Beyond the Shadowed Earth is a beautifully written story with a mythic tone, featuring Eda, an angry and ruthless protagonist driven by a tragic backstory and a desire to appease her gods. While some readers praised its depth and compelling narrative, others found the pacing slow and the romance forced. Eda’s complexity and potential for redemption stand out, but her harsh demeanor and lack of emotional connection left some readers disengaged. A polarizing tale, this book is best suited for fans of character-driven fantasy with a darker, mythological edge.

I unfortunately forgot to download the e-book on my kindle before it was archived and/or lost interest in the book because it’s been on my tbr for way too long, so I wasn’t able to read and review it (on time). Since I Must give a star rating, I’ve given it 3 stars to stay neutral/in the middle. Sorry to the publisher for not having gotten around to actually read it. I never request a book without the best of intention to read it and review it, since I know how important it is to the authors in particular. But sometimes life happens and/or reading preferences change so much that you just don’t always get around to read a certain book anymore, even though at the time of requesting I was definitely planning to actually read it of course.

This copy was kindly gifted to me from the publisher in exchange for an honest review (submitted on Instagram)

I’m a big fan of villainous/morally grey leads and after reading Beneath the Haunting Sea I was looking forward to diving into this one and seeing Eda’s story!

This is also my third book by Joanna Ruth Meyer, and you can absolutely expect it to continue with Meyer’s style of weaving stories within stories and incorporating fascinating mythology into her character’s lives. In my experience, Meyer’s books absolutely have the feel of two books in one and that’s the case in this one too. There is a distinct first and second part to this one.

In the first part, we see Eda trying to keep her promise to the Gods while maintaining her hold on the Empire—one she stole away from the rightful heir (which is seen in the first book, but not required to read for this one). In the second part, we see Eda grappling with the loss of literally everything she holds dear and grappling with the reality of her deeds.

Eda is a villainous lead, but there are absolutely larger villains in her world than she. Overall, the story is a beautifully written, epic journey of Eda discovering her place in a world that doesn’t revolve around her. I *loved* the side characters, as is typically the case for me with Meyer’s books and the grasp on the world’s mythology and interweaving plots is really well done.

There’s a little romance and a lot of betrayal. I do wish there had been more of a “wow I’ve done some really unforgivable stuff” moment for Eda, and found the book weak in that area, but I don’t think there was a needed full-on redemption arc (there is a bit of one, but not in the way you might have expect). Overall, another win for Meyer, in my opinion!

Honestly, this book has it all. A cool worldbuilding, great characters, a villain redemption arc, gorgeous writing...

Beyond the Shadowed Earth is a surprising book. Not just in terms of plot, but more importantly in that it actually gives you more than you were expecting at the start. It's like a reward, but one you weren't even aware was possible.

I actually really enjoyed this book. I thought it was great from the start. There were some parts of the book that I thought were a little slow but other then that I thought it was good. I liked the plot and the character development.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

This wasn't for me. First, I didn't realize this was the second book in a series which isn't a deal breaker, but I felt like I was missing a lot from not reading the first book. Second, I just found the main character annoying. I know she is supposed to be villainous but it was more spoiled child then villain.

I was very interested in this story because it was a villain story. I hoped that I would get a fledged out Gillian and wonder why she would become evil. However, she was not well-developed. Instead, she mostly seemed very selfish, and I felt nothing for Herat all. The world-building was also very confusing. Thus, it had an interesting plot, but was not well-executed.

Good story, with good character development and a pretty solid plot. I've recently started reading this author and Beyond the Shadowed Earth did not disappoint.

I was provided with an eARC of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Im not sure what I was expecting when I started this, but I certainly enjoyed it! The book is almost 2 distinct parts, and they each had a different vibe to them - both well done! Eda is a VERY interesting character, although she is the sort of character that is almost hard to like. Her temper is volatile and she is definitely very self-centered. Somehow, despite this, she grew on me as the story progressed. All in all, a good read with an interesting plot.

I didnt realize this was a companion novel, but I may just need to go check out the previous book now.

When I first read the synopsis for this novel, I knew I would be hooked. Girl wants to be empress so bad that she will sacrifice legit anything? Okay. I'm a sucker for wanting to know the worst that could happen. At first, I had a really difficult time staying engaged with Eda. Her voice was whiny and I understood why no one would take her seriously. Even I, someone she didn't rule, didn't take her seriously. As the novel went on, I became more engaged in the story and Eda's transformation over the course of the text. I will recommend this for a classroom library, but not for curriculum choices.

This is set in the same universe as the author’s previous book, Beneath the Haunting Sea, and is a companion novel of sorts which fleshes out the worldbuilding and characters previously introduced. Unfortunately, I didn’t find this any more compelling than the first novel, and I struggled to connect with the new protagonist Eda, and I just felt dissatisfied in the end after skipping through much of the book.

I am far too late in reviewing this book, as the e-copy I downloaded from NetGalley was poorly formatted and difficult to read. But I persevered nonetheless, because it's beautifully written. Eda is such an angry, ruthless heroine that it would be easy to dislike her, but from the beginning Joanna Meyer draws the reader in with a tragic backstory that makes Eda's harshness understandable and her zeal to appease her gods compelling -- as well as hinting at the possibility of redemption. There's a mythic resonance to the story and its setting that's reminiscent of Megan Whalen Turner's books, but in a good, not derivative way. I plan to buy a hard copy soon, so I can re-read it and properly enjoy it this time!

I read and reviewed this book to review for the School Library Journal, which can be found here https://www.slj.com/?reviewDetail=beyond-the-shadowed-earth

I should start by saying that I was attracted to this book by the idea of a villain protagonist who thinks she's doing good, and the promise of twisty court politics. However, I felt that the execution was a little lacking - the writing flows well, and is nice to read, but I never felt like I was connected to the heart of the story or to any of the characters. The first part of the book, where the politics are, happened so fast that we never got to really root for Eda, or know what was going on with her empire, so when things started going wrong for her it was hard to know why it mattered, really. I would have liked this whole first section to be slowed down a lot more - it could have been the first book of a duology, building up Eda's personality and backstory (rather than throwing us in at the deep end) and letting the romance breathe so that the first huge turning point really felt like one. After that point, Eda is on the run, but the whole book becomes a lot more about her personal relationship with the gods, which felt a lot slower in terms of the actual development of the story, but the plot events still come thick and fast without much depth between. Overall, it was just hard to connect to this book, but I would be interested in trying the author's other writing, as I liked the style of the prose.

When I requested this I somehow missed that this was the second book in a trilogy. While I missed a little bit of backstory/world-building I didn't really feel that this had a negative impact. There was nothing wrong with this book, but there was nothing to make it stand out from many similar YA Fantasy series for me either.

I didn’t realize this was the second book in a series and so I didn’t understand the backstory. It was very well written though and I will look into finding the first one.

After reading Echo North and falling in love with it, I knew I had to read Beyond the Shadowed Earth. Even though I haven't read the first in this universe, I'm definitely going back for it now. This was dark and twisty and I ADORE main characters who aren't particularly likable. I need more from Meyer!

Disclaimer: I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, but it does not influence my opinion of the book nor this review in any way.

That description sounds really great doesn’t it? This read should check a lot of boxes for me: rags-to-riches, mythology, lush high fantasy setting, and a villainous lead! Not to mention a promising romance… *waggles eyebrows* Unfortunately… it fell a bit short of expectations. I’m going to address each of those in turn…

Let’s start with the rag’s to riches story: is it? I literally had no idea what was happening with Eda this whole time. According to the story (and the blurb), she killed the previous Emperor to become Empress. The book made it sound like she came from royalty. But then she’d talk about going home, and it seemed like she was – pardon my language here – a commoner before that? But then lines came up like “He expected her to wash her own clothes??” (paraphrased) and didn’t know how to start a fire. Soo… backstory didn’t start out real well, as I knew almost nothing about Eda prior to the events of the book.

Set as lush high fantasy with mythological elements: hmmm, I suppose. The world was interesting enough, although I never felt like I grasped it. Things were explained as necessary, and the mythology might have been cool, but it also felt like a giant pile of spaghetti for all the explanation we got. The characters didn’t even understand it wholly – which could have been interesting, but I just didn’t feel that it was handled well.

But we got a really cool villainous lead, right?? Well… I really, really, really tried to like this one! I love villainous leads and well-written villains in general! But Eda just read like a petulant child, and everything was one big temper-tantrum. Everyone hated her, no one understood what she was going through, but really she just didn’t pay attention to anything 2 cm from her forehead. She sacrificed the life of her friend for a favor from a God, for heavens’ sake! She had the hands cut off of someone who opposed her – Queen of Hearts, indeed! But never did she do anything to make me feel bad or sorry for her. I guess she made it up in the end with her “chosen one” antics, but good lord, I did not like this one.

But we got a really cool villainous lead, right?? Well… I really, really, really tried to like this one! I love villainous leads and well-written villains in general! But Eda just read like a petulant child, and everything was one big temper-tantrum. Everyone hated her, no one understood what she was going through, but really she just didn’t pay attention to anything 2 cm from her forehead. She sacrificed the life of her friend for a favor from a God, for heavens’ sake! She had the hands cut off of someone who opposed her – Queen of Hearts, indeed! But never did she do anything to make me feel bad or sorry for her. I guess she made it up in the end with her “chosen one” antics, but good lord, I did not like this one.

But… the romance…? I am really sad to report that the romance was as more of a thorn in my side than any source of enjoyment. (Spoilers ahead, skip to next paragraph unless you want to be mildly spoiled.) Eda threw her heart at the first person who was nice to her, and then had the gal to be surprised when he betrayed her? They’d known each other a week, she said “I love you” and never got a reply. So she married him and made him Emperor, of equal power to her. The whole time I was reading this, I wanted to throw the book against the wall! Then in the second half of the book… there was another blooming of romance! This one would have been more understandable, except I simply don’t understand how anyone could have fallen in love with her, and it seemed more of convenience for the plot than any real connection the two characters had. Which seems to be a theme throughout the book.

It was the beginning that ruined this book for me. Eda was just so catty, cruel, nasty and self-absorbed, I couldn’t see past it. Wasn’t rooting for her and made multiple notes in my book like “Why would anyone be nice to her?” I simply didn’t understand what this character had going for her. The second half of the book did get a lot better, but since I was already prejudiced against her from the very slow first half, by the time the pace picked up and I saw a glimmer of something worth rallying behind in Eda, I was long gone.

At times, it just felt like the story was throwing *new elements* into the mix, and by the end I had no idea what was going on. Instead of being a “fresh, lush prose,” it felt more of a confused eye-roll. As for the Chosen One trope… Eda did one thing. Made one choice that made her able to save the world. Otherwise, it was her getting passed from hands-to-hands as other people helped her, dragged her along and did all the work for her. “Chosen One” who? I simply couldn’t see why she was so special. I’m disappointed because not only do I not like writing negative reviews, I tried really hard to like this one, but eventually I was just forcing myself to get to the end. Reviews indicated that it would get better, and it did, but just not enough.

I absolutely adored the first book in this world, Beneath the Haunting Sea, and was ecstatic when I received an ARC for this!

Unlike Talia though, I wasn't as keen on Eda. She was ruthless and vicious, willing to destroy anyone who got in her way to get what she wanted...making her rather difficult to love. I also got a bit frustrated with her because she was constantly making mistakes that resulted in dire consequences.

The book begins with her working to fulfil her end of the bargain she made with the gods to overthrow Talia from her rightful throne and become Empress herself. The game becomes even more deadly and political when the Barons start making deals with other rulers, which threaten her reign.

Like Beneath the Haunting Sea, this book shines in terms of its mythology. It really laid the groundwork for the story because the gods set forth the events that move the plot along. Without them, Eda would never have gained her throne and she has to live up to her bargains with them when they come calling later.

All in all, I've always loved Joanna Ruth's Meyer's books, so I expected to enjoy this and was definitely not disappointed. I can't wait to read her next one!