Beneath the Keep by Erika Johansen: A Book Review
Genre: Fantasy
A prequel to a little known trilogy, I began this novel wondering why it was even written. By the time I reached the fifth chapter, I was unsure if the story was even needed seeing as it was taking place before the trilogy written before it and seemingly giving background information that would need to be mentioned at the beginning of the trilogy in the first place. As I read further, however, I became quite entangled in the story.
Johansen writes a story of intense pain in Beneath the Keep. Filled with the pain of grief, betrayal, and even the losing-of-oneself, Johansen shows the darker side of truth: Love does not conquer all. What is right does not always win. Family is not always good. Sometimes there are no right things to do. Life is hard. Johansen embraces these truths and still offers hope.
In the form of the Blue Horizon, Johansen details that to move forward you need to hope for a better world and work to make it happen. While a little curt at parts, the story details how sometimes your hope isn’t or shouldn’t be just for yourself, but for everything and everyone.
The writing itself is well done with only a few plot holes: the biggest being during the queen’s birthday. While others could be overlooked, the hole here is glaringly obvious that somewhere the story was edited from one draft to another. The biggest strength Johansen gives to the story, however, is that it can stand alone from the trilogy. While the trilogy might tell the longer story of good fighting evil, Beneath the Keep stands as proof that sometimes all you can do is just keep going.
Other books like the one reviewed:
- A Queen in Hiding by Sarah Kozloff
- A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
- Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callender
- The Sin in the Steel by Ryan Van Loan
- Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thoughts Different by Karen Blumenthal (nonfiction)
| Plot: | 10/ 10 |
| Characters: | 10/ 10 |
| Writing: | 9/ 10 |
| Editor: | 7/ 10 |
| Total | 36/ 40 |
Title: Beneath the Keep: A Novel of the Tearling
Author: Erika Johansen
Edition: Hardback
Published: February 2, 2021
Publisher: Dutton
ISBN: 9781524742720
If you want to get it: Amazon; Barnes&Noble
Rosey Reviews 