One-Sentence Summary:
After killing the only water source in her city, Emanuela escapes and accidentally stumbles upon another city with a surplus of water and a suspicious ruler.
My Review:
Did I hear about some of the potential warnings in this book? Yes. Did I ignore them? … Also yes. Friends! The “eye horror” described on Mara’s website should be taken seriously! It’s horrifying! Now that that’s over with, the review:
Emanuela? Terrible. I love her. Alessandro?Poor baby. Needs hug. One thing I loved about Beyond the Ruby Veil was that the villain is (sort of) unclear. Yes, we know who the antagonist is, but Emanuela herself is actually a self-serving rat who wants to be the dictator of her city. We love that.
Beyond (haha) that, this was truly unique. I don’t really have a book to compare it to or even one with the same ✨vibe✨. Beyond the Ruby Veil is great for a reading slump because despite not being a standalone, it’s quick and in my opinion really helps cleanse after a book hangover. While they aren’t too similar, I did feature it with The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller on my bookstagram (@thefictionfeature) because they both have power-hungry, inspiring female leads.
Would I recommend Beyond the Ruby Veil? Absolutely! Beware of very grotesque stuff, but it’s such a good dark, sort-of-horror, fantasy read. It is only a mere 288 pages, but it reads like the perfect length. Read it!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5.
The Fiction Feature 