The Traitor Game by B R Collins

September 2009, Bloomsbury
295 pages, Paperback
Review copy

Young Adult

Cushions: 3
Daggers: 3
Paperclips 2
Yunaleska's recommended rating: ♥♥♥♥

Books with the word traitor in the title are certainly popular at the moment. I wonder if it says something about what we like to read about? Or what is happening the world we live in?

The Traitor Game follows the lives of two youths. Michael, bullied at his old school is amazed at how Francis became his friend. Together they spend time creating a new world, Evgard. They create maps, diagrams, stories. They invent a new type of floor that, if a person treads on the wrong tile, they can fall through it. That's not as clever as the glass which captures the world from the other side, so you can see a sunset two hours after dark. To them, Evgard feels real.

It is a place Michael can retreat to, something he does more often as he mucks up his friendship with Francis. Once a person has something unpleasant happen to them, they always assume it will happen again. Michael thinks Francis is to blame for the taunting notes, so he opens his mouth and lets slip a few things. From there, Francis isn't happy. But that isn't the end of it, because what Michael said is actually true. When Michael finds this out, he has to deal with having betrayed his friend to their enemy, as well as the implications of the type of person Francis is.

I liked the characterisation of Michael because, like a fair number of male teenagers he keeps his feelings inside him. He doesn't ask the question which would have resolved the issue straight away. Instead he lets fear of being bulllied again ruin his friendship. Before reading Michael's feelings, I didn't understand how people who are bullied can sometimes turn into bullies. His solid belief in what he sees as the truth sets him on a downward path to having no friends.

The second character in the story, whose life is told through first, not third person, is Argent. Argent lives in Evgard, which is very real. Captured by the Duke's men, it is he who has to cross the floor to save his friends from death. The Duke betrays him: his friends aren't executed the next day but the do still have to face death. Argent becomes the Duke's son's friend. Together, he and Columen pass the time playing games, taking drugs until the rebels attack the castle. It is at that point that betrayal happens again, several times over. It is a betrayal I didn't see coming, and one which had me pause and think about where the signs were leading to it.

It has just struck me that Argent was probably Michael retreating into the imaginary world, and playing out events that happened in real life. Yes, I can sometimes be a little slow at picking up plots in books. It now makes a lot more sense than it did on initial reading. I don't think Michael is crazy, because we all daydream. Writers daydream more than most.

Initially, I thought that Michael and Francis would somehow find a portal and physically go to Evgard, or that it would take over the real world and they would escape the cruelties of school, only to have worse trouble in Evgard. I was a little disappointed when this happened, but the issues of betrayal by friends is written with great emotional impact. I think this book teaches readers that even when we mess up, life can be put right again, but it will take time and more hardship. Also it teaches a favourite mantra of mine: if in doubt, ask.

The maps helped with figuring out where everything was. It's the kind of fantasy town I would love to live in (although without the duke, and the rebels). I thought it odd that the map for Evgard was at the back, rather than at the front with the Arcaster map. But then, perhaps it was the last page Michael examined at the end of the story.

Content: strong, coarse language is used throughout the book. I'm pleased to note there is a warning about this on the back. The book deals with homosexuality, which not all readers may be comfortable with.

Liked this? Try another title by B R Collins: A Trick of the Dark.