A Critique of The Beyonders Series

First, let me say that I really enjoyed the books. I laughed at Jason's jokes, I was angry at the Giants, I cried (yes, in real life) for Drake, and I cherished their victory. Fablehaven remains my favorite series of his, but Beyonders were definitely worth a read. Still, some of my comments are negative.

A World Without Heroes

The very idea of completing a magic word is way too clunky, it requires so many plothole patches... What if you can write down half of the word? What if you can shout the word into a crowd of people and they all remember it and can remind you? As an author, I would never choose this as the main gimmick of my story.

Once the fantasy part starts, the book becomes very fairy-tale-ish, by which I mean that the characters Jason encounters are all like NPCs existing there solely for the purpose of him encountering them. Some people with no clear town of origin or social structure watching a show. A wise wizard to tell him lore. A queer villagewoman with no occupation or relatives. A riddlemaker. A beggar king. Those feel like scenes from a metaphorical drama rather than a living, breathing world. And this continues, feeding into the idea that all this might be Jason's aftershock hallucinations.

Chapter 4 - The Blind King

The Blind King is hella sketchy. It is obvious he defies the Emperor, but Jason has no idea about the Emperor's true motives. All Jason knows is that the Blind King is a rebel, so he should take what he says with a grain of salt. Of course the King wants to recruit this Beyonder to his side, of course he will tell him the Emperor wants his doom. "No I don't know any ways to go back to your Beyond, go kill Maldor, them we'll talk." And he mysteriously doesn't remember any details.

Chapter 6

Mount Allowat is mentioned here already as the original and only source of orantium!

Chapter 16

After confronting Ferrin, they should have accepted his invitation to come to Maldor. If he wanted to force them, he could, so when he offered them to come freely, they should have. Out of all the people, the wizard would have the best chances of knowing how to send them home.

Jesus Christ, Mull, can you shut the fuck up about the dELiCioUS food the characters are eating!?

Chapter 23

Maldor offers Jason a way out, and Jason declines, preferring to choose good over evil. But Jason should not assume Galloran's side is good. He witnessed Maldor's servants maiming and killing people, but his friends also killed and maimed the emperor's underlings.

Seeds of Rebellion

Prologue

That prophecy felt really epic and hit hard, at least to the people who already know the Blind King.

Chapter 6? - Charm Woman

One of the few non-NPC characters, I really like her vibe.

Chapter 19? (in the 7 Vales)

I relly like the description of the land (best green-paradise-mountains description I ever read), but Mull has zero swordsmanship knowledge. If Corinne never fought anyone in real life, she would have close to no practical ability. Also combat rolls lmao.

Chapter 27

Idiotic that the jungle people attacked and bound them to bring them to the Oracle. The Oracle foresaw that it is friends who are coming. What if in the scuffle the delegation killed some of the junglers?

The second book had a lot of interesting moments and adventures, but when looking at it as a whole, most were unnecessary. Jason's Giant encounter segwayed into Aram, but that whole section just amounted to one NPC mercenary. The Zombie country was an interesting step on their journey, but it could be replaced with literally any other random travelling encounter.

I agree that a good book may still include chapters that do not further the story nor develop characters, and instead expand the world, immersing the reader in its reality, but Lyrian is very... chaptery, as I already lamented. Parts of the world serve as great and clever adventures, but there is no coherence among them, no overlapping vibe. Every chapter feels like a new continent.

Lyrian feels like a story rather than a world (to me that is a big issue), that is why chapters that do not further the story feel pointless, even if they employ curious ideas.

Chasing the Prophecy

Chapter 2

The Oracle showed a path that would give them a SMALL CHANCE of success. I, rereading the books, am still unconvinced that trying to defeat Maldor is the only way. He never initiated any conflict with them, he only acts to protect his rulership. His enemies say he is "conquering" Lyrian, but his followers may say he is "uniting" it. His only undisputable vice is his immense power, and the rebellion wants to remove this immortal overlord. But since their chances of success are so low, why not try to align yourselves with him and make the Empire a nice place!

Chapter 20-something

So cool that Darion the Seer communticated across time with the Oracle of Miarnamen, to give her exact instructions what to prohpesise!