The Boundless (Beholder, #2)

by Anna Bright

This breathtaking sequel to The Beholder will take you on a journey into a darkly sparkling fairy tale, perfect for fans of The Selection and Caraval.

When Selah found true love with Prince Torden of Norway, she never imagined she’d have to leave him behind. All because the Beholder’s true mission was a secret Selah’s crew didn’t trust her to keep: transporting weapons to the rebels fighting against the brutal tsarytsya, whose shadow looms over their next port of Shvartsval’d. A place Selah hoped she’d never go.

But gone is the girl who departed Potomac filled with fear. With a stockpile of weapons belowdecks and her heart hanging in the balance, Selah is determined to see the Beholder’s quest to its end.  

• ISBN10: 0062845454
• ISBN13: 9780062845450
• Publish Date: 9 July 2020 (first published 9 June 2020)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 22 August 2023
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• Imprint: HarperTeen
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 512
• Language: English

Reviews

[bgsbooks18]

Review coming

[thepunktheory]

Full review on my blog!

This is going to be a short review, as I have nothing to say but I LOVE it.
The story becomes so much more complicated, dark, and fascinating than in the first book and I was immediately hooked.
Once more I was fascinated by how Anna Bright drew from myths and legends but still managed to make it her own.
You can see her inspirations but it's still unique and new.
The story really gets under your skin and is much heavier than in the first book. Bright manages a seamless transition and nothing feels at odds.
I'm trying not to add any spoilers, so let me just say I loved Selah's journey and character development. She came so far in these books and I'm a little sad that our journey together is over now.

[blackbibliophile]

The sequel dragged a little towards the middle but wrapped up beautifully at the end.

Sometimes, no one is coming to save you and you’ve gotta save yourself!

[ladygrey]

That was a satisfying book! I’d was an actual story this time around, and a good one. It had a very good character arc and perhaps best of all it didn’t end too don’t—there was plenty of time and resolution after the climax so that nothing felt rushed and everything came together.

It wasn’t perfect. First of all I don’t understand why Selah had all these guys pinning after her. Mostly because she captured their attention in the first book. And in that one she wasn’t that clever. She’s pretty. But she’s not especially funny or intriguing. She’s a little bit brave with torden so really i understand why he likes her. She humble and hard working. And kind. But other than that she doesn’t show a lot of personality until the second book. She grows a spine and shows some conviction and is interesting.

And that isn’t the end of her character arc. I loved what she learned from Norge, but even more from the tsarytsya, how cunning she became and bold and unflinching. It was kind of fantastic.

That being said, there was one thing I liked considerably better about the first one—it avoided the first person tap of overdoing internal monologue. It never felt like there were pages of just Selah thinking. It was always reactions to the immediate moment and the characters and circumstances around her. In this one the internal monologue is overdone. I have yet to see an author overdo internal monologue and not repeat themselves and this is no exception—she misses her father, Alessandra hates her, she misses home, she feels guilty about Lang but also kinda not (they were confusing because they never fit but still she seemed a little conflicted which I just didn’t get), she wants to go home. It’s different pieces of the same song again and again.

But that’s really the only thing I didn’t like. This time there’s a story. Selah has agency (finally) working to help people around her, talking back wonderfully and making choices and best of all owning those choices. I like the second half where there’s intrigue and power and manipulations because I like those things in stories. I like that in the midst of that intrigue she had her friends and they work together. It’s what makes it a story and makes it fun to read.

And that’s where the pleasantness comes in because this one is a pleasant book like the first. Even though Bright tries to describe this cruel, horrible tyrant in the tsarytsya, I actually kind of like her. The wolves not so much, but I did like the allusions to wolves and claws and how they became a part of even Selah’s vernacular. Still, it didn’tfeel scary. It doesn’t leave you emotionally icky or depressed. It’s clear who the bad guys are but they don’t ruin the story so the tone still feels light and that lets the reader enjoy the intrigue and enjoy the friendships and see where the story goes.

And in the end it goes quite, quite well.

[tweetybugshouse]

This is an emotional intense story through fairy tales old and new. In this second book Selah has left her love behind and has moved on to the next suitor on the list. What she finds when she arrives at Castle Katz is a castle in ruins and no one to greet her. From their on we are immersed in various fairy tales that are cleverly woven all together. The only thing that irked me was towards the end Selah seemed very fickle about the person she was going to marry. Maybe it was the author way of getting us to continue tell the end cause i for one had no idea between the 3, aleski who she was being forced, Torden who she ditched or Lang. The ending is heart stopping and the sweetness of Selah arriving home almost brings tears to my eyes. This is a great duology if you love fairy tale retellings.