Review: The Betrayal (The Fear Street Saga Trilogy #1) by R.L. Stine

Title: The Betrayal

Series: The Fear Street Saga Trilogy #1

Author: R.L. Stine

Genre: YA, horror, mystery thriller, historical

Publication date: August 1993

Published by: Archway Paperback

Source: Own paperback

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Synopsis:

Why do so many horrifying things happen on Fear Street? Nora knows.

She knows how the terror began. She knows about the young girl who burned at the stake--and the bloody feud between two families that caused the unspeakable horror that has lasted 300 years!

She knows, and she wants to tell.

Are you sure you want to hear it?

My rating: ★★★★★
This book is told as if Nora Goode is writing it—we get three stories each with an interlude from Nora as she tells the story of the Fears and the Goodes. This is literally what I remember from reading this series way back in the day: just Nora sitting at a desk writing by candlelight. Ah, the nostalgia.

In the first story we head way back to the witch trials in Massachusetts! This was pretty cool to me because this sort of stuff has always fascinated me. I really enjoyed that aspect of this. And of course it was the Fears (or as they were known back then, Fier) who were the prosecutors sentencing all these people to burn at the stake for “witchcraft.” But this is exactly how the whole Fear curse starts.

Basically, Benjamin Fier doesn’t want his son Edward to be with the peasant girl Susanna Goode, so he accuses her and her mother of being witches and they are burned at the stake. He was the absolute worst! And their deaths were just awful! So, so awful to witness! But get this, it turns out that while Susannah and her mother weren’t into witchcraft, Susannah’s father, William Goode, was!

They were innocent.
But I was not.
They had no knowledge of these dark arts.
But I have practiced them well.

This blew my mind! I was not expecting that at all! So after his wife and daughter are unfairly tried and killed, he basically curses the Fiers for what they did to his family and thus begins the horrible tragedies the span hundreds of years.

And let me just tell you, the Fiers were a bunch of fucking assholes! I felt so bad for Susannah! Poor girl. Edward was also an asshole in the end, even though I actually did like him in the beginning because he wanted to be with her no matter what. But so much misunderstanding. Poor kids.

When Edward finds out Susannah was a supposed witch, he was all like, “Nope! I’m out!” It’s not even true bro! An innocent girl died and you could’ve saved her. The girl you supposedly loved. Ugh!

In the second story we have the Fiers moving away with Edward being all grown up, married and with a child. Edward’s uncle, Matthew, now has teenage daughter, Mary. William, Susannah’s father, decides to track them to exact his revenge...

...in the form of Jeremy, his son but not really because it turned out that he was Jeremy this whole time and he was romancing Mary! Ewww!


Also, it’s only been three days since they met and Mary already think she’s in love with Jeremy. No you’re not girl. No you are not. Instalove? No thank you.

Anyway, so the reveal that Jeremy was actually William this whole time was the weirdest fucking thing ever! Matthew Fier uses his magic amulet (because he is also into the Dark Arts because of course he is) to basically blow up Jeremy’s head. BUT THEN another head sort of pops up in its place—William’s! But then he dies anyway. Anyway, this scene with the head was weird and made me laugh so hard! It was just a ridiculous scene with Jeremy’s head cracking open only to reveal William’s head and that it was him this whole time.

And the last story is short and we basically get the rest of it in next book. But basically Ezra, Edward’s now-all-grown-up kid, seeking revenge for all of the tragedy that befell his family.

I absolutely loved this book! It was amazing! It’s probably one of best Fear Street books I have read (even though there is no Fear Street at this point as the Fears/Fiers have not migrated to Shadyside quite yet). My favorite story was probably the first one with Susannah. So much death—graphic death. But that’s what I like about these books! It had such amazing descriptions!

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! :)