Beyond the End of the World
by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Publication Date: January 18, 2022
Summary from Goodreads:
Time to stop Inshara. Time to find a way between worlds. Time to find each other again.
Nimh still holds on to her divinity, if only by a thread.
In her final confrontation with Inshara, the woman determined to take her place and rule Nimh’s kingdom, both Nimh and her enemy were sent to the world above, in the cloudlands.
Now North looks to the sky, left behind on the surface world.
Desperate for a chance to join the girl he loves and save his world, North will stop at nothing to find a way back to his home in the sky-city of Alciel. Before it’s too late to save anyone.
But more awaits them in the world above than North or Nimh could ever expect. And as they come together and team up with allies from above and below, they face an ultimate test of their bond, their abilities, and their belief in each other in a quest to save their worlds.
This is the sequel to The Other Side of the Sky and although I can promise not to spoil anything for this book there might be spoilers for book one. Read the rest of my review at your peril. But seriously, go and read book one, it is fantastic!
“I always believed in you. Before I believed in any of the rest of it, I believed in you.”
― Amie Kaufman, Beyond the End of the World
I enjoyed this sequel just as much as the first book. The world you become immersed in is just as wonderful if not more amazing this time around. I loved the journey that the main characters go through and the ending was quite powerful.
I really enjoyed the duel narration. It is wonderful to see the two different worlds from these characters perspectives. Poor Nimh is so lost at the start of the book, being plopped into the sky-city with no memory of who she is. But eventually that changes. Her character does grow stronger throughout the book, and she learns to trust herself and her magic. North is equally lost, left behind on the planet without Nimh, and not knowing her fate, he struggles to understand and learn how to manage himself in a world ruled by magic. I loved watching him grow and learn in his new environment. I also enjoyed watching their relationship continue to grow even with their doubts about its origins.
I have to put in a little plug for the cat. We see a lot more of him in this book and I really appreciated how he seemed to understand more of what was going on than the humans around him did. But he still maintains that lovable aloofness that we humans love in our cats.
The plot is fast moving, although there are some slow spots, and there are some surprises thrown in that will keep you on your toes. We learn alot more about how the two worlds were separated and why and how things really work with the mist. There are some religious undertones about the power of belief, but it mostly ends up as a message about believing in yourself and trusting the love of others. The epilogue was a little bit cheesy, but I still liked knowing how things went after the final battle.
A well done conclusion to a wonderfully well crafted tale. I loved the dual nature of the two worlds and how they ended up actually complimenting and working together to form something new. I highly recommend that you give this dualology a chance.
Confessions of a Serial Reader 