Book Review: What Lies Beyond the Veil
by Harper L. Woods
I had such high hopes for this series. The synopsis had me hooked and I did get through the first book pretty fast because I was very interested to see where the story would go. I thought there was a promising villain, interesting world conflict, and a lead male character that I could have really liked. However, the plot of the entire first book and part of the second (I’m not sure what happened after because that was where I stopped) didn’t really progress. The first book consisted of a journey through the woods to find the rebels, and when they finally got to the rebel camp they spent very little time there (something I found to be a miss on the authors part), and the first half of the second book was a journey to the Fae Region. 95% of the story consisted of the male and female main characters talking, in circles, about their relationship. It was annoying and not interesting to read. If an author wants to convince me of two peoples feelings for each other they need to show me, not tell me. And please, don’t make the romance the only topic on the page when the story calls for so much more. The only reason I read as far as I did was because I was hoping the plot would start progressing soon.
My other complaint about this story was the mythology behind it. It was all over the place. The Fae were split into Unseelie and Seelie courts, however, there were also further divides between Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Shadow courts. The underworld had Greek origins, but their afterlife had Viking origins. It was a complete hodgepodge and had the effects of seeming super lazy and unoriginal in the sense that the author chose to take various elements of a bunch of different myths instead of choosing one and making it her own.
My recommendation: don’t waste your time on this series, it will leave you unsatisfied and wishing you could get back the time you spent reading it.
Book 1: What Lies Beyond the Veil
by Harper L. Woods