Betrayal
by Ben Meeks
PLOT SYNOPSIS (from the back of the book)
The Elven Nation, a kingdom of elves in the Chattahoochee National Forest led by the Queen, and the Tortured Occult, a shifter motorcycle gang, forge an uneasy peace. For the first time in decades they begin to work together. Tensions run high, however, when a demon army, led by an unknown commander, wages war on the Elven Nation. Obie, a wereotter and Keeper of Thera, the Earth Mother, is tasked with finding and putting an end to the threat. The Queen becomes increasingly more suspicious, mistrustful, withdrawn and dangerous. As the Queen’s paranoia turns her thoughts to conspiracies, the Tortured Occult find themselves caught in the middle. Now, promises are broken and friendships are tested. War has begun. It’s up to Obie to restore the peace.
Series: The Keeper Chronicles (2 of 3)
Age Recommendation: 17+
Content Notice: Graphic violence, mature elements, and a few strong obscenities
Faith Based: No
ISBN: 978-19511-0704-8
Overall
Characters
Story/Plot
Writing
Setting
Consistency
THE BOTTOM LINE
A tighter plot and better characters make this book better than its predecessor though still not good enough to put on your reading list.
THOUGHTS…
This outing in The Keeper Chronicles is markedly better than the first but it still has a plethora of problems. From a readability standpoint, it is nearly as bad as the first. Words are routinely misspelled, in the wrong tense, or missing entirely while sentences sometimes don’t make any sense. This prohibits a smooth reading of the novel and instead pulls the reader out of the fictional world every few pages. The writing style is still elementary, more suitable for younger audiences, while the content of the book, including some graphic violence and adult themes, preclude this audience. Despite this, Betrayal has a coherent and engaging plot unlike that of its predecessor. The action feels a little light in quantity but is entertaining when it happens. Less action allows the book to more deeply explore the characters, motivations, and other dynamics which flesh out the story more thoroughly than the previous book. Conversely, some of the nuance of the world’s factions went out the window for a more straightforward good guys vs. bad guys approach. The dynamic between Obie and Nylat by the ending of the previous book is mostly undone in the first chapter, a massive mistake since it was an interesting character development step for Obie. It also demonstrated that his actions and decisions had consequences, lending more gravity to his dilemmas. On the plus side, there was a twist near the end of the novel which, though it could have been foreshadowed a bit more expertly, still landed a pretty good punch. Altogether, I’d say Betrayal is a step up from its predecessor but only worth checking out once you’ve burned through your entire reading list.
RANTS AND RAMBLES
- DISCLAIMER: When I review books, weaknesses and inconsistencies tend to dominate my discussion; therefore, I will emphasize that any particular rant (and, yes, they can be long-winded) does not have special bearing on my unified opinion of the book. For this, please refer to my overall star rating. Additionally, this review is my personal opinion, intended to help like-minded readers navigate the plethora of available options. Use it as a tool but do not assign undue importance to it (i.e. feel free to disagree with me).
- The Mildest of Spoilers: The dynamic between Naylet and Obie at the end of the previous book was one of the best parts about its ending. Obie having to come to terms with the fact that his life partner did not remember him and that he must move on was a slight downer, but it made sense, was very thoughtful and mature, and provided a springboard to propel his character in follow-up novels. Unfortunately, this good work is undone in the first chapter of this book as it is established that Naylet is essentially back, though she does not remember anything. Fortunately, a convenient diary will bring her up to speed on her previous life, erasing any tension in her and Obie’s relationship. Then she is dropped from the novel until the last chapter, making her and Obie’s past and present relationships practically a non-issue. This felt like a massive waste of the setup from the previous book.
- Mild Spoiler: Obie’s choices in the previous book during his attempts to rescue Naylet culminated in him making an open-ended promise to the Queen of the Elven Nation. This was made up to be a big deal and, by all rights, should have been. If the queen had called in this promise when she went to war with the Tortured Occult, it would have put Obie in a character-defining moral quandary. Should be betray his friends or break his word to the queen? Instead, she simply never calls in this promise, eliminating any interesting internal dilemma for the protagonist. Ultimately, there are practically no consequences for or fall-out from Obie’s actions in the previous book which feels like a cheat and sidelines one of the most interesting subplots this novel had going for it.
- Spoiler Everyone Saw Coming: The queen of the Elven Nation betrays the Tortured Occult in what can only be described as one of the least surprising double crosses in literary history. Even the characters in the book basically knew what was going to happen with several of them commenting on the inherent dangers of attending an event taking place on elven soil. Nevertheless, they all go and are subsequently gunned down by the elves. Everyone is angry with the elves, but they should really be angry with themselves for being so stupid.
- Massive Spoiler: Harlan being the main villain of this book was a good twist. It made sense based on his past, and the betrayal was hidden neatly by his inherent character traits and his love for his sister. Far from being a generic bad guy, he recognized he had sold his soul to the devil in order to make a better world for his sister, a world he knew he would have no place in. If I were being critical, I would say he could have used a little more development as it felt Ben was specifically not writing about him in order to hide the twist at the end, but I will admit I did not see the betrayal coming and was pleasantly surprised by its execution and coherence.
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