REVIEW: The Traitor's Game by Jennifer A. Nielsen


Now, I didn't finish this one. I only got about 20% through it, which is shockingly not far, for me. So, this review will be a little bit unlike my usual...

 The plot of this seemed interesting - a daughter of nobility forced by rebel kidnappers to betray her family and everything she's ever known, with the promise of complicated morality and the idea that neither side is right. I was intrigued by that, of course! What I got, though, was a group of petty teenagers sniping at each other while the "moral" rebel leader threatens innocent people and is - surprise! - behaving like a tyrant. I wasn't as happy as I expected to be with the premise at all, as I thought it was not utilized to its full potential.

 And the characters. God, the only likable ones were Celia and Darrow, and they almost died in the second chapter! Kestra, the noble's daughter, is a spoiled brat who has to get the upper hand in everything. She's selfish, irritating, and makes me want to scream every time she opens her mouth. Simon, a rebel boy who used to work for Kestra's father, strikes me as the sort of person who never thinks of other people's feelings - he practically admits that he doesn't care that Kestra is despised by her father, or that she freaks out in enclosed spaces. They, along with another rebel named Trina, spend all their time arguing like spoiled children, and I couldn't find any of them worth rooting for. I hated them.

 The writing, on the other hand, was technically perfect as far as I saw. I counted no mistakes, and enjoyed the writing when I wasn't being annoyed by the characters or plot. 

 I gave this book one star for good writing and an intriguing plot. That's all it gets out of me. Luckily, it was a library book, not one I bought!

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