The betrayed

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The betrayed is the first volume in a thriller trilogy by Ursula Poznanski , which takes place in a dystopian world . It was published in 2012. The second volume is titled The Conspirators and the third and last at the same time is called The Destroyed .

action

The story takes place in a future in which large parts of the earth have become inhospitable due to a huge volcanic eruption. As a result, the world is immersed in a "Long Night" from the consequences. In addition, the temperatures have fallen dramatically. Some people were able to save themselves in so-called spheres , in which a relatively normal life is possible. As a result, the spheres-dwellers developed into an elitist upper class, who avoid contact with people living outside the spheres (also pejoratively called “prim” by the sphere-dwellers), who have to live under difficult conditions. The outside residents live in clans that fight each other. The toddlers are also often stolen from them by Sentinels, the soldiers of the sphere dwellers, and raised in the sphere. Only the initiated know about this. The majority of the sphere residents believe the children were abandoned.

The story is told by the character Ria, who studies in one of the spheres. By chance she learns that she and five other successful students are about to be killed because she and the other students are accused of being involved in a conspiracy. She does not learn a reason for this accusation. The book Jordan's Chronicle is said to play a key role here . During a train ride in which exactly these six students take part, some Sentinels board. These special Sentinels are an elite group called Executors who are charged with killing the students. With Eleria's quick intervention - she pulls a handle that opens the emergency doors - the six escape. None of them know what conspiracy they are supposed to be involved in.

In the snow-covered outer world, they are found by members of the Black Thorns clan . They want to kill the students first, but Ria is able to convince their leader to let them live. You will be taken to the Blackthorn Village and have to help with the work there. This includes hunting, searching houses that have been uninhabited since the Long Night, exposing the ground to sow and sewing items of clothing from rags and animal skins. They are disparagingly called "darlings" by the locals. (Referring to the speech of the sphere founder Melchart, who describes the sphere inhabitants as “darlings of fate”.) The fact that sentinels continue to search for the students does not help to increase mutual trust. To make the situation worse, Ria receives a message on her electronic bracelet that there is a traitor among the six displaced. She begins to ask the clan members and Quirin, the “keeper” of the clan, about the book of Jordan's Chronicle , but receives no answer.

During the daily hunt, Eleria is attacked by four Sentinels and almost strangled. This only prevents Sandor, a clan member and at the same time Thane of the Black Thorns. As a result of the attack, she can no longer speak for a while, which bothers her because her major at the academy was conviction. Another student, Tycho, is shot in the shoulder and survives badly wounded. Fleming, the medical student, tries to get medicine from the room where the six are housed and is stabbed to death. On his bracelet, Ria finds a course of conversation that shows that Fleming was the traitor, but also that after a while he refuses to obey his client and, for example, pretends not to know which clan they are with.

After Fleming's cremation, the five remnants are taken to the “city below the city”. This is a secret hiding place for the black thorns . Apparently it was a big metropolis before the Long Night. Now the subway shafts and old Roman tunnels are used as hiding places.

The first book ends here.

Important persons

Eleria (Ria)

  • Ria is ranked 7th among the top ten in the ranking of the Borwin Academy of Sphere Hope. It is therefore possible for her to become one of the Speakers of the Spheres.
  • Her focus is on rhetoric and foreign languages. In addition to the open emotions, she can also read the hidden emotions on most people's faces. She also took a course in medicine and has extensive theoretical knowledge in it.
  • Eleria is 18 years old when she has to flee with Aureljo, with whom she is firmly together, and four other students.
  • Ria's name is a combination of Eleanor of Aquitaine , who was one of the most powerful women of the Middle Ages, and Ariadne , the Cretan king's daughter, who came up with the idea of ​​the red thread in the labyrinth.
  • Eleria has brown eyes and auburn hair. The first volume says that she is an artificially created human being (Vitro). Like all future cadres in the sphere, she would have had to undergo surgery soon, had it not been for the conspiracy and subsequent escape.
  • In the third volume she finds her father and her sister in a clan, which she recognizes by a brand. She got it shortly before she was robbed.

Aureljo

  • Aureljo ranks first among the students of the Borwin Academy of the Sphere Hope, he has the best qualifications to later become President of the League of Spheres.
  • His focus is on rhetoric and tactics: Aureljo is also mediocre to good in many other areas of the study programs.
  • He was 19 years old when he had to flee with Eleria and the other betrayed students.
  • Its name Aureljo is derived from the Roman emperor Marc Aurel , a kind and peaceful regent.
  • Aureljo has dark green eyes and golden blonde, straight hair. In order to instill confidence in those around him, he had to undergo facial surgery.

Tomma

  • Tomma is ranked 65th in the Borwin Academy of Hope.
  • Before she fled, she studied biology, specializing in botany. She was also very involved in volunteering.
  • Tomma was 19 years old when she had to flee with Eleria and the other students.
  • Good friend of Ria and grew up with her in the New Colonia sphere with Baja's foster mother.
  • Her name, Tomma, is named after the biologist and botanist Mutius von Tommasini .
  • She is often emotional, unpredictable, and shows little self-control.

Tycho

  • When Tycho with Ria, Aureljo, Tomma, Dantorian and Fleming had to flee from the League of Spheres, stamped as traitors, he was 15 years old.
  • He looks younger than he is. He has blond hair, is thin and flexible, and has freckles on his face. He also has a strong sense of direction and can think very quickly.
  • Despite his young age, Tycho is 89th of the Borwin Academy. He too studied hope in the sphere of hope before fleeing.
  • Tycho is a hobbyist and focused on technology.
  • It could be named after the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe .

Dantorian

  • He is in the ranking of the Borwin Academy (sphere of hope) in 114th place.
  • He is also 18 years old at the time of the escape.
  • Dantorian is an artist, plays 5 instruments and can sing. He also paints, writes and deals with ancient words.
  • Part of its name is derived from the Italian poet Dante , the origin of the second part is not mentioned.

Fleming

  • Fleming is ranked 32nd (Borwin Academy, Sphere Hope).
  • He is studying medicine and would have been slated to become head of the sphere's med center (medical departments).
  • When he escaped, Fleming was 19 years old.
  • It is named after the physician Alexander Fleming .
  • Fleming is quite tall and very thin.
  • It is worth noting that Fleming knew about the Sphere's scheme and was in league with the executives who were supposed to kill the students. He kept sending them information about the whereabouts of the students. When he has concerns about the Sphere's punitive action, he helps the others in the group. For this he is killed, either by executives or by Quirin.

Grauko

  • He is one of the four most respected mentors of the Hope Sphere.
  • Grauko has a graying goatee and brown eyes.
  • Ria was his best student.

Sandor

  • Sandor is the thane (succeeding and deputy ruler) of the Eastern Line Blackthorns clan.
  • He is 19 years old, has black shoulder length hair and dark eyes with gold flecks. A distinctive feature is a scar that divides his eyebrow and eye in two. Otherwise, his face is almost perfect while his body is covered in scars.
  • Its skin is darker than that of the sphere dwellers.
  • He's one of the few people Ria can't see through. His facial expressions are very economical, although he has never received any emotion control training.
  • He's a very good archer and owns a hawk he named Kelvin (after the physicist Lord Kelvin )

Vilem

  • Vilem is the prince (ruler) of the Blackthorn clan of the eastern line. Sandor is his successor and deputy.
  • He is tall and broad. Vilem is bald, only on the back of his head is long, brown hair, he has a brown beard that reaches to his chest. A piece is missing from the left ear.

Quirin

  • Quirin holds the rank of “keeper” among the black thorns.
  • He is 65 years old, has white hair, a beard and only wears long white clothes with a billowing cloak.

Awards and nominations

Press reviews

  • "With a steady increase in tension and ever deeper entanglements that simply won't let the reader go."
  • "A nifty thriller that makes you think."

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mathias Ziegler: Welcome to the dystopia. Wiener Zeitung, March 28, 2013
  2. ^ Joseph Anton Kruse: Book of young people: The betrayed. Westdeutsche Zeitung, January 25, 2013