The fate of the clans will depend on two young aelven lovers, Eliani and Turisan, who are blessed with a legendary gift: the fabled power of mindspeech. But this ability comes with great risks. Time is running out as the alben mount their attack–and their ultimate betrayal.

The leader of the alben, Shalár, has seen her population decline over the years and wants to return her people to their previous status.  She and her people feed from the blood of the kobalen that they capture. Feeding on blood is what caused her people to be forced away from the rest of the aelven and named alben.  

The world of the aelven and alben is very well crafted and full of interesting details.  The descriptions of the ceremonies for confirmation of nextkin and for handfasting were especially fascinating.  The character names are exotic sounding but not so exotic that they detract from the story.  The Betrayal stands up well  to rereads.  I’ve read it twice so far and will probably read it again before the next novel of the aelven is released next year.  I’d recommend this book to anyone that enjoys reading fantasy novels.  It is a very enjoyable book with excellent pacing and is an interesting twist on vampires and elves.