowTalksBooks I’m currently reading it and I love it already. I completely get what you mean about it’s vagueness and subtle hints…. But I like the mystery and the suspense. Anyway, thanks for this vid.

[@celarose8288]

If I ever wrote a book I would want you to review it

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Aw thank you :) After putting up this video, though, I found out the author is a TERF. I never took it down because KZbin punishes you for doing it so I just remind every new commenter instead lol

[@twosuns_]

@@WillowTalksBooks Noooo, are you serious? Some parts of The Betrayals made me think she was a TERF but I didn’t really take those thoughts too seriously because I didn’t want them to be true…

[@ameliareads589]

Please start a bookish podcast as well. I will definitely listen to every episode.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Aw, thank you! We have considered a podcast as well as an online book club. If we do, I'll let you know.

[@ameliareads589]

@@WillowTalksBooks 😍

[@ingridal3060]

Because of all the French cultural mentions (products, brands etc), I really thought it would be set in France.. interesting that it’s not, hahah

[@melanieandbookstacks]

The Glass Bead Game used to be my favourite book. Please don’t be put off from reading it. I spent most of the book waiting to find out what the game was but you never find out. It transpires that you never needed to know. That’s not a spoiler by the way.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

You've certainly piqued my interest! I'm not averse to giving Hesse a go. I've just always assumed him to be an intensely philosophical writer and I'm not all that bright. But I'll certainly track down a copy and give it a read. Thanks!

[@melanieandbookstacks]

@@WillowTalksBooks he’s not all that high brow and his Siddhartha is stunning.

[@melanieandbookstacks]

@@WillowTalksBooks also, if me and my four GCSE’s can manage it 😂😂

[@missehughes79]

I never comment but... you should be on TV or radio! Thank you for your opinion

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Wow, thanks! Maybe someday...

[@samkl3572]

yeah this book was almostDNF

[@melsbookshelf]

Oh the binding sounds amazing! I am going to get it right now! 😂

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Yes! Please do! And enjoy! I'm jealous you get to experience it for the first time.

[@scottgriffiths7651]

Honestly The Binding is incredible!

[@barbararombel8064]

Awesome mate🤓👍

[@sandrazuks9017]

I actually didn't find you negative, more constructive. I am keen to read it and also 'The Binding. '

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Thanks, that's a relief! I'm negative enough on general without tearing down my favourite books and writers.

[@derbuchhandel]

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