The Betrayal by Pati Nagle

6/10

Shalár is the leader of the vampiric Darkshore Clan, a group that are shunned by their fellow aelven race due to their affinity to blood and their aversion to the sun. She is fed up of living in Darkshore where life is tough and there is not enough food, she just wants to return to her home of Fireshore. She struggles to make her small clan thrive but she has grand plans that will ease their hardships and bring war between her and the aelven.

While Shalár is busy implementing her plans Turisan and Eliani meet for the first time. They are both the children of aelven governors. Eliani has already decided which way she wants her life to go while Turisan wants a simpler life then the one he lives in his father’s court but that all changes when they discover that they have the fabled gift of Mindspeak. It is a gift that could turn the tide of the oncoming battle against Shalár if only Eliani was willing to use it.

Like most vampires the Alben (aelven who live on blood) are vicious, bloodthirsty and lustful. It seems that every other page in Shalár’s storyline there is some type of copulation going on. On the other hand the aelven are more reserved but there is a lot of pandering around as Eliani tries to resolve her own feelings from a failed relationship which comes to a brilliant conclusion near the end of the book.

The Betrayal is a dark fantasy novel with a slight twist. In most vampire books I have read the story is often set amongst humans but The Betrayal changes that and sets the story in amongst the aelven races. The main storyline of the book has a lot of promise and I look forward to the next instalment of the story as the alben and the aelven eventually go to war.

Even though the book was very well written, like most dark fantasy novels that I read I found it was fairly weak in storyline and the characters were typical for this particular genre. The Mindspeak aspect of the novel did add an unusual touch but it would have been nice to see more politics or excitement in the aelven side of the storyline.