zefrog's reviews
1029 reviews

Despite possible expectations/apprehensions based on the title, this is a fun, if bittersweet, teen romance. Even with the massive spoiler of the title, the narrative as well as the storytelling, remain compelling enough to keep you turning the pages.

It will, however, as a matter of course, make the reader consider their own mortality, and the stated aim of the book is to encourage us to seize the days and live moment as if it is our last. Carpe diem, and all that.

Well, call me cynical, it did nothing of the kind for me. On the contrary, the book re-enforced my conviction that it is all very futile, and that putting such pressure on oneself is in fact fairly pointless. Because, yes, we all die in the end, and once that has happened nothing really matters. It's all over. And thank goodness for that!

Although expositional flashbacks in the lives of the two MCs form a good chunk of the book, most of the novel happens on 24 March 1903 –

the day before Sir Hector Macdonald, imperial war hero, killed himself, after the scandallous allegations made against him take a life of their own.

The book tells of the fortuitous meeting of two very disparate historical characters (the harrassed and repressed Macdonald, and the sybaritic Aleister Crowley, AKA the Beast, AKA the wickedest man in the world), who are brought together by a common experience of exclusion for who they are, and a quest to find inner peace with it. 

Arnott takes his time to find his feet (which makes the first half a little hard going) but when he gradually and finally does the story paints a vivid picture of a world in flux and in the procees of losing what innocence it may still possess, and about to plunge into moral wreckage as hubris consumes it.

This is Charles at her best. The book is both funny and gripping, with two great protagonists. I liked the two Mss too. I hope she brings them all back.

The MCs are very similar to those of Charles' Will Darling Adventures series (also great fun), but I prefer this lot.

As fun and engaging as the previous two, even if the ending feels rushed and the premise isn't quite my thing.

Shame about the bisexual erasure, though...

On the whole The Betrayal of Thomas True got me interested and engaged right to the end (and increasingly so as the story went on).

There were, however, several elements of the storytelling that rather grated with me. The few outbursts of magic realism felt unnecessary (other than as ways to conveniently move the plot forward for an author who had painted himself into a corner, perhaps?). Naming the book after a character who is not the real main protagonist felt strange too (Although I suppose West really wants us to keep guessing whether Thomas is really true as long and as much as possible, and this was clearly part of it). Some of the dialogue felt caricatural at times (Cor blimey, guvnor!), and there were many scenes when I wasn't sure what I was reading, due mostly to break down in internal logic, resulting in a kind of foggy vagueness that I found rather alienating. Finally, having read Rictor Norton's (non-fiction) book, Mother Clap's Molly House: The Gay Subculture in England 1700-1830, I was a little annoyed by some gratuitous inaccuracies in what purports to be an homage to the molly culture of 18th centre London. 

I liked the idea of the story, I was not so keen on the execution (no pun intended).

The name of the murderer becomes pretty obvious about 3/4 in (when it's only revealed in the last few pages), but it's still a good read.