Review: The Betrayal of Maggie Blair

Title: The Betrayal of Maggie Blair

Author: Elizabeth Laird

Release Date: April 18^th, 2011

Series: None

Number of Pages: 432

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Source: NetGalley

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In seventeenth-century Scotland, saying the wrong thing can lead to banishment—or worse. Accused of being a witch, sixteen-year-old Maggie Blair is sentenced to be hanged. She escapes, but instead of finding shelter with her principled, patriotic uncle, she brings disaster to his door.

Betrayed by one of her own accusers, Maggie must try to save her uncle and his family from the king’s men, even if she has to risk her own life in the process. 

Originally published in the UK, this book has a powerful blend of heart-stopping action and thought-provoking themes.

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I’m a little over the fence with this book. I was expecting a lot from it, as I usually really enjoy historic books, yet there was something with this one that stopped me from getting into the story.

The story was interesting, but was really slow. One main aspect of the book is religion, which I didn’t really enjoy. I don’t really like books that use religion that much, because I think it should really is a personal thing. It’s not preaching you one religion. It goes well with the setting, but it really stopped me from really getting into the story. The ending fits well, but it didn’t wow me.

I really liked Maggie as a character. She just seems authentic to me. I completely hated Annie, but in a good way. She was just too awful to Maggie. Still, as a character, I liked her. I won’t talk about the more religious characters, because I had some problems with them. I just didn’t really enjoy them always quoting the Bible or religious scripture. The last character I really loved was the Granny. She was just an amazing character. She was simply so strong and she made me laugh. I wish we could have seen more from her.

I enjoy the writing, which is one of the reasons I didn’t give up on it when I saw that there was that much religion in it. I’m curious about Laird’s work, and I’ll probably check her other work.

Over all, I would give it a 3/5. It was okay. I would recommend it if you’re not turn off by religion in books.