srividya g's Key Ideas from The Betrayals
by Bridget Collins

The book talks about a kind of arcane game called the grand jeu. It’s unlike any magic system we have read about. In fact, one initially wonders if it is magic or really good science.

It’s unlike the world of Harry Potter, the scholomance world of Naomi Novik or the world of Lev Grossman or the world of Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern though I found a lot of parallels.

According to the author, The Betrayals was inspired by Hermann Hesse’s novel The Glass Bead Game

In the world of The Betrayals, Grand jeu is a mixture of literature, music, maths, philosophy and everything else that’s complex yet beautiful in this world.

You are taken through a journey of surprises, vivid descriptions and poetic language.

According to the author, it’s “an elusive game that combines maths, music and ideas in an atmosphere of meditation.”

The book is set in late 1930s in an alternate world and one can draw many parallels between the persecution of Jews in real history and that of Christians in the book. The Prime Minister aka Old Man could very well be Adolf Hitler.

In summary, The Betrayals unravels slowly with one glorious twist after the other. Some are predictable, some not so much. The book itself resembles a tantalising gothic structure.