The Boundless (Beholder, #2)

by Anna Bright

[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.