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mayas003's review
4.0
Beyond the Veil is a good read, a really good book. Good enough to make me want to keep reading until the end in one sitting. To start, I must tell you that you need to start by reading the Prologue. I never read prologues. So, I started this book and read three chapters to notice that I had to go back and read the prologue.
To start the prologue was as long as a chapter, although it described the scene well. However, when you read the prologue, it is a little weird because you think of the blurb, and it takes you out of the overall premise, but stick with it because it is the essence of the entire story.
On the other hand, the start of the book for about the first third of the book was slow as a Sunday mass to pick up speed after that. I like thrillers and horror stories; however, in this book, there were spelling and grammar mistakes that took away from the read.
This story reminds me of a Japanese traditional belief and literature, of the onryō who is a "vengeful spirit" or a ghost. The believers see him as so bad that he comes to harm the living, by killing enemies and get vengeance for the bad that happens to them while alive. The belief is that they come by taking their spirits from the dead. Plus she added some Wiccan lore. Using multiple lore's is a unique way to twist the story. I loved this way of storytelling. Jeannie Wycherley used different lore’s to create the plot. There were parts in the plot where the description was so imaginative I must give her credit for her inventiveness.
On the other hand, she does need to work on showing me the story and step away from telling me the story. However, she didn’t do it often, which shows me this is an author that is polishing her craft. I am not going to give any spoilers, but I will say there were parts where I wasn’t expecting the outcome, and that was quite refreshing. The character of Abelia was one scary warrior, and she did make my hair stand up in parts of this book. But, the one thing this book lacked was a complete character arc for the main characters. I would have liked for Heidy to have had an actual complete change.
I did like the end of the story, and in my opinion, fans of this author will love this story.
To start the prologue was as long as a chapter, although it described the scene well. However, when you read the prologue, it is a little weird because you think of the blurb, and it takes you out of the overall premise, but stick with it because it is the essence of the entire story.
On the other hand, the start of the book for about the first third of the book was slow as a Sunday mass to pick up speed after that. I like thrillers and horror stories; however, in this book, there were spelling and grammar mistakes that took away from the read.
This story reminds me of a Japanese traditional belief and literature, of the onryō who is a "vengeful spirit" or a ghost. The believers see him as so bad that he comes to harm the living, by killing enemies and get vengeance for the bad that happens to them while alive. The belief is that they come by taking their spirits from the dead. Plus she added some Wiccan lore. Using multiple lore's is a unique way to twist the story. I loved this way of storytelling. Jeannie Wycherley used different lore’s to create the plot. There were parts in the plot where the description was so imaginative I must give her credit for her inventiveness.
On the other hand, she does need to work on showing me the story and step away from telling me the story. However, she didn’t do it often, which shows me this is an author that is polishing her craft. I am not going to give any spoilers, but I will say there were parts where I wasn’t expecting the outcome, and that was quite refreshing. The character of Abelia was one scary warrior, and she did make my hair stand up in parts of this book. But, the one thing this book lacked was a complete character arc for the main characters. I would have liked for Heidy to have had an actual complete change.
I did like the end of the story, and in my opinion, fans of this author will love this story.
lattes_lipstick_literature's review
2.0
*A Thank you to Booksirens for allowing me to read this book. This is my honest and unbiased review*
Hello Fellow Readers,
So, I just could not get into this book. I have no idea why since the premise is very interesting, and the mystery was actually pretty good. I almost DNF'd it at 26% but something made me push through, and that had to count for something right? I do feel like the pacing of the book was just a little slow and I understand that it was done to build tension and suspense, but I felt it never really picked up for me like I would have liked.
Also, I just couldn't connect to any of the characters. Adam and Cassia was okay but not enough for me to establish a connection with them. Wycherly does write well, but there was just something that was missing for me, and unfortunately I just can not pin point what it is. The book has a really good rating on goodreads, so I think I may sometime in the future reread when my mindset is different.
Overall, not a book for me right now but I will try to read it again at a later date.
Hello Fellow Readers,
So, I just could not get into this book. I have no idea why since the premise is very interesting, and the mystery was actually pretty good. I almost DNF'd it at 26% but something made me push through, and that had to count for something right? I do feel like the pacing of the book was just a little slow and I understand that it was done to build tension and suspense, but I felt it never really picked up for me like I would have liked.
Also, I just couldn't connect to any of the characters. Adam and Cassia was okay but not enough for me to establish a connection with them. Wycherly does write well, but there was just something that was missing for me, and unfortunately I just can not pin point what it is. The book has a really good rating on goodreads, so I think I may sometime in the future reread when my mindset is different.
Overall, not a book for me right now but I will try to read it again at a later date.
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