The Beholder and The Boundless by Anna Bright (ARC Reviews)

Title: The Beholder
Author: Anna Bright
Type: Fiction
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher: HarperTeen (HarperCollins)
Date published: June 4, 2019

A physical copy of this book was kindly provided by Indigo Books & Music Inc. in exchange for an honest review.

Selah has waited her whole life for a happily ever after. As the only daughter of the leader of Potomac, she knows her duty is to find the perfect match, a partner who will help secure the future of her people. Now that day has finally come.

But after an excruciatingly public rejection from her closest childhood friend, Selah’s stepmother suggests an unthinkable solution: Selah must set sail across the Atlantic, where a series of potential suitors awaits—and if she doesn’t come home engaged, she shouldn’t come home at all.

From English castle gardens to the fjords of Norge, and under the eye of the dreaded Imperiya Yotne, Selah’s quest will be the journey of a lifetime. But her stepmother’s schemes aren’t the only secrets hiding belowdecks…and the stakes of her voyage may be higher than any happy ending.

Title: The Boundless
Author: Anna Bright
Type: Fiction
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher: HarperTeen (HarperCollins)
Date published: June 9, 2020

A digital copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Note: This book is part of a series, and there are likely some spoilers in the synopsis below.

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.

⤖ The Beholder Review ⬻

I remember when first hearing about Anna Bright’s The Beholder I was super excited about the marriage of convenience trope (not sure if this is 100% the right term here) that it would have going on. Simultaneously, I was worried about potential love triangles or squares…or pentagons. Who knows?! I’d never read anything by this author before, so wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

I can’t say whether that was the case or not, but I can say that I enjoyed how Anna Bright handled the perusing-through-suiters aspect of this book. It was tasteful as well as entertaining for me to read about! I also really enjoyed exploring this alternate history world. In the end, The Beholder wasn’t 100% what I had been hoping for, but it did leave me wanting to read the sequel ASAP.

⤖ The Boundless Review ⬻

Note: This book is part of a series, and there are likely unintentional but also unavoidable spoilers for the first book in the review below.

Luckily, I was able to get my hands on a digital ARC of the sequel, The Boundless pretty soon after I finished reading The Beholder. And I’m so glad that I requested an ARC because I actually ended up enjoying this sequel a lot more than the first book! A lot of you will know that this is a rare occurrence for me. This series also appears to be a duology, which I don’t read a lot of in general, so it was definitely an interesting experience that I had with these books due to that.

All of those things aside though, I love that The Boundless took us deeper into the alternate-history Europe that Anna Bright introduced us to in the first book. There was a lot of focus on Eastern European and Slavic culture which I really really enjoyed. This series doesn’t really count as a retelling in my opinion, but there were definitely elements in these books that were borrowed from fairytales (common and uncommon). I absolutely love how Anna Bright wove together the story specific to The Boundless and also enjoyed how she wrapped up the series as a whole! I’m very excited to see what Anna Bright will write next!

⤖ About the Author ⬻

From Anna Bright’s Goodreads account: I believe in woods, mountains, highways, cobblestones, roller coasters, dancing, concerts, cherry Pop Tarts, books, and magic. When I’m not reading or writing on my couch, I’m dragging my husband off on an adventure, communing with Salem (my kitten/spiritual familiar), or causing trouble at One More Page Books, where I work.