The Traitor Game by B. R. Collins
Sep. 19th, 2008 12:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Ryn looks back. "Come on." She spins her dagger deftly in her fist, grinning at me. Then she turns and starts to bound up the stairs. "So. Who do you want to kill first?" I stand very still.
Michael and Francis are best friends, drawn together by their common secret - Evgard. Evgard is a fantasy world that Michael and Francis have created together, a word both fierce and dangerous. It is also a world that has become weirdly entwined in both their lives; actions in one world are uncannily mirrored by actions in the other. Until Michael, mistakenly believing that Francis has betrayed Evgard, deliberately betrays Francis, setting in motion a terrible sequence of events.
A tale of two worlds, cowardice, loyalty, danger and death.
A compelling debut novel, B. R. Collins has created a story that entwines fantasy elements with the contemporary issues, which makes for a compelling read.
Michael and Francis are students at St Anselm’s, a private Catholic school. Brought together by Michael’s mum, they form a friendship over Michael’s fictional creation – Evgard and its city, Arcaster. Together they work out the geography, history and economy of their world, fleshing it out with maps and drawings and going on trips to places like Canterbury to draw further inspiration. Evgard is their secret and it binds them together. But one day, Michael discovers an anonymous note in his locker, which says: I KNOW WHERE ARCASTER IS and the bottom falls out of his world as he believes that Francis has betrayed him.
Told in the third person, Michael’s reasons for believing in Francis’s guilt lie in the bullying that he suffered at his previous school. Collins doesn’t dwell on Michael’s experiences, but still conveys enough to make the reader understand what he went through and how it shapes his opinions. The way he seeks revenge for his friend’s betrayal makes for difficult reading at times, particularly the self-destructive aspects of it. Although I must say that for me, Michael’s motivation doesn’t quite come off in terms of believability, this is due to a combination of the sheer likeability of Francis, his lack of moral ambiguity and the fact that there isn’t quite enough build-up for Michael’s suspicions at the start of the book and not any failure in the characterisation of Michael per se. Indeed, Collins has created two well-rounded, credible teenage boys who readers will feel able to relate to.
What sets this story apart from contemporary YA novels about bullying is the fantasy element intertwined with it. This is told in the first person by Argent, an inhabitant of Evgard’s marshes who, together with other members of his village, is taken prisoner by Arcaster’s sadistic Duke but slowly forms a friendship with the Duke’s son, Columen. The suspicious, gradual formation of this friendship forms a counterpoint to the suspicion that Michael feels between Francis but also raises questions in the reader’s mind as to whether these events are merely a manifestation of Michael’s imagination or whether Evgard is indeed a real place. What is particularly neat about these sections is the way they build on and incorporate snippets of information discussed between Michael and Francis, which adds to the sense of credibility in the world-building while also making the reader question its reality. In fact, my only nit-pick about Evgard is a reference made to London towards the end of the book, which jarred for me with the idea of Evgard being a wholly fictional/fantastical world.
The underlying brutality and sense of menace to the Argent sections, particularly its hints of sexual abuse, make for difficult reading but also echo an underlying theme of homophobia in the Michael and Francis sections as vocalised by school bully, Shipley. The homosexual element might put off some of the male teenage readers that this book is obviously aimed at, but the violent undercurrent and imaginative world-building should sustain their interest. It’s a book definitely worth pushing in the direction of boys who otherwise don’t like reading.
The Verdict:
Nitpicks on the world-building and depiction of the central character’s motivation aside, this is an assured, well-written debut novel that combines gritty realism with imaginative fantasy. I look forward to reading more from this author.
Michael and Francis are best friends, drawn together by their common secret - Evgard. Evgard is a fantasy world that Michael and Francis have created together, a word both fierce and dangerous. It is also a world that has become weirdly entwined in both their lives; actions in one world are uncannily mirrored by actions in the other. Until Michael, mistakenly believing that Francis has betrayed Evgard, deliberately betrays Francis, setting in motion a terrible sequence of events.
A compelling debut novel, B. R. Collins has created a story that entwines fantasy elements with the contemporary issues, which makes for a compelling read.
Michael and Francis are students at St Anselm’s, a private Catholic school. Brought together by Michael’s mum, they form a friendship over Michael’s fictional creation – Evgard and its city, Arcaster. Together they work out the geography, history and economy of their world, fleshing it out with maps and drawings and going on trips to places like Canterbury to draw further inspiration. Evgard is their secret and it binds them together. But one day, Michael discovers an anonymous note in his locker, which says: I KNOW WHERE ARCASTER IS and the bottom falls out of his world as he believes that Francis has betrayed him.
Told in the third person, Michael’s reasons for believing in Francis’s guilt lie in the bullying that he suffered at his previous school. Collins doesn’t dwell on Michael’s experiences, but still conveys enough to make the reader understand what he went through and how it shapes his opinions. The way he seeks revenge for his friend’s betrayal makes for difficult reading at times, particularly the self-destructive aspects of it. Although I must say that for me, Michael’s motivation doesn’t quite come off in terms of believability, this is due to a combination of the sheer likeability of Francis, his lack of moral ambiguity and the fact that there isn’t quite enough build-up for Michael’s suspicions at the start of the book and not any failure in the characterisation of Michael per se. Indeed, Collins has created two well-rounded, credible teenage boys who readers will feel able to relate to.
What sets this story apart from contemporary YA novels about bullying is the fantasy element intertwined with it. This is told in the first person by Argent, an inhabitant of Evgard’s marshes who, together with other members of his village, is taken prisoner by Arcaster’s sadistic Duke but slowly forms a friendship with the Duke’s son, Columen. The suspicious, gradual formation of this friendship forms a counterpoint to the suspicion that Michael feels between Francis but also raises questions in the reader’s mind as to whether these events are merely a manifestation of Michael’s imagination or whether Evgard is indeed a real place. What is particularly neat about these sections is the way they build on and incorporate snippets of information discussed between Michael and Francis, which adds to the sense of credibility in the world-building while also making the reader question its reality. In fact, my only nit-pick about Evgard is a reference made to London towards the end of the book, which jarred for me with the idea of Evgard being a wholly fictional/fantastical world.
The underlying brutality and sense of menace to the Argent sections, particularly its hints of sexual abuse, make for difficult reading but also echo an underlying theme of homophobia in the Michael and Francis sections as vocalised by school bully, Shipley. The homosexual element might put off some of the male teenage readers that this book is obviously aimed at, but the violent undercurrent and imaginative world-building should sustain their interest. It’s a book definitely worth pushing in the direction of boys who otherwise don’t like reading.
The Verdict:
Nitpicks on the world-building and depiction of the central character’s motivation aside, this is an assured, well-written debut novel that combines gritty realism with imaginative fantasy. I look forward to reading more from this author.
