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The Queen of the Tearling #0
Beneath the Keep: A Novel of the Tearling
The much-anticipated stand-alone prequel to the bestselling Queen of the Tearling trilogy . . .
A decadent kingdom . . . a descent into darkness . . . alliances forged under fire . . . a prophecy that will change the course of history . . .
'A suspenseful, multi-layered tale' Cassandra Clare 'A must-read for fans of the Tearling!' Helene Wecker 'Dark and timely' Kim Harrison
The Tearling has reverted to feudalism, a far cry from the utopia it was founded to be. As the gap between rich and poor widens and famine threatens the land, sparking unrest, rumours of a prophecy begin to a great hope, a True Queen who will rise up and save the kingdom.
But rumours will not help Lazarus, a man raised to kill in the brutal clandestine underworld of the Creche, nor Aislinn, a farm girl who must reckon with her own role in the growing rebellion.
And in the Keep, the crown princess, Elyssa, finds herself torn between duty to the throne and the lure of a group of fierce idealists who promise radical change. But Elyssa must choose quickly, before a nefarious witch and her shadowy master use dark magic to decide for her.
It is only a matter of time before all three will be called into the service of something bigger than they have ever the fight for a better world.
A decadent kingdom . . . a descent into darkness . . . alliances forged under fire . . . a prophecy that will change the course of history . . .
'A suspenseful, multi-layered tale' Cassandra Clare 'A must-read for fans of the Tearling!' Helene Wecker 'Dark and timely' Kim Harrison
The Tearling has reverted to feudalism, a far cry from the utopia it was founded to be. As the gap between rich and poor widens and famine threatens the land, sparking unrest, rumours of a prophecy begin to a great hope, a True Queen who will rise up and save the kingdom.
But rumours will not help Lazarus, a man raised to kill in the brutal clandestine underworld of the Creche, nor Aislinn, a farm girl who must reckon with her own role in the growing rebellion.
And in the Keep, the crown princess, Elyssa, finds herself torn between duty to the throne and the lure of a group of fierce idealists who promise radical change. But Elyssa must choose quickly, before a nefarious witch and her shadowy master use dark magic to decide for her.
It is only a matter of time before all three will be called into the service of something bigger than they have ever the fight for a better world.
452 pages, Paperback
First published February 2, 2021
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9429 people want to read
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February 18, 2021
Many thanks to the publisher, who provided me with a free physical ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I am not particularly pleased with the outcome of this book. However, there were a lot of redeeming traits that made up for the shortcomings of Beneath the Keep.
For one, the ideas behind this book are excellent. In the author's introduction (see: below), she brings up a lot of great points about the divide between the rich and the poor, the casual cruelty in the way we treat people different from us, and the selfishness that runs our society. However, the execution of these ideas was mediocre at best. The introduction itself hit harder than the message of the book, which was a little murky to me. Was the focus on the massive pay gap? The quiet desperation of the helpless? The better world? The careful ignorance of the government?
I suppose it could be all of these things, but they were each touched on and then put to the side in a way that was wholly unsatisfying. I expected it to raise more questions than it actually did. Instead, it felt like a tired rehash of trite fantasy tropes.
Told from multiple points of view, Beneath the Keep is a sprawling tale of despair, salvation, and rebellion. The Blue Horizon is the driving force in this novel--a determined group of rebels focused on the better world and overthrowing the Queen.
Christian is a fighter trapped within the underground labyrinth called the Creche. Elyssa, Princess of the Tearling, is determined to bring about the better world as her mother treats her subjects with brutality. Niya is Elyssa's handmaiden and a Blue Horizon agent. Aislinn, a poor farmer living during a terrible drought, starts a rebellion that encompasses the entire Tearling.
Christian annoyed me to no end. He was such a hypocrite. He killed for a living, and yet he still judged and accused other people for doing what they could to survive. And later on, he became a Queen's Guard so easily, despite the fact that his loyalties are questionable and his job is suspicious.
Elyssa, while idiotic and impulsive at times, was my favorite character. She definitely degraded later on in the story, and I was more invested in her story towards the beginning. She had a very unique perspective and I'm glad she strayed away from the trope of "I won't kill this man, even if the fate of my kingdom depends on me doing my job," which is absolutely insufferable.
Niya and Aislinn were both rather bland. I didn't care for their points of view at all, as they fell into two very tired archetypes.
The problem with these characters is that they were lacking vitality. They were forgettable and empty, mostly due to the absence of any humor in the story. There were no lasting friendships, happy moments, unrestrained emotions. It was all very dry and serious.
Despite the lack of lightness in this book, the consequences never felt real here. It wasn't particularly dark. This book doesn't know what it wants to be. I think it would have been better if it chose a route--light or dark. It rests in this hazy realm between the two, but it really needed to define itself.
There were also a lot of questions that remained unanswered. I have not read The Queen of the Tearling, and maybe these questions were answered in that book, but the prequel doesn't really make itself clear in many places. For instance, where did Brenna come from? What was the purpose of her character, other than to serve as a roadblock for Elyssa? Why does Brenna need the sapphires? As a result, this book felt rather aimless and lacked direction.
That's not to say this book was bad. It was actually quite good. I was invested enough to keep reading even during the slower moments, and there's something about the Blue Horizon that strikes a chord in your heart. The message is relevant, and a lot of the things the leaders say are reminiscent of things government officials say today. I also noticed a Christ allegory related to Gareth, who acts as a Jesus-type figure (he even got crucified at the end).
Beneath the Keep is filled with great ideas that did not come to fruition. It's lacking a spark, something to bring it alive. But it's a solid prequel, and I'm sure that once I read The Queen of the Tearling my questions will be answered.
3 stars
____
Erika Johansen's introduction:
"...While the conflict in the Tearling is ostensibly between rich and poor, that's too simple a divide. The real conflict is, as it has ever been, between individual selfishness and community sacrifice, between empathy and I-got-mine. This is the great struggle of human history, played out over and over again, and we're still hard at it right now. In a world where "acceptable" solutions to problems now include militarizing bigotry and ripping children from their families for spite, I believe it has never been more important for fiction to discuss the importance of empathy and civic responsibility, and if I'm not sure I do it justice in this novel, I still hope you enjoy the effort. One thing I do know: I'm going to keep hammering on this particular key until we get it right."
This makes me so unbelievably excited.
I am not particularly pleased with the outcome of this book. However, there were a lot of redeeming traits that made up for the shortcomings of Beneath the Keep.
For one, the ideas behind this book are excellent. In the author's introduction (see: below), she brings up a lot of great points about the divide between the rich and the poor, the casual cruelty in the way we treat people different from us, and the selfishness that runs our society. However, the execution of these ideas was mediocre at best. The introduction itself hit harder than the message of the book, which was a little murky to me. Was the focus on the massive pay gap? The quiet desperation of the helpless? The better world? The careful ignorance of the government?
I suppose it could be all of these things, but they were each touched on and then put to the side in a way that was wholly unsatisfying. I expected it to raise more questions than it actually did. Instead, it felt like a tired rehash of trite fantasy tropes.
Told from multiple points of view, Beneath the Keep is a sprawling tale of despair, salvation, and rebellion. The Blue Horizon is the driving force in this novel--a determined group of rebels focused on the better world and overthrowing the Queen.
Christian is a fighter trapped within the underground labyrinth called the Creche. Elyssa, Princess of the Tearling, is determined to bring about the better world as her mother treats her subjects with brutality. Niya is Elyssa's handmaiden and a Blue Horizon agent. Aislinn, a poor farmer living during a terrible drought, starts a rebellion that encompasses the entire Tearling.
Christian annoyed me to no end. He was such a hypocrite. He killed for a living, and yet he still judged and accused other people for doing what they could to survive. And later on, he became a Queen's Guard so easily, despite the fact that his loyalties are questionable and his job is suspicious.
Elyssa, while idiotic and impulsive at times, was my favorite character. She definitely degraded later on in the story, and I was more invested in her story towards the beginning. She had a very unique perspective and I'm glad she strayed away from the trope of "I won't kill this man, even if the fate of my kingdom depends on me doing my job," which is absolutely insufferable.
Niya and Aislinn were both rather bland. I didn't care for their points of view at all, as they fell into two very tired archetypes.
The problem with these characters is that they were lacking vitality. They were forgettable and empty, mostly due to the absence of any humor in the story. There were no lasting friendships, happy moments, unrestrained emotions. It was all very dry and serious.
Despite the lack of lightness in this book, the consequences never felt real here. It wasn't particularly dark. This book doesn't know what it wants to be. I think it would have been better if it chose a route--light or dark. It rests in this hazy realm between the two, but it really needed to define itself.
There were also a lot of questions that remained unanswered. I have not read The Queen of the Tearling, and maybe these questions were answered in that book, but the prequel doesn't really make itself clear in many places. For instance, where did Brenna come from? What was the purpose of her character, other than to serve as a roadblock for Elyssa? Why does Brenna need the sapphires? As a result, this book felt rather aimless and lacked direction.
That's not to say this book was bad. It was actually quite good. I was invested enough to keep reading even during the slower moments, and there's something about the Blue Horizon that strikes a chord in your heart. The message is relevant, and a lot of the things the leaders say are reminiscent of things government officials say today. I also noticed a Christ allegory related to Gareth, who acts as a Jesus-type figure (he even got crucified at the end).
Beneath the Keep is filled with great ideas that did not come to fruition. It's lacking a spark, something to bring it alive. But it's a solid prequel, and I'm sure that once I read The Queen of the Tearling my questions will be answered.
3 stars
____
Erika Johansen's introduction:
"...While the conflict in the Tearling is ostensibly between rich and poor, that's too simple a divide. The real conflict is, as it has ever been, between individual selfishness and community sacrifice, between empathy and I-got-mine. This is the great struggle of human history, played out over and over again, and we're still hard at it right now. In a world where "acceptable" solutions to problems now include militarizing bigotry and ripping children from their families for spite, I believe it has never been more important for fiction to discuss the importance of empathy and civic responsibility, and if I'm not sure I do it justice in this novel, I still hope you enjoy the effort. One thing I do know: I'm going to keep hammering on this particular key until we get it right."
This makes me so unbelievably excited.
December 28, 2021
I hated the last two books in this series and I still have a big ass grudge against Johansen for wasting the potential of her characters. However, I did love the first book in the Queen of the Tearling series. Am I going to read this shameless cash-grab book when it comes out? Yes. Will it manage to redeem the last two books in the series? We'll see. I hope to god that this book is focused ONLY on the Mace. If I have to watch this author metaphorically suck William Tear's dick again I'm going to puke. Fuck that hipster asshole.
Edit 08/05/2020: What's up with the title change? This book was called Prophecy of the Tearling and now it is called Beneath the Keep? What's up with that? Is Prophecy of the Tearling a different future book about god knows what? I NEED ANSWERS.
Edit 09/16/2020: That cover is so goddamned beautiful and it will be a human rights violation if this book turns out to be shitty when it has a cover that looks like that. DAMN.
Actual Review: 07/15/2021
Alright fellas. I can say with deep honesty that I was considering rating this shitfest three stars. Like Johansen’s other work, it does have a compelling sense of urgency and frustratingly sucks the reader in despite the overall fuckery and ridiculous nature of the book. My biggest beef with Johansen is that she’s like an abusive boyfriend. She whines and wails and promises; “oh pleaaaaaase honey just give me one more chance!!! I promise I won’t beat you over the head with a bottle and piss on your cold corpse. PlEaSe!” But all of Erika Johansen’s promises and heartfelt spiels about making a better world and resisting tyranny in the book’s acknowledgements are worth the sweat off of William Tear’s ass - which is to say they are worth JACK SHIT. This book, although it claims to subvert patriarchal norms and provide some deep WOKE message about liberalism and female power ultimately falls prey to all of the same tired, cliched, stereotyped tropes that any other little-dicked male fantasy author would use. And the WIlliam Tear dicksucking and gross male worshipping that drove me bonkers in the previous volúmes? Yeah, that shit is here, and it’s fucking WORSE and even more offensive. Holy hell. Let me first detail the few things that I enjoyed about this book, before I go back to roasting the fuck out of it as it rightfully deserves. I thought it couldn’t get worse after Fate of the Tearling, but HELL IT DOES.
THE GOOD
1) Plot Urgency and Improvement of Writing Quality.
As I mentioned earlier in the intro, it is impossible to deny that Erika Johansen’s books are compellingly readable. I was able to get interested in the plight surrounding the kingdom and Mace’s struggle. I thought Niya was a cool character, and because she is cool (and queer-coded) of course Johansen kills her off for EDGINESS POINTS. For the little that it’s worth, and it’s so fucking little I would need a microscope to examine it in any detail; Johansen DOES manage to tone down the annoying unsubtle fake-woke preachiness and EDGY trauma porn of the previous books. I know. It’s a fucking miracle! It pleasantly surprised me but in the end this improvement only made me more pissed. For you see dear Goodreads brethren, the fact that Erika corrected the flawed aspects of her writing PROVES to me that she is NOT a brainless troglodyte and is in fact of capable of curbing the internalized misogyny and blatant woman-hate that appears in her writing. She is capable of fixing her representation issues, but she chooses not to. Because HURR DURR BIG MALE WEEN AND I WANNA SUCK THE WEEN. Which brings me to the parts of this novel that gave me a fucking headache, which was basically most of this nasty shit.
THE BAD
1) Internalized Misogyny, Woman-Hate, and the Portrayal of Female Relationships
I already addressed this in my reviews of the Queen of the Tearling series, but Erika Johansen participates in the hated literary sport of faux-feminism. Faux-feminism in literature basically occurs when a writer creates a “strong female protagonist” who is intelligent, flawed, and ultimately well-characterized, but surrounds this solid female protagonist with female characters who are sexist stereotypes, and makes their protagonist NOT LIKE THE OTHER GIRLS who are shallow, mean, vain, and bitchy because all other women are dumb cunts tee hee! Kelsea has no female friends or allies, her enemy is a female queen who literally behaves like an evil man but OF FUCKING COURSE Erika had to make the villain female because big dick-swinging God forbid we ever dismantle the patriarchy and have girl protagonists take down male villains!
This problem is compounded simply by the nature of having Elyssa, the woman who is Kelsea’s mother, be the protagonist. In the original Tearling series, Elyssa is reviled for being a vain woman who LIKES FASHION GASP (because not wanting to look like hot trash makes you evil I guess) and is more concerned with sleeping with her guards than running the kingdom. She literally sells her kingdom into slavery to the Mort Queen and when she is revealed to be alive at the end of the third book, Kelsea rejects her for being a vain, bad, woman who is bad because she is WOMAN and woman stoopid, and Kelsea is the only non-cunty woman obviously. This book could have attempted to humanized Elyssa, and portray her as a flirty, vain, and extremely flawed queen who maybe caved to the Mort under tragic circumstances. But having a flawed yet sympathetic female character is too much for our little miss author. Instead, she:
1) Makes Elyssa a literal carbon cutout of Kelsea.
2) Pits Elyssa against Arla, the powerful and strong queen and her mother figure. Because may male God forbid that women support each other! God knows every girl must hate her slutty stupid mean mom and have tons of mommy issues because MOTHER EBUUULLLL.
3) Explains Elyssa’s transformation from WOKE FIGHTER OF JUSTICE to SLUTTY CUNT BITCH on magic. FUCKING MAGIC. I shit you not. Instead of doing something, ya know, called character development, Johansen pulls another fat turd out of her ass and makes a witch curse Elyssa AND Arla before they can have any sort of meaningful resolution to their mommy issues conflict. Elyssa’s personality changes overnight, because in Erika Johansen’s sad little world, only two types of women exist: WOKE GOOD GIRL and SLUTTY CUNT WITH DARK MAGIC. There is no in-between for this misogynist author. Women can’t support each other because there are only two types, woke warrior and cunt, and the cunts outnumber the woke warrior types, so women cannot be friends hurr durr. The only woman who escapes this dichotomy and tries to support Elyssa is NIya, and Niya ends up DEAD, brutally murdered in public. Wow! So woke! Much feminism!
For someone claiming to be all supportive of women and their empowerment, I also found it curious how the magic of dick-holding asshole William Tear is portrayed as “good” and Brenna, an abused albino witch’s magic is considered “bad.” There is no explanation for this other than Erika Johansen’s tendency to be a female chauvinist pig. Both Tear and Brenna can see the future. Neither are flawless people. Tear is arguably worse, for he abandoned the war-torn earth, leaving millions to die and suffer in order for him and his club of dick-riders to start a hippy commune in an alternate dimension. William Tear’s “Better world” is merely a place where his worshippers are allowed to exist and suck his fat cock. I’m serious. Tear doesn’t give a fuck, because he was a hoe ass bitch who ran away like a coward from a place he didn’t want to fix.
Guess what the EVIL witch CUNT Brenna’s sin is?
Oh yeah. Brenna is an abused kid who was sold into child slavery. She was sold to a man who now exploits her magic and abuses her. She then fell into Stockholm syndrome, using her gifts at this man’s behest in order to survive. She expresses reluctance at doing this but she is completely attached to her abuser and captor. SHE IS A TRAFFICKED SLAVE. Does Erika Johansen really REALLY expect me to suck the cock of a rich white dickmale and revile an abused trafficking victim as evil?! Why is Brenna more evil than a man who left millions to die? WHY? I’ll tell you fucking why. Because Brenna is a woman and Erika Johansen hates women, even women who are abused and coerced into bad actions and have no other choice. Because fuck abused women. Fuck trafficking victims.
Even the Mace’s love interest, Maura, is portrayed as an evil druggie whore who trafficks kids to get her fix. AND THE MACE BLAMES HER FOR IT. He doesn’t blame the men who raped Maura. He doesn’t blame the system of inequality and poverty that forced her to sell her body. He doesn’t blame her pimp or the dealer who got her hooked on opium. He doesn’t realize that if Maura refused to participate in the trafficking, she would have been fucking raped and killed. HE BLAMES HER FOR BEING A WICKED EBUL HARLOT. WHy is she a harlot? OOOOOO because precious Mace LUBS Maura and it hurts his fee fees that men rape her because only HE should be allowed to stick his magical weenis inside her! Mace is a hypocritical piece of shit. He literally KILLED CHILDREN FOR PAY and somehow he has no empathy for a woman who was raped on the daily? BULLSHIT. The attitude and lack of empathy Johansen displays towards female abuse victims is APPALLING. In Johansen’s world, only the pure-hearted self righteous woke women deserve sympathy. Fuck the prostitutes. Fuck the rape victims. Fuck the abused women. They are allowed to die in shame and condemnation, while the PWECIOUS LITTLE MACIE, a literal child murderer, is allowed to pass judgement on the raped women and use their trauma to have his redemption arc. This shit is so disgusting and vile and is just as bad as anything a male fantasy author could write.
In Conclusion:
I could rant forever about the disgusting portrayals of women in this book, but if I did I would probably pop a blood vessel. We are supposed to magically accept that WIlliam Tear, a man who abandoned millions to die is somehow better because he has a fat cock and two little nuts between his legs. We are supposed to hate Brenna because she EVILZ WIMMINZ and she GASP developed Stockholm syndrome for a man SHE WAS SOLD TO AS A CHILD. Niya, a badass rebel and assassin, is killed in a humiliating, dehumanizing way to future the Mace’s character arc. And when she is beheaded, who does she see? Why, William Tear, ready to bless her inadequate womanly self with his magical dick, because as a strong and crafty woman she could NOT continue to exist in Erika Johansen’s world of pure queens and dumb cunts. Male characters are allowed complexity, companionship, and redemption after hideous offenses, but women are naturally portrayed as catty, evil, slutty, bewitched, suggestible, stupid, OR ALL OF THE FUCKING ABOVE. If a male fantasy author wrote the shit Johansen writes, he would be cancelled and his career would be ruined. But somehow, Erika Johansen’s magical vagina prevents her from being called out on the heinous misogynist shit she writes.
She can happily sit like a handmaiden, disguising her nasty William Tear fetish and her worship of male characters as “female empowerment” when all the female characters in this book are vapid, shallow, evil, or DEAD. It’s fucking disgusting and the fact that this woman continues to get publishing deals is reprehensible. So many female writers remain unpublished, and they probably have TRUE feminist protagonists, who embrace other women, collaborate with them, and fight equally complex and nuanced female villains. For all of Johansen’s moral preaching against religion, she treats William Tear like a big dick-swinging god. Even powerful female characters (Kelsea, Pre-Bewitched Elyssa, Lady Glynn, and Niya) are only powerful because of William Tear and his sociopathic, genocidal penis. It’s disgusting that female characters in this universe blindly worship a man who left the entire world to die in order so he could have his magical cult. It’s fucking gross and sexist and AWFUL. I am generally against cancelling authors for writing questionable content, but if ANYBODY deserves to be dragged through the mud, it’s Erika Johansen. So, my young salty Twitter cancel mob, if you exist, please cancel this gross misogynist author. She is a living and painful example of how some women are often the staunchest enforcers of internalized woman-hate and patriarchy.
Edit 08/05/2020: What's up with the title change? This book was called Prophecy of the Tearling and now it is called Beneath the Keep? What's up with that? Is Prophecy of the Tearling a different future book about god knows what? I NEED ANSWERS.
Edit 09/16/2020: That cover is so goddamned beautiful and it will be a human rights violation if this book turns out to be shitty when it has a cover that looks like that. DAMN.
Actual Review: 07/15/2021
Alright fellas. I can say with deep honesty that I was considering rating this shitfest three stars. Like Johansen’s other work, it does have a compelling sense of urgency and frustratingly sucks the reader in despite the overall fuckery and ridiculous nature of the book. My biggest beef with Johansen is that she’s like an abusive boyfriend. She whines and wails and promises; “oh pleaaaaaase honey just give me one more chance!!! I promise I won’t beat you over the head with a bottle and piss on your cold corpse. PlEaSe!” But all of Erika Johansen’s promises and heartfelt spiels about making a better world and resisting tyranny in the book’s acknowledgements are worth the sweat off of William Tear’s ass - which is to say they are worth JACK SHIT. This book, although it claims to subvert patriarchal norms and provide some deep WOKE message about liberalism and female power ultimately falls prey to all of the same tired, cliched, stereotyped tropes that any other little-dicked male fantasy author would use. And the WIlliam Tear dicksucking and gross male worshipping that drove me bonkers in the previous volúmes? Yeah, that shit is here, and it’s fucking WORSE and even more offensive. Holy hell. Let me first detail the few things that I enjoyed about this book, before I go back to roasting the fuck out of it as it rightfully deserves. I thought it couldn’t get worse after Fate of the Tearling, but HELL IT DOES.
THE GOOD
1) Plot Urgency and Improvement of Writing Quality.
As I mentioned earlier in the intro, it is impossible to deny that Erika Johansen’s books are compellingly readable. I was able to get interested in the plight surrounding the kingdom and Mace’s struggle. I thought Niya was a cool character, and because she is cool (and queer-coded) of course Johansen kills her off for EDGINESS POINTS. For the little that it’s worth, and it’s so fucking little I would need a microscope to examine it in any detail; Johansen DOES manage to tone down the annoying unsubtle fake-woke preachiness and EDGY trauma porn of the previous books. I know. It’s a fucking miracle! It pleasantly surprised me but in the end this improvement only made me more pissed. For you see dear Goodreads brethren, the fact that Erika corrected the flawed aspects of her writing PROVES to me that she is NOT a brainless troglodyte and is in fact of capable of curbing the internalized misogyny and blatant woman-hate that appears in her writing. She is capable of fixing her representation issues, but she chooses not to. Because HURR DURR BIG MALE WEEN AND I WANNA SUCK THE WEEN. Which brings me to the parts of this novel that gave me a fucking headache, which was basically most of this nasty shit.
THE BAD
1) Internalized Misogyny, Woman-Hate, and the Portrayal of Female Relationships
I already addressed this in my reviews of the Queen of the Tearling series, but Erika Johansen participates in the hated literary sport of faux-feminism. Faux-feminism in literature basically occurs when a writer creates a “strong female protagonist” who is intelligent, flawed, and ultimately well-characterized, but surrounds this solid female protagonist with female characters who are sexist stereotypes, and makes their protagonist NOT LIKE THE OTHER GIRLS who are shallow, mean, vain, and bitchy because all other women are dumb cunts tee hee! Kelsea has no female friends or allies, her enemy is a female queen who literally behaves like an evil man but OF FUCKING COURSE Erika had to make the villain female because big dick-swinging God forbid we ever dismantle the patriarchy and have girl protagonists take down male villains!
This problem is compounded simply by the nature of having Elyssa, the woman who is Kelsea’s mother, be the protagonist. In the original Tearling series, Elyssa is reviled for being a vain woman who LIKES FASHION GASP (because not wanting to look like hot trash makes you evil I guess) and is more concerned with sleeping with her guards than running the kingdom. She literally sells her kingdom into slavery to the Mort Queen and when she is revealed to be alive at the end of the third book, Kelsea rejects her for being a vain, bad, woman who is bad because she is WOMAN and woman stoopid, and Kelsea is the only non-cunty woman obviously. This book could have attempted to humanized Elyssa, and portray her as a flirty, vain, and extremely flawed queen who maybe caved to the Mort under tragic circumstances. But having a flawed yet sympathetic female character is too much for our little miss author. Instead, she:
1) Makes Elyssa a literal carbon cutout of Kelsea.
2) Pits Elyssa against Arla, the powerful and strong queen and her mother figure. Because may male God forbid that women support each other! God knows every girl must hate her slutty stupid mean mom and have tons of mommy issues because MOTHER EBUUULLLL.
3) Explains Elyssa’s transformation from WOKE FIGHTER OF JUSTICE to SLUTTY CUNT BITCH on magic. FUCKING MAGIC. I shit you not. Instead of doing something, ya know, called character development, Johansen pulls another fat turd out of her ass and makes a witch curse Elyssa AND Arla before they can have any sort of meaningful resolution to their mommy issues conflict. Elyssa’s personality changes overnight, because in Erika Johansen’s sad little world, only two types of women exist: WOKE GOOD GIRL and SLUTTY CUNT WITH DARK MAGIC. There is no in-between for this misogynist author. Women can’t support each other because there are only two types, woke warrior and cunt, and the cunts outnumber the woke warrior types, so women cannot be friends hurr durr. The only woman who escapes this dichotomy and tries to support Elyssa is NIya, and Niya ends up DEAD, brutally murdered in public. Wow! So woke! Much feminism!
For someone claiming to be all supportive of women and their empowerment, I also found it curious how the magic of dick-holding asshole William Tear is portrayed as “good” and Brenna, an abused albino witch’s magic is considered “bad.” There is no explanation for this other than Erika Johansen’s tendency to be a female chauvinist pig. Both Tear and Brenna can see the future. Neither are flawless people. Tear is arguably worse, for he abandoned the war-torn earth, leaving millions to die and suffer in order for him and his club of dick-riders to start a hippy commune in an alternate dimension. William Tear’s “Better world” is merely a place where his worshippers are allowed to exist and suck his fat cock. I’m serious. Tear doesn’t give a fuck, because he was a hoe ass bitch who ran away like a coward from a place he didn’t want to fix.
Guess what the EVIL witch CUNT Brenna’s sin is?
Oh yeah. Brenna is an abused kid who was sold into child slavery. She was sold to a man who now exploits her magic and abuses her. She then fell into Stockholm syndrome, using her gifts at this man’s behest in order to survive. She expresses reluctance at doing this but she is completely attached to her abuser and captor. SHE IS A TRAFFICKED SLAVE. Does Erika Johansen really REALLY expect me to suck the cock of a rich white dickmale and revile an abused trafficking victim as evil?! Why is Brenna more evil than a man who left millions to die? WHY? I’ll tell you fucking why. Because Brenna is a woman and Erika Johansen hates women, even women who are abused and coerced into bad actions and have no other choice. Because fuck abused women. Fuck trafficking victims.
Even the Mace’s love interest, Maura, is portrayed as an evil druggie whore who trafficks kids to get her fix. AND THE MACE BLAMES HER FOR IT. He doesn’t blame the men who raped Maura. He doesn’t blame the system of inequality and poverty that forced her to sell her body. He doesn’t blame her pimp or the dealer who got her hooked on opium. He doesn’t realize that if Maura refused to participate in the trafficking, she would have been fucking raped and killed. HE BLAMES HER FOR BEING A WICKED EBUL HARLOT. WHy is she a harlot? OOOOOO because precious Mace LUBS Maura and it hurts his fee fees that men rape her because only HE should be allowed to stick his magical weenis inside her! Mace is a hypocritical piece of shit. He literally KILLED CHILDREN FOR PAY and somehow he has no empathy for a woman who was raped on the daily? BULLSHIT. The attitude and lack of empathy Johansen displays towards female abuse victims is APPALLING. In Johansen’s world, only the pure-hearted self righteous woke women deserve sympathy. Fuck the prostitutes. Fuck the rape victims. Fuck the abused women. They are allowed to die in shame and condemnation, while the PWECIOUS LITTLE MACIE, a literal child murderer, is allowed to pass judgement on the raped women and use their trauma to have his redemption arc. This shit is so disgusting and vile and is just as bad as anything a male fantasy author could write.
In Conclusion:
I could rant forever about the disgusting portrayals of women in this book, but if I did I would probably pop a blood vessel. We are supposed to magically accept that WIlliam Tear, a man who abandoned millions to die is somehow better because he has a fat cock and two little nuts between his legs. We are supposed to hate Brenna because she EVILZ WIMMINZ and she GASP developed Stockholm syndrome for a man SHE WAS SOLD TO AS A CHILD. Niya, a badass rebel and assassin, is killed in a humiliating, dehumanizing way to future the Mace’s character arc. And when she is beheaded, who does she see? Why, William Tear, ready to bless her inadequate womanly self with his magical dick, because as a strong and crafty woman she could NOT continue to exist in Erika Johansen’s world of pure queens and dumb cunts. Male characters are allowed complexity, companionship, and redemption after hideous offenses, but women are naturally portrayed as catty, evil, slutty, bewitched, suggestible, stupid, OR ALL OF THE FUCKING ABOVE. If a male fantasy author wrote the shit Johansen writes, he would be cancelled and his career would be ruined. But somehow, Erika Johansen’s magical vagina prevents her from being called out on the heinous misogynist shit she writes.
She can happily sit like a handmaiden, disguising her nasty William Tear fetish and her worship of male characters as “female empowerment” when all the female characters in this book are vapid, shallow, evil, or DEAD. It’s fucking disgusting and the fact that this woman continues to get publishing deals is reprehensible. So many female writers remain unpublished, and they probably have TRUE feminist protagonists, who embrace other women, collaborate with them, and fight equally complex and nuanced female villains. For all of Johansen’s moral preaching against religion, she treats William Tear like a big dick-swinging god. Even powerful female characters (Kelsea, Pre-Bewitched Elyssa, Lady Glynn, and Niya) are only powerful because of William Tear and his sociopathic, genocidal penis. It’s disgusting that female characters in this universe blindly worship a man who left the entire world to die in order so he could have his magical cult. It’s fucking gross and sexist and AWFUL. I am generally against cancelling authors for writing questionable content, but if ANYBODY deserves to be dragged through the mud, it’s Erika Johansen. So, my young salty Twitter cancel mob, if you exist, please cancel this gross misogynist author. She is a living and painful example of how some women are often the staunchest enforcers of internalized woman-hate and patriarchy.
May 18, 2020
Can I rate it 5 stars based solely on the fact that it’s coming and I don’t care if she writes an entire book of repetitive emojis- I’m buying it and reading it and loving it. 😍😍
April 9, 2021
Anyone who has read The Queen of the Tearling series probably knew what to expect for this unexpected prequel release. After all, we had mostly learned of all the pre-Kelsea events along the way of the main trilogy. And yet somehow the author still managed to drop a few surprises along the way. And still make this incredibly compelling.
As usual, even though this isn't a sequel, not a prequel, I can't say much plot-wise. But if you are new to, or unfamiliar with, this world, you should know it has layers, depths, of darkness. It's cruel and unjust but glimmers of hope streak through the mire. This was the turning point for these characters, for the world, but there is still much to happen, to endure, before the end.
And some of that might even be an unknown. I don't know what more is to come, or what time it will fill (likely upto book one? we have quite a few years yet to live through..), but I am keen for it. Completing this series was one of my 2020 successes and I am still riding high on that experience; adding to that delight was, upon finishing, realizing more books were coming (serendipitity!), so I'll take anything the author is willing to dole out.
----
This review can also be found at A Take From Two Cities.
As usual, even though this isn't a sequel, not a prequel, I can't say much plot-wise. But if you are new to, or unfamiliar with, this world, you should know it has layers, depths, of darkness. It's cruel and unjust but glimmers of hope streak through the mire. This was the turning point for these characters, for the world, but there is still much to happen, to endure, before the end.
And some of that might even be an unknown. I don't know what more is to come, or what time it will fill (likely upto book one? we have quite a few years yet to live through..), but I am keen for it. Completing this series was one of my 2020 successes and I am still riding high on that experience; adding to that delight was, upon finishing, realizing more books were coming (serendipitity!), so I'll take anything the author is willing to dole out.
----
This review can also be found at A Take From Two Cities.
December 30, 2020
I enjoyed this probably more so for not having read the rest of the series. Writing and characterization were more in line with a YA novel but the themes and excessive brutality definitely pushed it into adult.
I’d been interested in this series for years and had really been looking forward to reading the rest of the series but after beginning the original first book, Queen of the Tearling, decided against it. The political, social and religious undertones were way off my own beliefs so decided to pass. Author is a FIRM believer in a utopian society based on socialism which I believe is more fantastical than the actually regressive society it centers around. This wasn’t an assumption... it was clearly stated by the author in her notes. Writing in it also was very rudimentary which I didn’t find with this novel. I have to give Johansen credit in that her writing in this has definitely improved since the writing of the original series.
This novel can be read as a stand alone which is how I’m rating it. 3.5 stars.
I’d been interested in this series for years and had really been looking forward to reading the rest of the series but after beginning the original first book, Queen of the Tearling, decided against it. The political, social and religious undertones were way off my own beliefs so decided to pass. Author is a FIRM believer in a utopian society based on socialism which I believe is more fantastical than the actually regressive society it centers around. This wasn’t an assumption... it was clearly stated by the author in her notes. Writing in it also was very rudimentary which I didn’t find with this novel. I have to give Johansen credit in that her writing in this has definitely improved since the writing of the original series.
This novel can be read as a stand alone which is how I’m rating it. 3.5 stars.
March 10, 2021
If you finished the Queen of the Tearling series with questions like I did, this prequel connects the dots and answers them, while providing more context for what happens outside the castle. It won't probably make much sense unless you've read the Traveling novels. I like how this deals with class and justice from a different angle and gives backstories for some of the characters.
CW for child abuse, drug addiction, murder.
I received access to this title from the publisher through NetGalley; it came out February 2nd.
CW for child abuse, drug addiction, murder.
I received access to this title from the publisher through NetGalley; it came out February 2nd.
March 31, 2021
Once again this author has destroyed a part of me. Having read the Tearling trilogy in 2019 I was not up to date on many of the details but I think I will ALWAYS remember that epic ending. Not only that but I knew this would not have a happy ending. The book follows young Elyssa, Kelsea's mother. Seeing Elyssa as a bright eyed girl with hope in her eyes was truly heartbreaking. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and for her to turn into a horrid person. However, she was not actually the callous b*tch I was led to believe-at least at first. At one time Elyssa actually had a heart and soul of her own, a goodness the world was not ready for. Through manipulation and witchcraft, the good Elyssa is essentially killed leaving her a shell and pawn of those wanting power and the throne. And damn if we don't finally learn the details of Kelsea's birth and her father, something I'm not sure was ever even fully developed in the series. This was definitely a bit of detail we needed to experience and not just be told offhand without seeing the culmination of it all. It was such an absolute shock to me for the most part mostly in how Elyssa was made to handle not only her pregnancy but the father of her child. Like my heart is literally bleeding. This author once again managed to paint such a vivid and heartbreaking tale that captivated me from the start. It was hard not to be sucked in needing more information but also be witness to the evolution of the great Mace and Kelsea's future savior/ally. Mace is not just a guard and never was, he was so much more. Honestly I loved this book so much but I also think for me it works better having read this after the series. There is so much that would change my outlook had I read this first. Things are not always as they appear and this book makes that very clear.
In the acknowledgments the author makes note of her life and as such her political views. It's nice to read her words because her passion for these things resonate strongly in her stories: they did for me at least. She may only be resisting things like fascism in fiction but really even that is better than doing nothing. The one thing to take away from these books is really how powerful they are. The books are beyond gritty, rough and dark. Much of the book is like a punch right in the gut in particularly when you read about all the horribleness the children suffer. The books do not shy away from the horribleness we humans are capable of. Good cannot exist without evil and even the best of intentions can often be thrown off course as is the case in much of the story. It's really human nature that belies our selfish intentions and need for power. Even those with hope and great ideas become disillusioned and warped by reality. It often does not matter who stands in the way or the pain we will inflict on the masses as long as we get what we want. It's a hard pill to swallow but admirable in being able to recognize and admit this. I think this author has stolen a piece of me and I will forever be a fan and on the lookout for whatever she puts out next. On that note she also mentions "when we finally get back to Kelsea" and I am dying inside wondering what that means. Are we possibly going to get another series or books that take place after The Fate of the Tearling? If that's the case I will literally die happy....
Not so patiently waiting for more :)
In the acknowledgments the author makes note of her life and as such her political views. It's nice to read her words because her passion for these things resonate strongly in her stories: they did for me at least. She may only be resisting things like fascism in fiction but really even that is better than doing nothing. The one thing to take away from these books is really how powerful they are. The books are beyond gritty, rough and dark. Much of the book is like a punch right in the gut in particularly when you read about all the horribleness the children suffer. The books do not shy away from the horribleness we humans are capable of. Good cannot exist without evil and even the best of intentions can often be thrown off course as is the case in much of the story. It's really human nature that belies our selfish intentions and need for power. Even those with hope and great ideas become disillusioned and warped by reality. It often does not matter who stands in the way or the pain we will inflict on the masses as long as we get what we want. It's a hard pill to swallow but admirable in being able to recognize and admit this. I think this author has stolen a piece of me and I will forever be a fan and on the lookout for whatever she puts out next. On that note she also mentions "when we finally get back to Kelsea" and I am dying inside wondering what that means. Are we possibly going to get another series or books that take place after The Fate of the Tearling? If that's the case I will literally die happy....
Not so patiently waiting for more :)
June 21, 2021
You can also read my review here: https://devouringbooks2017.wordpress....
Review: 4 Stars
I requested an ARC of Beneath the Keep because I was really interested in reading The Queen of the Tearling. When I got a copy of this prequel I decided it was time to read the original series and I wound up binge reading the trilogy. While Beneath the Keep could probably be read first or as a stand-alone I would recommend reading it after the trilogy because it really added layers to the original story. I think it will be appreciated best when you already know the characters. I was a little nervous starting this because I didn’t like the way the trilogy ended, but since this book takes place before the trilogy my issues with the ending didn’t really affect my experience with this book.
Beneath the Keep was a really fast read for me, which was great because I had some issues with the pacing of the original trilogy. It is a prequel, but it is a full length novel and has a solid plot. I really enjoyed learning more about characters I loved from the trilogy and also getting to know some of the new characters. Mace has a huge role in this book and this installment added so many layers to his character. Seeing how his backstory shaped him into the guard I loved in the trilogy was really interesting. I also really loved how his character grew throughout the course of this book. When we first meet him he is young and a bit naive and he started to become a cold and morally grey killer. But by the end of the book he has become a truly honorable man who fought for what was right. I know a lot of fans of The Queen of the Tearling were excited for this prequel because Mace was in it and those fans won’t be disappointed.
I also really liked that we got to know Elyssa, the mother of the main character in the trilogy, because before this book we hadn’t seen much of her. Another thing I really loved was that we got to see inside The Blue Horizon rebellion and The Fetch made a few appearances as well. Several questions that had been left unanswered by the original trilogy were finally answered and a lot of the puzzle pieces finally fit together. For the most part I really enjoyed this book, but I’m not sure how much I would have enjoyed it if I hadn’t read the original series. I feel like there was a lot of character development and the plot kind of fell to the background.
I really enjoyed this prequel and I’m super glad that getting a copy finally pushed me to read The Queen of the Tearling trilogy. I felt like this book really added a lot to the series. I don’t read a lot of prequels typically, but I loved this one. If you are a fan of the series I highly recommend you check out this prequel that focuses on the previous generation.
Review: 4 Stars
I requested an ARC of Beneath the Keep because I was really interested in reading The Queen of the Tearling. When I got a copy of this prequel I decided it was time to read the original series and I wound up binge reading the trilogy. While Beneath the Keep could probably be read first or as a stand-alone I would recommend reading it after the trilogy because it really added layers to the original story. I think it will be appreciated best when you already know the characters. I was a little nervous starting this because I didn’t like the way the trilogy ended, but since this book takes place before the trilogy my issues with the ending didn’t really affect my experience with this book.
Beneath the Keep was a really fast read for me, which was great because I had some issues with the pacing of the original trilogy. It is a prequel, but it is a full length novel and has a solid plot. I really enjoyed learning more about characters I loved from the trilogy and also getting to know some of the new characters. Mace has a huge role in this book and this installment added so many layers to his character. Seeing how his backstory shaped him into the guard I loved in the trilogy was really interesting. I also really loved how his character grew throughout the course of this book. When we first meet him he is young and a bit naive and he started to become a cold and morally grey killer. But by the end of the book he has become a truly honorable man who fought for what was right. I know a lot of fans of The Queen of the Tearling were excited for this prequel because Mace was in it and those fans won’t be disappointed.
I also really liked that we got to know Elyssa, the mother of the main character in the trilogy, because before this book we hadn’t seen much of her. Another thing I really loved was that we got to see inside The Blue Horizon rebellion and The Fetch made a few appearances as well. Several questions that had been left unanswered by the original trilogy were finally answered and a lot of the puzzle pieces finally fit together. For the most part I really enjoyed this book, but I’m not sure how much I would have enjoyed it if I hadn’t read the original series. I feel like there was a lot of character development and the plot kind of fell to the background.
I really enjoyed this prequel and I’m super glad that getting a copy finally pushed me to read The Queen of the Tearling trilogy. I felt like this book really added a lot to the series. I don’t read a lot of prequels typically, but I loved this one. If you are a fan of the series I highly recommend you check out this prequel that focuses on the previous generation.
February 17, 2021
An accomplished, emotional, and gripping prequel to The Queen of the Tearling trilogy. I personally find that prequels written long after the closing of the main trilogy can be a big hit or a miss (for example I didn't like the prequel to THG), but I think the exploration of backstories worked really well in Beneath The Keep. Beneath The Keep not only excelled at setting the atmospheric landscape of the fictional world, it also explored the complex character dynamics borne out of a turbulent timeline of the kingdom. Narrated from three distinctive yet morally ambiguous characters at the time where the society is at its crossroad, this highly intriguing read incorporates political tension, belief systems, and humanity.
There are a handful of quotes that resonated with me and I think the quotes below did an excellent job at setting the tone & atmosphere in the novel.
Memorable quotes:
"The stars change. The moon falls. The tide surges, the ebbs." - in this poetic dialogue, Erika Johansen sets the tone that Tearling is at its political and societal crossroad.
"It was the nature of humanity to cycle, to move from great to dreadful, utopia to terror. Even if they reached the better world, how could they possibly hold it against each new day's onslaught?" - A thought-provoking quote on the nature of humanity and the everyday challenges
"For the sun's place was warmth and kindness. And the moon's place was dark and cold." - I found this chapter heading really resonating. We currently live in a politicall divided society. I liked the way the author used the sun and moon to illustrate the polarisation.
the following quote is hidden under the cut. tw:abuse
I found that these quotes played a principal role in shaping the worldbuilding. While I found that there were a lot of missing pieces which were left unanswered from the main trilogy, I think Beneath The Keep managed to fill in the holes. This is the reason why I had such an immersive experience indulging the prequel.
Similarly, I also found the characterisation pretty solid in the novel. The three main characters: Lazarus, Elyssa, and Aislinn - all had their fair share of appeal and character arc throughout. For example, through the strained relationship between Elyssa and her mother - I was able to emphasise with her struggle between the future of the kingdom and the order that she follows. Similarly, Lazarus ' POV was also quite intriguing from how his belief systems shifted through the major events of the novel. While Aislinn featured less in the pages, I nevertheless found her voice pretty powerful: on how she confronts the societal conflicts. The tremendous changes these characters experienced throughout the novel emotionally hit me in the face.
While Beneath The Keep excelled at the worldbuilding and the emotional resonation, the multiple POV's means it took me some time to completely warm up with the characters. Though this isn't a big issue as I understand how the three main characters are interwoven in the society through the roles that they played as they confront their own turning points. I think my main concern with the otherwise excellent Beneath The Keep is that pacing was slow in the first 100 pages so I initially had to try hard to push through the details of the worldbuilding. Though after that point, the pacing did pick up and I found this quite a rewarding read.
To sum it up, Beneath The Keep is a wonderful and thought provoking prequel. Through the excellent characterisation and poignant central themes on humanity this read reminds us of the challenges we have in our democratic society.
N.B. This book contains the following triggers: death, violence, weapons, abuse, and gore
There are a handful of quotes that resonated with me and I think the quotes below did an excellent job at setting the tone & atmosphere in the novel.
Memorable quotes:
"The stars change. The moon falls. The tide surges, the ebbs." - in this poetic dialogue, Erika Johansen sets the tone that Tearling is at its political and societal crossroad.
"It was the nature of humanity to cycle, to move from great to dreadful, utopia to terror. Even if they reached the better world, how could they possibly hold it against each new day's onslaught?" - A thought-provoking quote on the nature of humanity and the everyday challenges
"For the sun's place was warmth and kindness. And the moon's place was dark and cold." - I found this chapter heading really resonating. We currently live in a politicall divided society. I liked the way the author used the sun and moon to illustrate the polarisation.
the following quote is hidden under the cut. tw:abuse
I found that these quotes played a principal role in shaping the worldbuilding. While I found that there were a lot of missing pieces which were left unanswered from the main trilogy, I think Beneath The Keep managed to fill in the holes. This is the reason why I had such an immersive experience indulging the prequel.
Similarly, I also found the characterisation pretty solid in the novel. The three main characters: Lazarus, Elyssa, and Aislinn - all had their fair share of appeal and character arc throughout. For example, through the strained relationship between Elyssa and her mother - I was able to emphasise with her struggle between the future of the kingdom and the order that she follows. Similarly, Lazarus ' POV was also quite intriguing from how his belief systems shifted through the major events of the novel. While Aislinn featured less in the pages, I nevertheless found her voice pretty powerful: on how she confronts the societal conflicts. The tremendous changes these characters experienced throughout the novel emotionally hit me in the face.
While Beneath The Keep excelled at the worldbuilding and the emotional resonation, the multiple POV's means it took me some time to completely warm up with the characters. Though this isn't a big issue as I understand how the three main characters are interwoven in the society through the roles that they played as they confront their own turning points. I think my main concern with the otherwise excellent Beneath The Keep is that pacing was slow in the first 100 pages so I initially had to try hard to push through the details of the worldbuilding. Though after that point, the pacing did pick up and I found this quite a rewarding read.
To sum it up, Beneath The Keep is a wonderful and thought provoking prequel. Through the excellent characterisation and poignant central themes on humanity this read reminds us of the challenges we have in our democratic society.
N.B. This book contains the following triggers: death, violence, weapons, abuse, and gore
February 9, 2021
Originally published on The Nerd Daily | Review by Nathalie DeFelice
Let me just say before we get started, I started the Tearling trilogy during one of the loneliest times of my life, and I’ve never fallen into a world more than with this story. Getting to read a prequel to the story that started it all is definitely a way I wanted to spend the beginning of this year. Beneath the Keep continues this immersive fantasy that I fell in love with and this book both serves to expand the world, and gives readers some insight into the events that lead to the main series. Since it’s been a bit of time since I read the last book, I had forgotten how dark and gritty this whole series is, but it didn’t stop me from reading it. If you enjoyed the Tearling trilogy, I definitely recommend you add it to your TBR. With that said, if you’re sensitive to subjects of violence, sexual abuse, child abuse, and exploitation, I would definitely approach this with caution.
Read the FULL REVIEW on The Nerd Daily
Let me just say before we get started, I started the Tearling trilogy during one of the loneliest times of my life, and I’ve never fallen into a world more than with this story. Getting to read a prequel to the story that started it all is definitely a way I wanted to spend the beginning of this year. Beneath the Keep continues this immersive fantasy that I fell in love with and this book both serves to expand the world, and gives readers some insight into the events that lead to the main series. Since it’s been a bit of time since I read the last book, I had forgotten how dark and gritty this whole series is, but it didn’t stop me from reading it. If you enjoyed the Tearling trilogy, I definitely recommend you add it to your TBR. With that said, if you’re sensitive to subjects of violence, sexual abuse, child abuse, and exploitation, I would definitely approach this with caution.
Read the FULL REVIEW on The Nerd Daily
Read
September 25, 2021Yeah, no.
I'm done with this series. DNF-ing it at God knows what %.
I tried, I tried my best. But what is the point of going through all this suffering and gore when I already know how it ends and that it was all FOR NOTHING? Mace, my baby, is the only character I still care about, but it's not worth going through so many POVs just to get 5 pages of his.
I don't know if I'll ever pick up her other books in the future. I still have beef with her due to the fact that she picked a grimdark, gory world and couldn't stand behind that so she fixed it with a swish of a fairy wand.
I'm done with this series. DNF-ing it at God knows what %.
I tried, I tried my best. But what is the point of going through all this suffering and gore when I already know how it ends and that it was all FOR NOTHING? Mace, my baby, is the only character I still care about, but it's not worth going through so many POVs just to get 5 pages of his.
I don't know if I'll ever pick up her other books in the future. I still have beef with her due to the fact that she picked a grimdark, gory world and couldn't stand behind that so she fixed it with a swish of a fairy wand.
August 5, 2024
After five years Erika Johansen has returned to the world of the Tearling with the prequel Beneath The Keep. If you haven’t read The Queen of the Tearling I highly recommend this dark fantasy series that smashes up all the usual tropes and creates a truly unique world.
In Beneath the Keep Johansen fills us in the condition of the Tearling kingdom in the months leading up to the birth of the future Queen Kelsea. We see the current Queen Arla in all of her cruelty as she allows the poor to starve and an evil force enter the castle. Her heir, the Princess Elyssa dreams of her future days on the throne where she can break her kingdom away the current model that divides the rich from the poor. In an underground ghetto called the Creche a boy named Christian becomes a fighter named Lazarus who becomes a palace guard named Mace. And leading a group of rebels called Blue Horizon is the mysterious masked figure called The Fetch.
Although the series is marketed as young adult but I think that is a mistake. These novels are clearly intended for an adult audience with the language, imagery and a complicated layered world to match. Johansen’s skill with creating a narrative that stretches across space and time along with an understanding of rebellion, the entitlement of wealth and royalty and the nuances of human nature is one of the best I’ve ever read. The reader will root for the good guys, feel their blood boil at the villians and despair all the people who lose their lives along the way. She pulls no punches from the raw brutality of Lazarus‘s fights to the actions of wealthy pedophiles. None of these deeds are hidden from the reader but right up front where we can see the horrors of what could flourish in a kingdom of such injustice and devastating poverty.
I highly recommend Beneath The Keep by Erika Johansen for young adult readers who want to break away from the current sword and sorcery offerings and enter a dangerous world without “book boyfriends”, “fated mates” and happy endings. The world of the Tearling is ugly and complicated which ultimately reflects the one we live in as well.
5 stars ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My copy of Beneath The Keep was provided by NetGalley and the publisher for review purposes
In Beneath the Keep Johansen fills us in the condition of the Tearling kingdom in the months leading up to the birth of the future Queen Kelsea. We see the current Queen Arla in all of her cruelty as she allows the poor to starve and an evil force enter the castle. Her heir, the Princess Elyssa dreams of her future days on the throne where she can break her kingdom away the current model that divides the rich from the poor. In an underground ghetto called the Creche a boy named Christian becomes a fighter named Lazarus who becomes a palace guard named Mace. And leading a group of rebels called Blue Horizon is the mysterious masked figure called The Fetch.
Although the series is marketed as young adult but I think that is a mistake. These novels are clearly intended for an adult audience with the language, imagery and a complicated layered world to match. Johansen’s skill with creating a narrative that stretches across space and time along with an understanding of rebellion, the entitlement of wealth and royalty and the nuances of human nature is one of the best I’ve ever read. The reader will root for the good guys, feel their blood boil at the villians and despair all the people who lose their lives along the way. She pulls no punches from the raw brutality of Lazarus‘s fights to the actions of wealthy pedophiles. None of these deeds are hidden from the reader but right up front where we can see the horrors of what could flourish in a kingdom of such injustice and devastating poverty.
I highly recommend Beneath The Keep by Erika Johansen for young adult readers who want to break away from the current sword and sorcery offerings and enter a dangerous world without “book boyfriends”, “fated mates” and happy endings. The world of the Tearling is ugly and complicated which ultimately reflects the one we live in as well.
5 stars ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My copy of Beneath The Keep was provided by NetGalley and the publisher for review purposes
September 10, 2020
I loved this book!
I haven't read the Queen of the Tearling series yet. It's on my bookshelf, waiting to be read, but I haven't got around to it yet. However, I don't think you need to read the series to enjoy this book first. It is enjoyable all on its own!
The story follows a delightful cast of characters living in the Tearling Kingdom which is very corrupt from the inside out. Nobles treat peasants like animals and the reigning queen believes that violence is a better answer than diplomacy. The church is also no sanctuary unless you have coin. It's an awful situation. Yet, hope hovers over the land especially with a group called the Blue Horizon who believe in a better world and are willing to fight for it. The plot moves from there, looking at people who live in different classes within the kingdom and how they manage to survive in it.
The writing is spectacular and, while there are a lot of characters, the plot doesn't seem to get overburdened by them. I think each character got a good share of the spotlight and were distinguishable enough that I didn't feel like I needed a glossary to remember all their names. From my understanding, some of these character are in the rest of the series so I imagine fans will be happy to see the younger versions of beloved characters. I now can't wait to read the rest of the series to see what happens next.
If you like fantasy, especially politically-driven fantasy like Game of Thrones, then you will enjoy this book. I also recommend this for anyone who likes reading fantasy tales that follow people who, against all odds, turn into heroes/heroines and show what sacrifice can really mean.
**Read thanks to an ARC from Dutton**
I haven't read the Queen of the Tearling series yet. It's on my bookshelf, waiting to be read, but I haven't got around to it yet. However, I don't think you need to read the series to enjoy this book first. It is enjoyable all on its own!
The story follows a delightful cast of characters living in the Tearling Kingdom which is very corrupt from the inside out. Nobles treat peasants like animals and the reigning queen believes that violence is a better answer than diplomacy. The church is also no sanctuary unless you have coin. It's an awful situation. Yet, hope hovers over the land especially with a group called the Blue Horizon who believe in a better world and are willing to fight for it. The plot moves from there, looking at people who live in different classes within the kingdom and how they manage to survive in it.
The writing is spectacular and, while there are a lot of characters, the plot doesn't seem to get overburdened by them. I think each character got a good share of the spotlight and were distinguishable enough that I didn't feel like I needed a glossary to remember all their names. From my understanding, some of these character are in the rest of the series so I imagine fans will be happy to see the younger versions of beloved characters. I now can't wait to read the rest of the series to see what happens next.
If you like fantasy, especially politically-driven fantasy like Game of Thrones, then you will enjoy this book. I also recommend this for anyone who likes reading fantasy tales that follow people who, against all odds, turn into heroes/heroines and show what sacrifice can really mean.
**Read thanks to an ARC from Dutton**
July 9, 2021
I'm very conflicted over this book. I loved the Tearling trilogy, so when I heard we were getting a prequel involving my favorite character, I was over the moon. I waited months for this book and now I'm not sure how to feel?
There are two ways I can review this book:
1. As a standalone, almost unrelated to the series. Looking at it this way, I'd give this book 4 stars. By itself, this is a good standalone fantasy novel, but this leads to the second option.
2. As the actual prequel to Queen of the Tearling. When I look at it like this, I get angry. This book changes actual canonical information (Ex. Kelsea's father being Gareth, not Mhurn. Also, wasn't it mentioned Mace was 15 when he joined the Guard? Wasn't Carroll described to be much older than the rest of the Guard?). Gareth wasn't even mentioned in the Tearling Trilogy, and when Mhurn was revealed to be Kelsea's father, I was shocked. There were no hints in the Fate of the Tearling that Kelsea's father could be anyone other than Mhurn. Basically, parts of this book devalue the Tearling trilogy and if someone read this prequel before the trilogy, they would be completely misinformed.
So, there is something very frustrating about this novel, and I feel like if the Tearling trilogy had more need for a prequel, it would have been better. I think Erika Johansen should have followed the Trilogy's canon, and I would have been less upset.
Anyway, three stars because I love Christian/Lazarus/Mace.
There are two ways I can review this book:
1. As a standalone, almost unrelated to the series. Looking at it this way, I'd give this book 4 stars. By itself, this is a good standalone fantasy novel, but this leads to the second option.
2. As the actual prequel to Queen of the Tearling. When I look at it like this, I get angry. This book changes actual canonical information (Ex. Kelsea's father being Gareth, not Mhurn. Also, wasn't it mentioned Mace was 15 when he joined the Guard? Wasn't Carroll described to be much older than the rest of the Guard?). Gareth wasn't even mentioned in the Tearling Trilogy, and when Mhurn was revealed to be Kelsea's father, I was shocked. There were no hints in the Fate of the Tearling that Kelsea's father could be anyone other than Mhurn. Basically, parts of this book devalue the Tearling trilogy and if someone read this prequel before the trilogy, they would be completely misinformed.
So, there is something very frustrating about this novel, and I feel like if the Tearling trilogy had more need for a prequel, it would have been better. I think Erika Johansen should have followed the Trilogy's canon, and I would have been less upset.
Anyway, three stars because I love Christian/Lazarus/Mace.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
December 21, 2020Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
—EPICURUS
DNF at 4% because I forgot what these books are like...until I remembered. Erika Johansen has already demonstrated with her The Queen of the Tearling series that she knows how to WRITE. In a big way.
I always very much recall the tone and themes of that series — dark, uncomfortable, gritty, and complicated. I remember the demon-possessed children scampering along the ceilings from The Fate of the Tearling and as soon as it started happening again with this book, I remembered. As soon as this book opens with an eleven-year-old Mace in a boxing ring being forced to pummel a 16-year-old to death while being groped by Thomas Raleigh...and the description of his 12-year-old friend Maura already being a prostitute for full grown men...I remembered. Actually, I remembered as soon as I read that opening paragraph about God before the prologue even starts.
This was a mature series. It’s the dark and realistic evil in a somewhat fantasy setting, but it’s literal and familiar enough to be uncomfortable. Other early reviewers wrote about the trigger earnings up the wazoo but because the author is so adept at writing, those trigger earnings all fuh-reak me out.
So a DNF. Did the beginning already pull me in? Oh, yeah. Do I have any doubt that the pain and angst and backstory will be heart wrenching? Yep, yep. But I just can’t. Because those was one of the heavier series I’ve read and I can’t do it again.
Sorry, Net Galley, but thanks for the ARC.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
—EPICURUS
DNF at 4% because I forgot what these books are like...until I remembered. Erika Johansen has already demonstrated with her The Queen of the Tearling series that she knows how to WRITE. In a big way.
I always very much recall the tone and themes of that series — dark, uncomfortable, gritty, and complicated. I remember the demon-possessed children scampering along the ceilings from The Fate of the Tearling and as soon as it started happening again with this book, I remembered. As soon as this book opens with an eleven-year-old Mace in a boxing ring being forced to pummel a 16-year-old to death while being groped by Thomas Raleigh...and the description of his 12-year-old friend Maura already being a prostitute for full grown men...I remembered. Actually, I remembered as soon as I read that opening paragraph about God before the prologue even starts.
This was a mature series. It’s the dark and realistic evil in a somewhat fantasy setting, but it’s literal and familiar enough to be uncomfortable. Other early reviewers wrote about the trigger earnings up the wazoo but because the author is so adept at writing, those trigger earnings all fuh-reak me out.
So a DNF. Did the beginning already pull me in? Oh, yeah. Do I have any doubt that the pain and angst and backstory will be heart wrenching? Yep, yep. But I just can’t. Because those was one of the heavier series I’ve read and I can’t do it again.
Sorry, Net Galley, but thanks for the ARC.
November 27, 2021
I finally took the time to read this prequel to the Tearling trilogy. This story follows The Mace and is completely riveting and worth the read. If you enjoyed Tearling, this is a MUST READ. It weaves so many answers together and of course I now must reread the trilogy, for a third (fourth?) time. LOL
March 19, 2022
I admit to having an ambivalent reaction to Beneath the Keep. I read and enjoyed Johansen's Tearling series; I like her writing and I want to read more of her work. And this novel is not bad, but...
It's a prequel to the first series, setting up the situation that pertained in the Tearling at the start of that series. But I didn't need to know this. In fact, it was wrenching at times reading about characters from the series and knowing their fates.
If you read and liked the Tearling series, you'll like this book. Maybe even more than I did. But you don't need to read it and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who hasn't read Johansen yet; it spoils too much of what is gradually revealed otherwise.
To be honest, I don't think I want to know more about the world. I'd like to see Johansen branch out and develop stories in different settings & different characters (though I'd still read anything else she wants to write in the Tearling series, however hypocritical that may sound ;-) ).
It's a prequel to the first series, setting up the situation that pertained in the Tearling at the start of that series. But I didn't need to know this. In fact, it was wrenching at times reading about characters from the series and knowing their fates.
If you read and liked the Tearling series, you'll like this book. Maybe even more than I did. But you don't need to read it and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who hasn't read Johansen yet; it spoils too much of what is gradually revealed otherwise.
To be honest, I don't think I want to know more about the world. I'd like to see Johansen branch out and develop stories in different settings & different characters (though I'd still read anything else she wants to write in the Tearling series, however hypocritical that may sound ;-) ).
February 19, 2021
TW: human trafficking, rape, pedophilia, drugs, violence, deaths of family members, children fighting, starvation
Beneath the Keep is a very dark book, some of the scenes in it angered and disgusted me, but it's part of what the author has been denouncing in her books. I advise you to read it after the original trilogy so that you will appreciate more what the author did with this prequel.
This prequel is an exploration of some of the characters' pasts and events that were mentioned in the original trilogy and, as such, doesn't have a purpose plotwise (though we do learn a few things that Kelsea never came to know). It's above all to enlighten and give more depth to the history of the Tearling. But what an incredible job the author did! I loved Mace even more. His life was sad and cruel. We also get to know more about the Fetch's part in restoring peace in the world with the Blue Horizon:
We are also seeing other characters I despise with passion: Thorne, Lady Andrews and the Church in general. There's a satisfaction, though, when you know what will happen to them. It was the only consolation I had.
Each time I see glimpses of the Tearling of the past I feel nostalgia. Erika Johansen has a way of making me care about her characters that I always feel dread, doom and sadness. I feel for their victories and their failures. It's almost a burden because we know the future, and nothing will change it.
Contrary to some other prequels I've read [*coughs* the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes *coughs*] it's as if I never left the world. The characters are true to themselves, the events fit the atmosphere that emanated from the original trilogy and there's still this balance between good and evil. The writing is also on point with interesting, daring themes that I've rarely seen.
Also, this prequel gives more meaning to the ending of The Fate of the Tearling in my opinion:
Erika Johansen didn't disappoint. If you loved the other three books, you should love this one too!
Beneath the Keep is a very dark book, some of the scenes in it angered and disgusted me, but it's part of what the author has been denouncing in her books. I advise you to read it after the original trilogy so that you will appreciate more what the author did with this prequel.
This prequel is an exploration of some of the characters' pasts and events that were mentioned in the original trilogy and, as such, doesn't have a purpose plotwise (though we do learn a few things that Kelsea never came to know). It's above all to enlighten and give more depth to the history of the Tearling. But what an incredible job the author did! I loved Mace even more. His life was sad and cruel. We also get to know more about the Fetch's part in restoring peace in the world with the Blue Horizon:
We are also seeing other characters I despise with passion: Thorne, Lady Andrews and the Church in general. There's a satisfaction, though, when you know what will happen to them. It was the only consolation I had.
Each time I see glimpses of the Tearling of the past I feel nostalgia. Erika Johansen has a way of making me care about her characters that I always feel dread, doom and sadness. I feel for their victories and their failures. It's almost a burden because we know the future, and nothing will change it.
Contrary to some other prequels I've read [*coughs* the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes *coughs*] it's as if I never left the world. The characters are true to themselves, the events fit the atmosphere that emanated from the original trilogy and there's still this balance between good and evil. The writing is also on point with interesting, daring themes that I've rarely seen.
Also, this prequel gives more meaning to the ending of The Fate of the Tearling in my opinion:
Erika Johansen didn't disappoint. If you loved the other three books, you should love this one too!
February 14, 2021
Wow that was a beautiful, brutal masterpiece.
CW for basically everything if you're sensitive. A moderate GoT vibe.
AND SHE SAID MORE KELSEA IS COMING!!!
official store review:
Readers who haven't yet read the other books in Johansen's epic series will quickly be reaching for them after finishing this strong, stand-alone return to the world of the Tearling. The status of Princess Elyssa’s kingdom is dire: Absolute monarchy quickly approaching an autocracy, a widening wealth gap, drought, and a rebel group gaining traction. Elyssa has to quickly decide if she'll continue the ruthless rule of her mother, or have the audacity to become the prophecized True Queen, destined to bring about a more just world for all. What I love most about the Tearling novels is the intricacies; how the wide cast of characters’ actions are intertwined in each other’s. You watch the chain of events start to click into place, traps laid down, and you know there’s no way to warn them about what is coming. Once again this world blurs the lines between fantasy and dystopia. It puts to question if all societies, including our own, are destined to fall into the same patterns of dystopic nature and ruin. Perhaps there is hope on the blue horizon, but it is veiled in blood.
CW for basically everything if you're sensitive. A moderate GoT vibe.
AND SHE SAID MORE KELSEA IS COMING!!!
official store review:
Readers who haven't yet read the other books in Johansen's epic series will quickly be reaching for them after finishing this strong, stand-alone return to the world of the Tearling. The status of Princess Elyssa’s kingdom is dire: Absolute monarchy quickly approaching an autocracy, a widening wealth gap, drought, and a rebel group gaining traction. Elyssa has to quickly decide if she'll continue the ruthless rule of her mother, or have the audacity to become the prophecized True Queen, destined to bring about a more just world for all. What I love most about the Tearling novels is the intricacies; how the wide cast of characters’ actions are intertwined in each other’s. You watch the chain of events start to click into place, traps laid down, and you know there’s no way to warn them about what is coming. Once again this world blurs the lines between fantasy and dystopia. It puts to question if all societies, including our own, are destined to fall into the same patterns of dystopic nature and ruin. Perhaps there is hope on the blue horizon, but it is veiled in blood.
didn-t-finish
August 7, 2021DNF at 55%
There wasn't anything in particular that was bad about this book or anything. It has just taken me a week to get 240 pages in, which is very slow for me during a week in which I had plenty of reading time, because I found myself not attached to any of the characters or particularly interested in how the story is going to go. So I think I'm just going to put this one down and move on
There wasn't anything in particular that was bad about this book or anything. It has just taken me a week to get 240 pages in, which is very slow for me during a week in which I had plenty of reading time, because I found myself not attached to any of the characters or particularly interested in how the story is going to go. So I think I'm just going to put this one down and move on
March 25, 2021
I give up. I wanted to love this book because The Queen of the Tearling series was a slippery slope which desperately needed a strong revival. But this has just made the incline even steeper.
It comes down to one very simple thing for me. The first novel in the initial series was so successful in my opinion because it had an incredible dynamic between its characters. Over time, that became lost in the mess of the world building and pacing issues, and instead characters became dry and uneventful in their interactions; it basically lost its heart.
This novel was a unique opportunity to inject that back into the series, but it just didn't. It introduced new characters, many of which were also flat, and it attempted to provide some history to a series we know so much about. The ending of the initial series, without spoilers, essentially unpicks the world we thought we knew though and, in doing so, it means that I'm not really clear whether this story actually even logically makes sense anymore!
Regardless, if we consider this purely as a standalone, it sort of works. Erika Johansen writes compelling stories because her writing style is just compelling in itself. But the problem for me, as a character driven reader, is that if I don't care about the characters or in fact even like them (as is the case here) then the story is long dead in the water.
So, whilst this had the potential to salvage the series for me all it did was serve to solidify my choice not to revisit it.
ARC provided from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
It comes down to one very simple thing for me. The first novel in the initial series was so successful in my opinion because it had an incredible dynamic between its characters. Over time, that became lost in the mess of the world building and pacing issues, and instead characters became dry and uneventful in their interactions; it basically lost its heart.
This novel was a unique opportunity to inject that back into the series, but it just didn't. It introduced new characters, many of which were also flat, and it attempted to provide some history to a series we know so much about. The ending of the initial series, without spoilers, essentially unpicks the world we thought we knew though and, in doing so, it means that I'm not really clear whether this story actually even logically makes sense anymore!
Regardless, if we consider this purely as a standalone, it sort of works. Erika Johansen writes compelling stories because her writing style is just compelling in itself. But the problem for me, as a character driven reader, is that if I don't care about the characters or in fact even like them (as is the case here) then the story is long dead in the water.
So, whilst this had the potential to salvage the series for me all it did was serve to solidify my choice not to revisit it.
ARC provided from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
October 19, 2022
11:30 PM review? 11:30 PM review.
Rating: 5/5 stars
I think we all know how I feel about this series now. It should come to no surprise that I’m rating Beneath the Keep a five out of five stars. I mean, come on, I’ve only been screaming about The Queen of the Tearling trilogy for months now. Let’s just say that like the final installment in the trilogy (pending review… I’m still not mentally stable enough to go back to the ending of that damned book), I cried like a baby. What else can be expected?
***
Since reverting to feudalism, much like the old world that the Tearling descended from, a gap between the rich and poor splits open further and further in the Queendom of the Tearling. Though, that doesn’t mean that citizens don’t have hope- even in the dark times that the Tearling is struggling through, there seems to be some sort of hope at the end of the tunnel- and that hope comes in the form of a prophecy. A prophecy of none other but the True Queen and her ascent to power that could pull the whole queendom up from the depths of despair.
Though, it doesn’t seem that the hope of the True Queen manages to creep into the Creche where a young Lazarus was raised to fight and kill, nor in the Almont where countless families suffer to meet quotas and keep their families fed. And in the Keep, where famine doesn’t seem to exist and day to day worries seem trivial to say the least. Princess Elyssa- a few years past the age of ascension- can’t help but wonder, is there more that she can do for the Tearling? Can she one day become a better ruler than her mother, Arla the Just? Or is she just destined to let her queendom squander like so many of her ancestors before her? And what of Blue Horizon, the group that goes by the same name of the pre-crossing group led by William Tear himself. Just where does Blue Horizon stand in all of this mix and why does Elyssa feel herself being pulled to their cause?
Whatever is happening in the Tearling, it seems that it is all coming to a boiling point and quick, and just where do Lazarus, Elyssa, and young farm hand, Aislinn stand in the fate of the Queendom?
***
I always end up kicking myself when I do something stupid. And I mean truly stupid, like what am I going to gain from reading the reviews of a book series that I truly enjoy? I mean really, there’s nothing to gain from it, besides maybe the loss of a few brain cells or the off chance that I’m annoyed. I bring this up because when I began Beneath the Keep, I found myself reading negative reviews about the book, and really, that was dumb of me. And why exactly do I bring this up? Well, mainly because The Queen of the Tearling trilogy has a special place in my heart. I have not only spent a lot of time thinking about this trilogy, but also spent a lot of time shedding tears over it.
I do see similarities between Kelsea and Elyssa. Though, that’s to be expected. Kelsea has a strong moral compass most of the time. In the main trilogy, she attributes that to being raised by Carlin and Barty. It makes sense that her own mother, Elyssa, would also have a somewhat strong moral compass too as she was also basically raised by Carlin and the head of her personal guard was Barty. Basically being raised by two of the same people, it makes sense that Kelsea and Elyssa share some attributes.
I personally thought that Johansen left Elyssa to be quite open-ended in the trilogy, which I enjoyed. Yes, it was described that she was vain and didn’t care about much but sleeping with her guards, but besides that, there really wasn’t much else said about her besides her poor choices that led to her downfall. Though, it’s revealed that maybe her downfall wasn’t entirely her fault.
Elyssa struggles in the book about wanting to be more, about wanting to do right by her queendom. I found Kelsea to be a lot like Elyssa, as they were both mostly guided by what they felt was right and the love they had for their country. It is clear throughout the book that Carlin was not only successful installing the original morals that the Tearling was built on into Elyssa, she was also successful with this in Kelsea. What’s sad is that Elyssa never got the chance to do what she truly thought was right.
In truth, Elyssa was a heartbroken young woman. Being forced to murder Gareth was her undoing and the beginnging of her demise. But in the end, she was successful in setting up a new hope for the Tearling, a hope that was bright in the Glynn Queen. And if Elyssa couldn’t be the True Queen, her daughter most certainly could be. Though, I digress as I did not come here to do an in-depth character analysis and comparison of Elyssa Raleigh and her daughter, Kelsea Glynn.
I thought the book to be quite insightful. I enjoyed seeing what the Tearling were struggling with while Elyssa was princess and Arla ruled. Yes, the Red Queen was still out there and still a threat of some sort, but very little is mentioned about the Mortmense ruler in the novel.
Perhaps what intrigues me the most is what exactly went on in the Creche. The story of Lazarus of the Mace was something that I knew that I wanted but did not know that I needed. His character development and growth throughout the book and into the trilogy is something that I personally loved. In fact, Lazarus is one of my favourite characters. I also enjoyed the backstories of other characters that played somewhat important roles in the trilogy.
I also found myself really drawn to Niya’s character. Not much is known about her besides that she is Elyssa’s closest maid and that she’s Blue Horizon. But her cause and her dedication to not only Elyssa and the Fetch just hit me hard. One of the biggest things that got me was this scene though:
“…and now Niya blinked and saw once again the Queen on the silver throne, really saw her: grave and pale and sad. There were no friends in the room, no servants, no guards. The Queen was alone. All of the people she had loved were gone.
“The better world,” the Queen whispered “There is always a price.””
Oh you betcha that the passage above had me blubbering like a baby. Go ahead, throw me right back into the ending of The Fate of the Tearling. Just remind me of what Kelsea did to save her people and her sacrifice, that’s exactly what I needed.
All in all, I found myself enjoying the book. The slow start and world-building is a bit to get through but once you get past that, I think it’s an enjoyable read.
PS, I most definitely bawled like a baby at the end of the book. I mean, it really came full circle with the trilogy and something about that really got to me.
Rating: 5/5 stars
I think we all know how I feel about this series now. It should come to no surprise that I’m rating Beneath the Keep a five out of five stars. I mean, come on, I’ve only been screaming about The Queen of the Tearling trilogy for months now. Let’s just say that like the final installment in the trilogy (pending review… I’m still not mentally stable enough to go back to the ending of that damned book), I cried like a baby. What else can be expected?
***
Since reverting to feudalism, much like the old world that the Tearling descended from, a gap between the rich and poor splits open further and further in the Queendom of the Tearling. Though, that doesn’t mean that citizens don’t have hope- even in the dark times that the Tearling is struggling through, there seems to be some sort of hope at the end of the tunnel- and that hope comes in the form of a prophecy. A prophecy of none other but the True Queen and her ascent to power that could pull the whole queendom up from the depths of despair.
Though, it doesn’t seem that the hope of the True Queen manages to creep into the Creche where a young Lazarus was raised to fight and kill, nor in the Almont where countless families suffer to meet quotas and keep their families fed. And in the Keep, where famine doesn’t seem to exist and day to day worries seem trivial to say the least. Princess Elyssa- a few years past the age of ascension- can’t help but wonder, is there more that she can do for the Tearling? Can she one day become a better ruler than her mother, Arla the Just? Or is she just destined to let her queendom squander like so many of her ancestors before her? And what of Blue Horizon, the group that goes by the same name of the pre-crossing group led by William Tear himself. Just where does Blue Horizon stand in all of this mix and why does Elyssa feel herself being pulled to their cause?
Whatever is happening in the Tearling, it seems that it is all coming to a boiling point and quick, and just where do Lazarus, Elyssa, and young farm hand, Aislinn stand in the fate of the Queendom?
***
I always end up kicking myself when I do something stupid. And I mean truly stupid, like what am I going to gain from reading the reviews of a book series that I truly enjoy? I mean really, there’s nothing to gain from it, besides maybe the loss of a few brain cells or the off chance that I’m annoyed. I bring this up because when I began Beneath the Keep, I found myself reading negative reviews about the book, and really, that was dumb of me. And why exactly do I bring this up? Well, mainly because The Queen of the Tearling trilogy has a special place in my heart. I have not only spent a lot of time thinking about this trilogy, but also spent a lot of time shedding tears over it.
I do see similarities between Kelsea and Elyssa. Though, that’s to be expected. Kelsea has a strong moral compass most of the time. In the main trilogy, she attributes that to being raised by Carlin and Barty. It makes sense that her own mother, Elyssa, would also have a somewhat strong moral compass too as she was also basically raised by Carlin and the head of her personal guard was Barty. Basically being raised by two of the same people, it makes sense that Kelsea and Elyssa share some attributes.
I personally thought that Johansen left Elyssa to be quite open-ended in the trilogy, which I enjoyed. Yes, it was described that she was vain and didn’t care about much but sleeping with her guards, but besides that, there really wasn’t much else said about her besides her poor choices that led to her downfall. Though, it’s revealed that maybe her downfall wasn’t entirely her fault.
Elyssa struggles in the book about wanting to be more, about wanting to do right by her queendom. I found Kelsea to be a lot like Elyssa, as they were both mostly guided by what they felt was right and the love they had for their country. It is clear throughout the book that Carlin was not only successful installing the original morals that the Tearling was built on into Elyssa, she was also successful with this in Kelsea. What’s sad is that Elyssa never got the chance to do what she truly thought was right.
In truth, Elyssa was a heartbroken young woman. Being forced to murder Gareth was her undoing and the beginnging of her demise. But in the end, she was successful in setting up a new hope for the Tearling, a hope that was bright in the Glynn Queen. And if Elyssa couldn’t be the True Queen, her daughter most certainly could be. Though, I digress as I did not come here to do an in-depth character analysis and comparison of Elyssa Raleigh and her daughter, Kelsea Glynn.
I thought the book to be quite insightful. I enjoyed seeing what the Tearling were struggling with while Elyssa was princess and Arla ruled. Yes, the Red Queen was still out there and still a threat of some sort, but very little is mentioned about the Mortmense ruler in the novel.
Perhaps what intrigues me the most is what exactly went on in the Creche. The story of Lazarus of the Mace was something that I knew that I wanted but did not know that I needed. His character development and growth throughout the book and into the trilogy is something that I personally loved. In fact, Lazarus is one of my favourite characters. I also enjoyed the backstories of other characters that played somewhat important roles in the trilogy.
I also found myself really drawn to Niya’s character. Not much is known about her besides that she is Elyssa’s closest maid and that she’s Blue Horizon. But her cause and her dedication to not only Elyssa and the Fetch just hit me hard. One of the biggest things that got me was this scene though:
“…and now Niya blinked and saw once again the Queen on the silver throne, really saw her: grave and pale and sad. There were no friends in the room, no servants, no guards. The Queen was alone. All of the people she had loved were gone.
“The better world,” the Queen whispered “There is always a price.””
Oh you betcha that the passage above had me blubbering like a baby. Go ahead, throw me right back into the ending of The Fate of the Tearling. Just remind me of what Kelsea did to save her people and her sacrifice, that’s exactly what I needed.
All in all, I found myself enjoying the book. The slow start and world-building is a bit to get through but once you get past that, I think it’s an enjoyable read.
PS, I most definitely bawled like a baby at the end of the book. I mean, it really came full circle with the trilogy and something about that really got to me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 15, 2025
The acknowledgement… I love Erika Johansen 😭 🫶
Absolutely loved this instalment, made me fall even more in love with these characters and therefore hate the ending of book 3 ten times more 😓
Also I KNEW her dad was MHURN!!!!!
And also I LOVEEEE MACE LOVE LOVE LOVE ONE OF MY FAVE CHARACTERS OF ALL TIME
Absolutely loved this instalment, made me fall even more in love with these characters and therefore hate the ending of book 3 ten times more 😓
Also I KNEW her dad was MHURN!!!!!
And also I LOVEEEE MACE LOVE LOVE LOVE ONE OF MY FAVE CHARACTERS OF ALL TIME
January 25, 2021
Thank you to Netgalley, Random House Uk, Transworld and Erika Johansen for my arc of Beneath the Keep in exchange for an honest review.
Published: 11th February 2021
Beneath the Keep serves as a prequel to the popular Queen of the Tearling series which I read and enjoyed a lot a few years ago.
First up I would like to give a trigger warning for this book. It is rife with child abuse of a sexual, physical and psychological nature. You should be aware of this before reading this book as it features heavily.
Beneath the Keep focuses on the events prior to The Queen of the Tearling and fills in some blanks from the series. The main featured characters are the mother and grandmother of the main character Kelsea and how events led to her eventually being smuggled into hiding which is where book one begins.
It also tells the story of another important character from the main series and provides their back story, along with several other characters and it's an interesting perspective which gives answers about some of the people in the series and their motives for later on.
I enjoyed this book even though it was a tad on the long side and it's been a while since I read the original series (May 2016) I was able to remember most of the characters and found it interesting to get their back story. It definitely veers more into the adult side of fantasy due to content but it's a sold 4* read for me.
Published: 11th February 2021
Beneath the Keep serves as a prequel to the popular Queen of the Tearling series which I read and enjoyed a lot a few years ago.
First up I would like to give a trigger warning for this book. It is rife with child abuse of a sexual, physical and psychological nature. You should be aware of this before reading this book as it features heavily.
Beneath the Keep focuses on the events prior to The Queen of the Tearling and fills in some blanks from the series. The main featured characters are the mother and grandmother of the main character Kelsea and how events led to her eventually being smuggled into hiding which is where book one begins.
It also tells the story of another important character from the main series and provides their back story, along with several other characters and it's an interesting perspective which gives answers about some of the people in the series and their motives for later on.
I enjoyed this book even though it was a tad on the long side and it's been a while since I read the original series (May 2016) I was able to remember most of the characters and found it interesting to get their back story. It definitely veers more into the adult side of fantasy due to content but it's a sold 4* read for me.
April 5, 2021
Beneath the Keep is the prequel to the Queen of the Tearling series where we follow a few characters for the year before Princess Kelsea is born. I just recently finished all of the books from the series for the first time and loved them all so much, I knew I needed to get my hands on this prequel when I saw that it was not a short story. We mainly follow Princess Elyssa , Lazarus, Thorn, The Fetch, The Rebellion, and a little of Prince Thomas.
We are going to start with complaints because I only have one real one. I did not like the narrator. I picked up the audiobook on my own as this is how I had read all of the previous books, and once again we got a narrator change. She felt unemotional and lifeless. I still ended up really enjoying the book (as you can tell from my rating) but that was with me struggling to ignore how the narrator was telling the story.
My not real complaint is this story wasn't what I was expecting/wanted. You find the reason that a lot of the characters in the three original books are the way they are or make the choices them make, but I felt like they were already perfect characters that changing their motivation didn't help me enjoy this world any more. My main thought on this is Kelsea's mother, Queen Elyssa. We get to see a lot of how she because this person the people hate, but I didn't want to like Elyssa, or have her be anything more than a vampent queen only caring about herself and her looks. This world allowed for so many types of people and I felt like it was great to have both the good and the bad in power, but now with this addition of the prequel, your made to view some of the bad as more good. But this was me fulling putting my expectations onto a story that I did not write, so I view it as not a real thing to complain about.
Now let's discuss the good.
The Writing
The Cruelty
The Characters
The Hopelessness
THAT ENDING
Answers to questions the original series left us
Having more of this world
I'm going to have to bullet these because once again I fell in love with this book and would sit here forever writing about why it is amazing, when I really just want to tell you to go read it!
This book would be appropriate to read after finishing any of the previous ones, you don't need to have finished the series. It does have lots of trigger warnings and is an ADULT fantasy. I highly recommend if you like anything by Erika Johansen.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
We are going to start with complaints because I only have one real one. I did not like the narrator. I picked up the audiobook on my own as this is how I had read all of the previous books, and once again we got a narrator change. She felt unemotional and lifeless. I still ended up really enjoying the book (as you can tell from my rating) but that was with me struggling to ignore how the narrator was telling the story.
My not real complaint is this story wasn't what I was expecting/wanted. You find the reason that a lot of the characters in the three original books are the way they are or make the choices them make, but I felt like they were already perfect characters that changing their motivation didn't help me enjoy this world any more. My main thought on this is Kelsea's mother, Queen Elyssa. We get to see a lot of how she because this person the people hate, but I didn't want to like Elyssa, or have her be anything more than a vampent queen only caring about herself and her looks. This world allowed for so many types of people and I felt like it was great to have both the good and the bad in power, but now with this addition of the prequel, your made to view some of the bad as more good. But this was me fulling putting my expectations onto a story that I did not write, so I view it as not a real thing to complain about.
Now let's discuss the good.
The Writing
The Cruelty
The Characters
The Hopelessness
THAT ENDING
Answers to questions the original series left us
Having more of this world
I'm going to have to bullet these because once again I fell in love with this book and would sit here forever writing about why it is amazing, when I really just want to tell you to go read it!
This book would be appropriate to read after finishing any of the previous ones, you don't need to have finished the series. It does have lots of trigger warnings and is an ADULT fantasy. I highly recommend if you like anything by Erika Johansen.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
July 1, 2021
This was so good! It was really nice getting the back story to so many characters in a way that made sense and explained a lot. Highly recommend.
February 16, 2021
dnf at 70 pages
trigger warning
The people are restless. Their queen is above petty things such as human rights, and there are high hopes for the reign of the crown princess, which creates tensions between mother and daughter.
Meanwhile, a slave fights for his life in an illegal fighting ring again and again.
Initially, I requested this arc because I read the first book of the Tearling series ages ago and remember I quite liked it, but after reading this, I don't think it would hold up upon re-read.
This is the prequel to aforementioned series, and it's quite a bland 08/15 fantasy series about a court in trouble. A revolution feels imminent because of all the suffering while the nobles play their fancy games. Important themes like the merrits of communism are woven into the plot, but not explored in any meaningful way. It's more like the necessary backdrop for the gratuitous violence you see on every page, and I am kind of waiting for rape as a plot device because it's that kind of book.
I feel like my time is better spend when I just re-read the Name of the Wind to get the vibes and the important themes.
The arc was provided by the publisher.
trigger warning
The people are restless. Their queen is above petty things such as human rights, and there are high hopes for the reign of the crown princess, which creates tensions between mother and daughter.
Meanwhile, a slave fights for his life in an illegal fighting ring again and again.
Initially, I requested this arc because I read the first book of the Tearling series ages ago and remember I quite liked it, but after reading this, I don't think it would hold up upon re-read.
This is the prequel to aforementioned series, and it's quite a bland 08/15 fantasy series about a court in trouble. A revolution feels imminent because of all the suffering while the nobles play their fancy games. Important themes like the merrits of communism are woven into the plot, but not explored in any meaningful way. It's more like the necessary backdrop for the gratuitous violence you see on every page, and I am kind of waiting for rape as a plot device because it's that kind of book.
I feel like my time is better spend when I just re-read the Name of the Wind to get the vibes and the important themes.
The arc was provided by the publisher.
June 13, 2022
First, let me say, I will be writing spoilers for the original trilogy in this series, The Queen of the Tearling series and some for the short story, The Boy, throughout this review. I ain't even gonna tag 'em. So, proceed or not, at your own caution.
In this prequel book for a trilogy that was an incredible mix of fantasy and dystopian fiction, Johansen stays in the fantasy realm with no real hint of any pre-Crossing information other than the quotes that will be dropped in at the beginning of chapters — and I think even then it's only a small handful that are known to us now ... like one from William Shakespeare — and there's a mention of Edgar Allan Poe by a character actually in the narrative. But otherwise, Johansen's Beneath the Keep remains firmly planted in a medieval-feeling fantasy world, similar to how she opens the first book in the series, The Queen of the Tearling.
The world-building falls right into place, whether you've read the trilogy or not. Johansen seems to have such a solid hold on her world, the Tearling, and how it ticks that I cannot help but fully fall into her completely landscaped pages.
There are a few repeat characters, and I think many can agree that we are all here for Lazarus's backstory and proper character development. It's here. Lazarus, born in the underworld of the town, and sold as a child so that he could fight (as a child) and win his earnings — garners a reputation of never losing. Lazarus, also known as the Mace in the trilogy, previously got a short story, The Boy, where we learn not only his real name, Christian McAvoy — which he goes by for a good part of Beneath the Keep, at least to himself — but the moment he was given his fighting name of Lazarus. So, now we also learn in Beneath the Keep, just how and why Christian acquires yet another moniker. His protective nature though flourishes from a close relationship he has with a young woman he met as a child when they were both waiting to be sold. It was wonderful to see his development here and get to know him as a young man.
Christian's story is the main focus. Alongside his story though, Johansen has packed in many others, perhaps too many. One of the many was the story of Aislinn, a tough-as-nails, farm girl who claws her way into leading an unplanned rebellion. She's young and she's hard to not like, but her story, while somewhat interesting, felt fairly disconnected from the rest of the book — and especially from the rest of the main storyline that ties it into the original trilogy. My attention and interest continued to wane each instance she returned to the page — there was simply no other place for her character and the rebels following her to go. If you've read the trilogy, you know their fate — maybe not the details, but there is no other direction this can land. Frankly, despite the action and the grit Aislinn displayed, these segments bored me.
In fact, that's part of the problem with this prequel. While there were some definite highlights, particularly with Elyssa, the mother of Kelsea Glynn is the Queen of the Tearling — the main character of the original trilogy, there were some equally definite low points. There's really no question where this is headed, and aside from some baddies who we already know — Arlen Thorne and his witch lady, Brenna — the new characters didn't add much. In addition, the main highlights had a lot to do with ... family trees and the truth — which I did enjoy finding out and tying back together with what I was able to recall from the trilogy.
I feel there is more to explore and more room for other characters to develop — namely Carlin Glynn, who raises Kelsea, and hopefully the Fetch, who was peppered throughout Beneath the Keep. Frankly, I wish this book had featured Carlin Glynn instead of Aislinn. Perhaps even, (dare I say it?), with a dual timeline. A younger Lady Carlin Glynn — who she was as she divided up her land among her tenants and then disappeared, catching up to the moment when the Mace brings Kelsea to her door. I'd rather get to know Glynn by herself and part of this bigger movement known as Blue Horizon rather than later on while she's raising baby Kelsea.
Also, while I'm wishing, I'd prefer to find out more about the Fetch. Right now he's bordering on feeling like the Dread Pirate Roberts — where Roberts is not one man, but a series of men who pass the Roberts name and reputation to a chosen successor once they are wealthy enough to retire. Hence the mask.
So, I assume there are other books to come. I guess I will be there for them ... but I'd like to see the summaries first. I'm just not sold that this prequel — or others if they are to come — are truly necessary.
In this prequel book for a trilogy that was an incredible mix of fantasy and dystopian fiction, Johansen stays in the fantasy realm with no real hint of any pre-Crossing information other than the quotes that will be dropped in at the beginning of chapters — and I think even then it's only a small handful that are known to us now ... like one from William Shakespeare — and there's a mention of Edgar Allan Poe by a character actually in the narrative. But otherwise, Johansen's Beneath the Keep remains firmly planted in a medieval-feeling fantasy world, similar to how she opens the first book in the series, The Queen of the Tearling.
The world-building falls right into place, whether you've read the trilogy or not. Johansen seems to have such a solid hold on her world, the Tearling, and how it ticks that I cannot help but fully fall into her completely landscaped pages.
There are a few repeat characters, and I think many can agree that we are all here for Lazarus's backstory and proper character development. It's here. Lazarus, born in the underworld of the town, and sold as a child so that he could fight (as a child) and win his earnings — garners a reputation of never losing. Lazarus, also known as the Mace in the trilogy, previously got a short story, The Boy, where we learn not only his real name, Christian McAvoy — which he goes by for a good part of Beneath the Keep, at least to himself — but the moment he was given his fighting name of Lazarus. So, now we also learn in Beneath the Keep, just how and why Christian acquires yet another moniker. His protective nature though flourishes from a close relationship he has with a young woman he met as a child when they were both waiting to be sold. It was wonderful to see his development here and get to know him as a young man.
Christian's story is the main focus. Alongside his story though, Johansen has packed in many others, perhaps too many. One of the many was the story of Aislinn, a tough-as-nails, farm girl who claws her way into leading an unplanned rebellion. She's young and she's hard to not like, but her story, while somewhat interesting, felt fairly disconnected from the rest of the book — and especially from the rest of the main storyline that ties it into the original trilogy. My attention and interest continued to wane each instance she returned to the page — there was simply no other place for her character and the rebels following her to go. If you've read the trilogy, you know their fate — maybe not the details, but there is no other direction this can land. Frankly, despite the action and the grit Aislinn displayed, these segments bored me.
In fact, that's part of the problem with this prequel. While there were some definite highlights, particularly with Elyssa, the mother of Kelsea Glynn is the Queen of the Tearling — the main character of the original trilogy, there were some equally definite low points. There's really no question where this is headed, and aside from some baddies who we already know — Arlen Thorne and his witch lady, Brenna — the new characters didn't add much. In addition, the main highlights had a lot to do with ... family trees and the truth — which I did enjoy finding out and tying back together with what I was able to recall from the trilogy.
I feel there is more to explore and more room for other characters to develop — namely Carlin Glynn, who raises Kelsea, and hopefully the Fetch, who was peppered throughout Beneath the Keep. Frankly, I wish this book had featured Carlin Glynn instead of Aislinn. Perhaps even, (dare I say it?), with a dual timeline. A younger Lady Carlin Glynn — who she was as she divided up her land among her tenants and then disappeared, catching up to the moment when the Mace brings Kelsea to her door. I'd rather get to know Glynn by herself and part of this bigger movement known as Blue Horizon rather than later on while she's raising baby Kelsea.
Also, while I'm wishing, I'd prefer to find out more about the Fetch. Right now he's bordering on feeling like the Dread Pirate Roberts — where Roberts is not one man, but a series of men who pass the Roberts name and reputation to a chosen successor once they are wealthy enough to retire. Hence the mask.
Fezzik: Why do you wear a mask? Were you burned by acid, or something like that?
Man in Black: Oh no. It's just that they're terribly comfortable. I think everyone will be wearing them in the future.
So, I assume there are other books to come. I guess I will be there for them ... but I'd like to see the summaries first. I'm just not sold that this prequel — or others if they are to come — are truly necessary.
March 20, 2022
Overall, I enjoyed the book. It answered a lot of my questions from the original Tearling series. There were so many surprises and I was not expecting Garreth’s character to be who he was. It was weird reading about Elyssa since in the trilogy she seems like a terrible person but she isn’t at all in the beginning of the story. We learn how she became who she is known to be in the series.
March 6, 2021
4.5
Oh, how I love this series, and this prequel did not disappoint. Now to stop myself from restarting the original trilogy so that I can read the zillion other books I have on my "to read" list . . .
Please write faster, Ms. Johansen! I love your books!
Oh, how I love this series, and this prequel did not disappoint. Now to stop myself from restarting the original trilogy so that I can read the zillion other books I have on my "to read" list . . .
Please write faster, Ms. Johansen! I love your books!
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