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A review by megsbookishtwins
Beyond the Ruby Veil by Mara Fitzgerald
3.0
rep: lesbian m/c, gay side character, sapphic side character
content warnings: blood, gore, violence, body horror and mutilation, death, murder, self harm
Ever since this was announced as 'a weird fantasy book about a tiny chaos lesbian who’s going to save her world—or burn it all down trying', I was hooked and couldn't wait to get my hands on it. While, I did enjoy it, Beyond the Ruby Veil takes 'unlikeable female character to a whole other level. She's chaotic, destructive, egotistical, downright cruel, and had zero redeeming qualities. She's not an anti-hero, she's a bloody villain and through the whole book I was rooting for someone to take her down. Simply put, I enjoyed this much less purely because of how horrible our protagonist is - and I love 'unlikeable female character'. But I struggled with Emanuela and I think it's mainly because I felt we never really have a reason to root for her, never really understood why she was so driven, why she needed to be so cruel, and like I said - she had no redeeming qualities.
That being said, I did enjoy her relationship with Verene, it was interesting - and I was actually more interested in Verene as a character - and I may read the next book just to see how this relationship/potential enemies-to-lovers romance plays out.
Beyond the Ruby Veil is a dark, bloody, and cruel novel about magic, secrets, and power that I am sure fans of fantasy will enjoy.
content warnings: blood, gore, violence, body horror and mutilation, death, murder, self harm
Ever since this was announced as 'a weird fantasy book about a tiny chaos lesbian who’s going to save her world—or burn it all down trying', I was hooked and couldn't wait to get my hands on it. While, I did enjoy it, Beyond the Ruby Veil takes 'unlikeable female character to a whole other level. She's chaotic, destructive, egotistical, downright cruel, and had zero redeeming qualities. She's not an anti-hero, she's a bloody villain and through the whole book I was rooting for someone to take her down. Simply put, I enjoyed this much less purely because of how horrible our protagonist is - and I love 'unlikeable female character'. But I struggled with Emanuela and I think it's mainly because I felt we never really have a reason to root for her, never really understood why she was so driven, why she needed to be so cruel, and like I said - she had no redeeming qualities.
That being said, I did enjoy her relationship with Verene, it was interesting - and I was actually more interested in Verene as a character - and I may read the next book just to see how this relationship/potential enemies-to-lovers romance plays out.
Beyond the Ruby Veil is a dark, bloody, and cruel novel about magic, secrets, and power that I am sure fans of fantasy will enjoy.