Book Review: What Lies Beyond the Veil by Harper L. Woods

Title: What Lies Beyond the Veil
Author: Harper L. Woods
Publisher: ‎Adelaide Forrest
Publication Date: February 22, 2022
ISBN: 9780578374000 

Synopsis:
For nearly 400 years, the Veil has protected us from the Fae of Alfheimr. In their absence, our lives have shifted from decadence and sin to survival and virtue under the guidance of the New Gods. I’ve spent my entire life tending to the gardens next to the boundary between our worlds, drawn to the shimmering magic like a moth to the flame. All of that changes the day the Veil shatters, unleashing the fae upon our world once again. The magic of faerie marks those of us they mean to take, but the Mist Guard protecting Nothrek will kill us all before they let the fae have us. There’s no choice but to flee everything I’ve ever known, not if I want to live to see my twenty-first birthday as a free woman.

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This book was such a struggle. I grappled with even writing a review, but I’ve started book 2 and it’s much improved so far, so I thought I may as well put a little something down for the first book in this series as well. What Lies Beyond the Veil sets the stage for the series as it introduces the reader to the mystery of the magic and the much-feared world of the fae. The reader gets to know the protagonist, Estrella, the abuse she suffers at the hands of men, and the decent of her world into chaos as the Veil that’s protected humans for so long against the fae, falls. The story slowly follows Estrella as she learns to adapt to her new reality and discovers how to survive in this deathly world she now inhabits.

There is so much wrong with this book, I don’t even know where to begin. We have a character who is terribly abused, who has the potential to find freedom and strength, only to end up in what can only be described as a new abusive relationship, yet she, for whatever reason, is swept away into what we’re told is a heated romance, but really is a very dangerous, terrifying, and controlling relationship. I feel like readers are supposed to swoon over the romance, but it just made me uncomfortable how little agency the main female character has in her new life. On top of the cringey romance, the world building is negligible and the pace is agonizingly slow. There’s literally nothing that happens in this book, other than the characters wandering around, trying not to die. The writing is mediocre, the characters are bland, and I’m disappointed in all of the recommendations online that suggested this as the next series to read after ACOTAR.

I’m intrigued enough about the story that I’ve continued onto the next book, via a free audiobook download that I had. So far, it’s leaps and bound better, so maybe there’s hope for this series yet. But still holding out on that verdict.

Happy reading!