Betrayal

The Divine, Book Two

By: M.R. Forbes

Narrated by: Jeff Hays

Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

My name is Landon Hamilton.

I’m a ghost.

I died five years ago, except I didn’t get to rest in peace like most of the departed. Instead, I was tapped by Dante (yes, that Dante) in Purgatory to become his champion and save humankind from the rest of the Divine - you know, angels and demons and their mortal followers.

It seemed like a great deal at the time. I would answer my calling as a diuscrucis (a perfect balance of angel, demon, and human) by getting sent back to the mortal world, inheriting the "magic" to bend the universe to my will, and saving humanity from devastation.

Hindsight… it sucks.

Yeah, I saved the world; but my vampire almost-girlfriend, Rebecca, stabbed me in the back (literally); I was forced to kill my angel best-friend, Josette; I’ve got a snarky werewolf taking up residence in my soul; and to be honest, I’m getting tired of the whole damn thing.

I don’t eat, don’t sleep, and barely feel. I’ve become obsessed with the Demon Queen’s warning, and the only thing keeping me hanging onto any shred of my humanity is Josette’s daughter, Sarah.

Except…now she’s gone.

She was taken right out from under my nose, and I don’t know by who or for what purpose. What I do know is that I’ll do whatever it takes to get her back, and there isn’t an angel, demon, or god that can stop me.

It’s a good thing I’ve still got my anger.

Betrayal is the second book in the best-selling Divine series, a contemporary paranormal and urban fantasy set in New York City and Paris, France. It is suitable for adults both young and old.

©2013 Michael Forbes (P)2014 Michael Forbes

A different direction

What made the experience of listening to Betrayal the most enjoyable?

I always enjoy all the voice enhancing techniques that are used by Jeff Hayes when a powerful being is feeling an intense emotion.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked that it went in a totally different direction than what I had thought. With how I thought the series was going I wasn't super excited for the rest of the books, but now I am very interested to see how things are going to turn out.

What does Jeff Hays bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

As I stated above, the voice enhancement is something that I would have never imagined some of the voices sounding. Also I would have forgotten the origins of some of the characters if it wasn't for the accents that Jeff can pull off really well.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I know that this may sound dumb since it is what the book is called, but betrayal was my main reaction to this book. Since I went in thinking I wasn't going to be affected as much by the betrayal because of what the book is called, I was very surprised when that emotion hit me as hard as it did.

Great addition to the series - Fantastic Narration

Any additional comments?

Great second installment. Just as well written, interesting and entertaining as the first book. Great story plus fantastic narration equals an extremely enjoyable listen.

This book starts 5 years after the first book ended. While the author goes over the basics of the first book to get you refreshed with the story, I would definitely start with the first book in the series.

The story starts out at a fast pace and just keeps going. It's full of surprises, twists and turns and suspense that keep you glued to the story. A couple of the loose ends from the first book are answered/resolved in this book. There is still an unresolved issue at the end which will lead into the next book. So a cliffhanger.

While heaven and hell are still fighting a never ending war between good and evil, Landon is just going through the motions of keeping the balance as the Diucrucis.
When the one thing he truly cares about has been kidnapped, he will save her no matter what he has to do or who he has to kill.

Jeff Hays does another fantastic job with the narration on this installment. As usual. Great character voices, all of them. I don't know how he works his magic for all the characters but it is amazing. He doesn't just narrate the story he brings it to life. Always a pleasure listening to any book he narrates.

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBoom dot com

Dante and the crew are back for more

Demons, Angels vampires, archangels, lucifer, the beast and more. This is what our hero faces. Old allies return, new powers discovered, betrayals at their deepest levels and a cliffhanger ending that will leave you shocked and waiting for the 3rd book to reveal what's next for those who are still with us...the author and narrator pack another dynamic punch with this 2nd
Installment of the divine series. I received this audiobook from the author narrator or publisher for free via audiobookboom in exchange for an unbiased review

he's so depressed

SPOILER hes basically depressed the entire book im hoping the next series he loses it. still a great read just depressing.

New Enemies

This second book of the series starts two years after the first ends. The first chapter had me confused a bit as to what was going on and it took awhile for me to catch up. This installment is just as action packed and filled with deceit and betrayal as the first. While fighting old enemies, a new more powerful one is revealed and the war continues but now the balance tipping too far in either direction is not the worst that could happen. The narration, as always, was excellent.

"This audio book was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobookboom"

All in the Family

What made the experience of listening to Betrayal the most enjoyable?

The voice talent of Jeff Hays. First and foremost, to me, the narrator makes or breaks an audio book. That's so obvious to not even need to be said. I've listened to quite a few Audible editions of M.R.'s and of Jeff's work. Contentwise, Betrayal was my least favorite, yet it was still enjoyable enough with the great voice over talents to finish listening to. And brought the overall rating up.

Would you recommend Betrayal to your friends? Why or why not?

With all of that being said, there is still quite a bit going for this series. So, YES, I would recommend Betrayal to a friend, to maintain the continuity of the series. There was another cliffhanger ending, but it also resolved some situations from the first book in the Divine series, "Betrayal".

Which character – as performed by Jeff Hays – was your favorite?

Actually, I'm into the "ensemble" cast. They are wildly creative, so it's fun to hear the interplay. There is A LOT of conversation. So, Jeff was able to strut his stuff. Enjoyable.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

In the Garden of Love and Hate, Good and Evil battle

Any additional comments?

Though not my favorite, Betrayal Book Two was still worth a listen. It's always worth the time when Forbes and Hays collaborate.

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBoom dot com.

Good story

well done performance and story.... I look forward to the next book in the series.

As good as the first

The story continues very well between the two books. A bit of time passes between them that allows the reader/listener to have a reason to get to know Landon a bit more again. Many things from the first book came together in this one, some if which are a bit unexpected but fitting.

I think the only downside would be the ending. Which was a much bigger cliffhanger than the last. Sure it isn't a bad thing, but it left me wanting an hour or two more. All the more reason to start up the next one I suppose.

Hays puts on another fantastic performance. He has a way of capturing the right voice for every character. Male or female. Not to mention his work on the music in this series. The opening and closing songs in betrayal set the mood perfectly. It's a nice cleanser at the end of the book as well. Something nice and light to settle the mind after being so into the moment.

Not as good as the first, but still enjoyable.

Would you be willing to try another book from M. R. Forbes? Why or why not?

Yes I have enjoyed the two books I have read from this author and I will continue this series after taking a break to listen to some other books. I find Forbes to be a good author who writes well rounded characters, although this book I found lagged a bit because he spent more time discussing the merits of good vs. evil and what evil and good meant.

Which character – as performed by Jeff Hays – was your favorite?

I still enjoy the main character Landon but I quite liked the way Jeff brought the character Ulnix to life. Jeff seemed to really imbue a lot of personality into the words that the author had written and to me Jeff seemed to relish portraying a character that was "evil" in the first book and for lack of a better term became more "balanced."

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

There were a few places that I became extremely frustrated with the main characters actions. A few places I wanted to say, "Take your head out of your rear and pay attention Landon."I felt very frustrated with some of the obvious points that the main character missed and a few times in the book I actually was somewhat bored waiting for a character to emerge that had been foreshadowed heavily.

M.R. Forbes was still able to provide some very interesting twists to the story, but I definately found the foreshadowing a bit too much at times. It might also be because I had just finished reading the previous book the day before.

Any additional comments?

I didn't think the book was as strongly written as the first book, and I found the main character to be somewhat dense in places. The author delved a bit to esoterically into the battle between good and evil and what makes someone good or evil, but overall I enjoyed the book.

I found Jeff's performance of the book to be very good, although I felt it wasn't quite as spot on as the first. I did notice some small nit picky things such as the beginnings of some of the chapters the voice of Landon seemed to start out a little deeper but within a sentence it was back to the normal pitch.

I still very much enjoyed Jeff's ability to perform both the male and female voices and all the accents with skill and he did a great job imbuing them with life and matching each voice to the characters personality. I especially enjoyed the way he built on the character Ulnix and also portrayed the character Lilacs.

A good follow-up to the previous book.

This is another excellent novel in this series. If you liked the first book in the series this one definitely will not dissappoint you. The world is vibrant and the cosmology of the series is unique and keeps getting more interesting as the series moves forward.

Heaven and hell continue to war, but the main character finds out there is another faction in play that has been manipulating events all along. The action is non-stop and the author writes a very tight novel. He can balance character development with action so one does not overpower the other.You really get a series of danger and loss that a lot of novels don't provide and feel that something truly bad can happen to any character at any time. That is a major improvement over some of the more Mary-Sue esque main characters in other series.

The only negative, and why I gave the story 4 stars instead of 5 is that the main character is a lot more whiny in this novel and it gets irritating after a while. That isn't to say there isn't a reason, just that it drags the story down a bit. Once you get past that the story moves at a breakneck pace. The narrarator is excellent and does a great job with a wide variety of voices and accents. Each character is unique and not at all cartoony.

The best part is that there are so many plot twists and turns in this novel. I was caught flat footed several times with surprises in this book. I read a ton of books and finding one that keeps you guessing without being obtuse or blaming everything on a charater you didn't or barely see is great (although that does happen once). I definitely recommend this one, it is well worth a credit.