Book Review: The Betrayal
I wish I had more time to read. Isn't that the writer's lament? We spend all our time writing (or cleaning the kitchen to avoid writing,) and hear over and over again that 'if you write, you have to read.' A good friend of mine had something of an argument against that old trope you can read here.
Still, I actually like reading, and so I still wish I had more time to read. It recharges batteries when its good and when its bad, well, honestly I fling it across the room and vent about it to my husband for a day and a half. After that, I'm rededicated to write something awesome to make up for the bit of crap I've just read. (I imagine this is a grand cycle, all the world over, writers are reading each others work, hating it, and writing out of spite so that their work can be hated and the cycle goes on unbroken.)
So anyway, I make myself time to read from time to time. Especially when I get a book from the wonderful Laura Ann Gillman with a request for review. And so, on to The Betrayal by Pati Nagle.
How Did I Find this Book: Well, as stated earlier, I got this book in the mail. (Yay free books right to my house!) I did a little further recon after I got it, checking out the writer's site and so on. I like to have a background idea of what I'm getting into when I start something new. Ms. Nagle's page for this book is pretty neat. There's a calendar, detailed outline of the clans and other aspects of world building. I gotta say, I was pretty impressed with the amount of 'off scene' detail went into the background of this book. I'm usually luke warm about the idea of heaps of world building going into a fantasy novel since it seems like it gets in the way of just sitting down to write the thing. Since The Betrayal is sitting on my bookshelf now, I can say Ms. Nagle didn't fall into that trap, and her world building worked out nicely.
The Good: So here's where I give a disclaimer. This time is no exception. I don't read fantasy, I rarely like fantasy, and so I don't usually feel like I'm a fair audience for a fantasy novel. There's nothing wrong with the genre, it's simply a matter of personal taste. That said, I read this book with an open mind and I don't regret the time at all. (Hint: I did not throw this across the room.) It's a story with elves and vampire elves and magic and just enough sex to interest me without getting smutty. What really impressed me was that Ms. Nagle managed to create badguys who made sense. The villainous evil vamprie elves seemed reasonable, actually, even their mysterious and bloody leader, a cold blooded monster woman, came across with just the right pathos to be interesting. I cared about her and her story as much as the heroines story, and that's a hell of a thing to do while keeping the bad guys bad. For a fantasy novel, the writing wasn't over the top and purple. If it didn't have some shades of violet in it, it wouldn't have read like fantasy, but it didn't hit a point where I wanted to put on a monocle and drink Earl Gray while reading. The sex was just as it should be. Pretty real, a little hot, and seemed to exist to either forward the plot or deepen the characters which is just what I want out of sex.
The Bad: Flowery language, romance all over the place, monsters and a bit of renaming real world things to make them more... fantasyish... I can't say any part of that was awful, but I'm sure some sticklers might not be able to get past that sort of thing to enjoy the book on what makes it unique. Well, boo for them. I bet they hate Santa too.
Who Will Like this Book: Fantasy fans who like their stuff a bit romantic. Romance fans who think elves are interesting. Writers who want to see villains done sympathetically. People who like vampires, sparkely or not. Me when I get around to reading it a second time.
Who Won't Like this Book: I mean, if you're a non fantasy reader and don't otherwise appreciate the genre, (coughD&Dcough) I don't know how you'd get into this. It fits nicely into its genre without being stale, but I didn't feel like it did a lot to reach out of the genre. It doesn't have too, not every book out there needs to break boundaries. It's okay, I'll read it twice for the sake of both of us.
Up Next: DEL TORO'S THE STRAIN!!! WOOO!!! I'll admit, I started this already on vacation. I couldn't resist. Boys and girls, you are in for a treat if you're headed into this book anytime soon. More later.