The Ways We Betray by Auryn HadleyMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
So Good I Read It Twice
This is the fourth book of a continuing series. You need to read the first books in the series to understand this one. The book ends at a natural break in the story, but there are lots of things left unresolved that I’m desperate to read about. The first book in the series is The Price We Pay.
This book starts just before the beginning of the second and final initiate year for Nari and her chosen family. Saval has taken over the education for their year group after the disaster that nearly ended Talin’s life the year before. As someone who can also see Zeal, their god is happy to help her make plans to finish their education properly. After making their choice to specialise in Entertainment Nari and Ela are thrown into a much more complete and enlightening education. Nari is also taking her extra classes, both of which she finds fascinating and lead her to meet even more priests in different branches of the priesthood. Even though everything seems to be going well, of course, things aren’t going to stay that way.
This book only covers the period between the Summer and New Year, so there is a lot packed in. The growing emotional bond between Nari, Ela, Talin, Wraythe, Anver and Zeal is the main focus of this book. Through exploring their emotional bonds, we are also exposed to more about their history and personalities. The characters internal landscapes are explored through multiple points of view. These characters are all growing as they get a little older, gain more education and training and have more experience of what they want from life. The developments are all in keeping with their core personalities and are part of a believable and engaging journey to attaining their goals.
This book deals frankly with the difference between lust and love and how the characters separate the two things to maintain their relationships. Though we still have very passionate and erotic content within this book, the sessions the Priests of the Body engage in within this book are not just about these encounters. These sessions are also about socialising with people of different backgrounds and dealing with the differing needs of the individuals concerned. This also aids in exploring the relationships between the different temples. This is especially useful as Zeal’s siblings start to step up needing aid in connecting with their own priests.
Zeal not only wants to bring back the power of the gods for himself and his siblings but because he wants to help his people. We see glimmers of this in the way he talks about his manipulations and nudges of temptation and the things he wants to achieve with them.
The Head Priest, Kinen, doesn’t show his hand very often in this book, which leads me to believe that we’ll see more of him in the future. There are still plenty of difficulties faced by the five Priests of Temptation, but they are not all brought about by Kinen. There are external politics to be dealt with, instead of solely focusing on internal ones.
This book, like the others in the series, wraps you up and doesn’t let go until you turn the last page. I was wrapped up in it so tightly I was disappointed when the book ended. In fact, I couldn’t bear not reading more, so I read it again straight away. That NEVER happens to me. There is something about this combination of characters that resonates with me. There is something so accepting and inclusive of these priests who follow Zeal.
As always with this author, we can see the foreshadowing and the laying out of pathways that may lead to further plot twists and the tying off of loose ends that were left from previous books. It’s a masterclass in how to write a complex and engaging series and I can’t state how much I love it. Originally this series was meant to be 5 books long, but at the end of the book, we are informed that there will actually be a further two books in the series, which makes me ecstatically happy as I can’t see myself ever getting tired of these characters and the incredible world in which they live.
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