Take a photo of a barcode or cover
racham1123 's review for:
Beyond the Black Door
by A.M. Strickland
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
First off, for some reason I went through the majority of this book thinking there was a sequel. So, I was a bit on edge as we got closer to the end of the book because I wasn't sure how it was going to end and I was really hoping it wasn't going to be a cliff hanger. Alas, it's a stand alone book! And, honestly, I'm really happy for that. I think it was solid ending and if there were to be another book, I'm not sure it would be as good. Like all those failed movie sequels- never quite as good as the original.
That being said, I was a little confused by the details of the ending.Was The Darkness conquered? It sounds like it has left Vehyn or he's about to live without it, but then I'm not really sure why he was still locked back away? I mean, obviously he's the villain in the story so you have the manipulative and the abuse and I'm not saying yes to those things but this is a villain love interest story despite it also not being a love story. The details were messy. The story was complicated. The ending confused me. Additionally, as far as the Kings death went, I was asking why myself why Kamai didn't just make the killing blow so she'd be the one to kill the king instead. Because to me, that meant that The Darkness couldn't completely escaped and break the bond with Ranta and the land. But then, I thought, well I guess Razmir would still be broken because he's basically step sister would have killed his dad. Not as bad at HIM doing it, but still hella traumatic. And then, right when I convinced myself it didn't matter our MC started thinking just like me and killed the king anyway. So I guess it wasn't as traumatic as I expected because Razmir was fine. Woof. However, I did really like how we found out that Razmir no longer looked at Kamai in that strange possessive-y was he used to because now we know that when that happened it Vehyn looking out not Razmir. ...Except Veyhn should have never been able to cross the bridge and get into her stepbrother until that moment at the end so actually, I'm still confused. đ
I did love the concept with all the uses of the word Soul being played throughout the book. Like how âsoul-crossedâ and ânew soulâ characters are explained. Soulmates was also fun as well of course as Soul Walkers. Very pretty. The magic system was also nice.
I liked the world building but also there were A LOT of details for me. A little too detail-y for my own personal attention span. This goes for the mythical history we got too. It was all important to the story but I had a hard time finding attachment to it all.
Also this book had a lot of good representation, particularly with our ace MC and her transgender best friend. We're also given a really strong platonic love bond between the two that I found very nice. Now, I will say, however, this was my first ace romance book and it's not something I'm super familiar with so I don't actually know if it was done well or not. But, I found it to be really interesting for me. I, personally, liked the dark villain romance aspect even if it wasn't what I was used to, and maybe I liked it more than some of the main stream ones because it didn't just turn into senseless dribble.
Except, this line...
That being said, I was a little confused by the details of the ending.
I did love the concept with all the uses of the word Soul being played throughout the book. Like how âsoul-crossedâ and ânew soulâ characters are explained. Soulmates was also fun as well of course as Soul Walkers. Very pretty. The magic system was also nice.
I liked the world building but also there were A LOT of details for me. A little too detail-y for my own personal attention span. This goes for the mythical history we got too. It was all important to the story but I had a hard time finding attachment to it all.
Also this book had a lot of good representation, particularly with our ace MC and her transgender best friend. We're also given a really strong platonic love bond between the two that I found very nice. Now, I will say, however, this was my first ace romance book and it's not something I'm super familiar with so I don't actually know if it was done well or not. But, I found it to be really interesting for me. I, personally, liked the dark villain romance aspect even if it wasn't what I was used to, and maybe I liked it more than some of the main stream ones because it didn't just turn into senseless dribble.
Except, this line...
"Youâre my child, my bride, my soul. You are mine, forever.â
That gave me the ick. That was too much.
There was also something satisfying about my intentional prediction about the black door being correct, but for the life of me I cannot fathom why it took the entire book for Kamai to make the same realization.
All in all, I did really like it but because of all the details that slowed me down a bit I'm not sure I would read its again. Will definitely recommend to others though.