Beyond the Shadowed Earth (Beneath the Haunting Sea #2)
by Joanna Ruth Meyer
My rating: 3 hearts
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Pub. date: January 14, 2020
Publisher: Page Street
Synopsis:
It has always been Eda’s dream to become empress, no matter the cost. Haunted by her ambition and selfishness, she’s convinced that the only way to achieve her goal is to barter with the gods. But all requests come with a price and Eda bargains away the soul of her best friend in exchange for the crown.
Years later, her hold on the empire begins to crumble and her best friend unexpectedly grows sick and dies. Gnawed by guilt and betrayal, Eda embarks on a harrowing journey to confront the very god who gave her the kingdom in the first place. However, she soon discovers that he’s trapped at the center of an otherworldly labyrinth and that her bargain with him is more complex than she ever could have imagined.
Set in the same universe as Joanna’s debut, Beneath the Haunting Sea, Beyond the Shadowed Earth combines her incredible world building and lush prose with a new, villainous lead.
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Beyond the Shadowed Earth was... okay. It wasn't anything special, but it was still enjoyable, overall. I didn't like the main character all that much, either. I felt like it was a lot longer than it probably needed to be, and it wasn't a particularly memorable read.
I didn't really like Eda. She's hard to relate to and equally hard to like. And while I can enjoy reading about a morally grey main character - in fact, villainous characters can be quite interesting to read about - in this case, Eda just wasn't very well-written. And I hated how she became a whole different person when she fell in love. Eda just felt kind of washed out and uninteresting to me.
The romance was really hurried. I prefer slow-building romance. I hate love-at-first-sight. And while it wasn't insta-love, it didn't take long before Eda proclaimed herself in love and ready to marry (after being completely against it, too). And while I can see why it was written this way (it was part of the plot), I just couldn't enjoy the romance.
The plot was fast-paced. And while I love fast-paced fantasy book, this one felt a little hurried at parts. For the most part, it was good, but there were some things I felt were rushed through, especially the ending. It took a long time to get to the ending, but once we got there, it was very hurried.
The world-building was great, though. It's an interesting world, and the premise was really great. The world is clearly very thought-through, and it's really interesting. Honestly, it had a great premise, which is why I was so excited to read this book, but since I had such a hard time relating to and even liking the main character, it was hard to really enjoy it.
Overall, this book had a great premise, but poor execution. The main character wasn't particularly interesting or layered, which is necessary if you want people to be interested in a villainous main character. Unfortunately, I just didn't care about Eda, and for me that's absolutely necessary in order to enjoy a book. But if you care more about the plot and world-building than characters, I think it's worth a try.
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