Magic, prophecies, human trafficking, politics, and the human heart in conflict with itself highlight the middle installment of Jones’ The Book of Words series. A Man Betrayed continues the stories of Jack, Melli, and Tawl as they head towards their destiny all the while Kylock forges a northern empire.

Jones continued her mixture of classical fantasy tropes and darker elements with the heroic journey and the set up for a stab in the back featured in falling the titular character. While Melli’s human trafficking journey to Bren and eventually meeting with Tawl, whose own redemption arc is beginning thanks to Nabber, mixes sex and politics with her eventual—very short—marriage to the Duke of Bren upending the plans of several individuals it was Jack’s personal journey of misguided vengeance—tricked in believing the worst of Melli’s fate—and eventual magical rage that sets him up at the end of the book to learn to control his magically “curse”. The political machinations of Baralis and Maybor while in Bren are thrown all over the place with Kylock’s actions and the Duke of Bren’s countermoves, but Baralis’ alliance with the duke’s daughter seems him on the verge of his decades-long ambition. Unlike the previous installment there were no questionable issues that distracted me even though it was obviously that Jack was being set up by the those he was around after his split with Melli that he was going to be betrayed, however it and the consequences were well written.

A Man Betrayed is a good middle of a trilogy installment as J.V. Jones develops her characters and moves the pieces of the narrative into a situation in which the ultimate climax appears to be something special. ( )

When this book came out, I was really looking forward to it. I enjoyed the characters and the story, the setting is average. While it really isn't all that unique or memorable, it does stand a bit above a lot of contemporary fantasy. It was well written, and was never hard to read. I enjoyed it most for the characters, though over time the details of the plot and setting have faded, so it must not have been that memorable. ( )