The Betrayed

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The Betrayed (The Betrothed, Book 2) by Kiera Cass

Ugh 😩, I knew this was going to happen.
See my review of The Betrothed, I totally called it.

Hollis went through a traumatic, character defining experience at the end of the first book, but when we get to this one, it’s like it never happened. There are no lasting effects or consequences for anything. Why care when it doesn’t matter? 🤷‍♂️

The pacing is atrocious. I was hoping that Kiera Cass had moved beyond the “instant romance” trope of YA. But no, relationship development goes as far as, “you like the color red? So do I! We must be soulmates.”

Outside of all the bad storytelling, there’s not a lot to say here, other than it’s boring.

It’s hard to sum-up what happened in this book because it didn’t feel like anything actually happened. I mean obviously stuff happened, but it didn’t seem like there was any real progress made (kind of like when a politician is asked a debate question, they’re talking but they’re not actually saying anything).

Difficult to say without a third book, but this felt like a stopgap entry that could ultimately be skipped. I don’t know if there is a third book planned, but I think this series would greatly benefit from one.

Lastly, the worst part is this line at the end of the book:
“It is surprisingly easy to teach people not to hate.”
Um… have you met people? 🤦‍♂️