Betrayal

By Ben Meeks

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 but the truce doesn't last. Tensions run high as 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 The Queen becomes increasingly more suspicious, mistrustful, and withdrawn as time passes. As the Queen's paranoia begins to turn her thoughts to conspiracies, the Tortured Occult find themselves caught in the middle. Now, promises are broken and friendships tested. War has begun. It's up to Obie to restore the peace.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1951107047
• ISBN13: 9781951107048
• Release Date: August 2020
• Publisher: Sidestreet Publishing
• Length: 236 Pages
• Weight: 0.77 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A tighter plot and better characters make this book better than its predecessor though still not goo

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.