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A review by naiapard
What Lies Beyond the Veil by Harper L. Woods
3.0
The only reason I read this book is that I read (by chance) the description for book 2 and I found it promising.
Truth be told, this entire installment should have started with book 2 and pepper down the line some extra information from book 1. There is almost nothing important happening in 3 out of 4 parts of this book. The only things you need to know are in the third or fourth chapter and then in the final two. The rest feels like filling (that is because it is already so similar with A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout).
One thing that got to me in a particular way, was the MC`s blindness. Not often do I get the chance to be mesmerized by a character that so completely refuses to pick up the clues that are laid in front of her.
I am going to explain what I mean by this, however, it will be heavily spoiler-ish, so, I advise you to be careful. If you don`t want spoilers, then do not read further. This was enough for you. Go read the book or other reviews, but do not scroll down more than this.
I think we can agree that we are past the point of the fantasy books in which the heroine/hero is oblivious to the fantastical creatures around them.
To exemplify what I mean, I extracted three passages from the book when I was ready to close it and be done with it.
I.
My first issue appears when this human she encountered (who had a glowing mark on him like her) starts explaining what`s up with the mark.
He sighed, tilting his head down as we walked, and I felt his chin touch the top of my head.
“Being mated makes the Fae even stronger. That’s what the Viniculum is—why it protects us. Somewhere, there’s a mate looking for us, seeking to claim us as theirs. The establishment of a mate bond increases a Fae’s power. If you can keep a Fae from their mate, you can keep them stagnant. Unable to increase their power, and if you do successfully manage to kill the mate, some Fae don’t survive.”
HOW IS IT POSSIBLE that he tells her she is branded for a fae and her next question is not I HAVE A MATE OUT THERE? How do I recognize them? Instead, she shrugs off this valuable piece of information and goes on with her life. Why? Where is your sense of preservation?? Why didn`t she ask how she could recognize which was her mate-fae? Maybe then she would have put two and two together and seen that the man standing beside her was her mate all along.
II.
She was intimate with her companion. And in her descriptions, she kept inserting these parts in which she was claiming how she burns for him:
“Caelum,” I murmured, tearing my mouth from his.
He sighed his frustration, dropping his face into my neck and trailing his lips over the Fae Mark that was so similar to his. It blazed like ice so cold it burned, the white glow of it shimmering off his skin.
AND SHE does not even think for one moment that something is off, that maybe she is falling into a trap or something. She is so trustful with the stranger she has barely known for a few days that she does not question his claimed identity AT ALL.
III.
Then, there is this moment when they encounter a group of humans that are anti-fae. The anti-fae man sees her companion and questions him if he is human or fae. She takes his part saying how could he be fae if he is marked with the FAE MATED mark (because her logic is that sound):
“The Fae Marks didn’t give it away?” I asked, glaring at the man who’d spoken.
“You’ve never seen a Fae, have you pretty? Those bastards are born with the Mark,” he grumbled.”
She is still not making the connection... I can't. And I was here at 75% in the book.
I wouldn`t have had a problem with this stalling if not for the fact that the entire plot seemed to hang on to the idea that she had to run away from the fae. Where? We had no exact idea. Why? Couldn`t tell you.
