Format: Hardcover, 464 pages
Release Date: January 18, 2022
Publisher: HarperCollins
Source: Library
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Epic
Time to stop Inshara. Time to find a way between worlds. Time to find each other again.
Nimh still holds on to her divinity, if only by a thread.
In her final confrontation with Inshara, the woman determined to take her place and rule Nimh’s kingdom, both Nimh and her enemy were sent to the world above, in the cloudlands.
Now North looks to the sky, left behind on the surface world.
Desperate for a chance to join the girl he loves and save his world, North will stop at nothing to find a way back to his home in the sky-city of Ciel. Before it’s too late to save anyone.
But more awaits them in the world above than North or Nimh could ever expect. And as they come together and team up with allies from above and below, they face an ultimate test of their bond, their abilities, and their belief in each other in a quest to save their worlds.
Beyond the End of the World is the second and final installment in co-authors Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner's The Other Side of the Sky duology. The story once again alternates between Nimh, the Goddess of her people, and North, the boy who fell from the sky. Nimh is in the cloudlands (Ciel) but she doesn't remember who she is or how she got there. Meanwhile, North has been stuck behind trying to work with others like Techeki hoping to find a way to return home, and stop Inshara before she destroys the peace of both the sky people, and the people of the land.
While Nimh is trying to remember who she is, and has spent the past 2 weeks in an unfamiliar world, Inshara pretends to be Nimhara and ingratiates herself in the court. She uses the mist to seemingly control the minds of others to behave the way she wants, starting with Queen Beatrin, North's bloodmother. Nimh and North spend most of the book apart, struggling with the aftermath and how best to reunite to stall a dangerous deity. As they learn more secrets and face numerous internal and external challenges, we see them grow as characters.
Nimh and North seem to break out of their fears from the first book and fully come into themselves here, despite only a few weeks passing. Theirs isn’t quite a slow burn romance, instead built on something much deeper. I’m glad they questioned it as the story went on, too. Forbidden to touch, North and Nimh know that succumbing to their burgeoning attraction will destroy both their worlds—but with their love now plain to each other, their resolve weakens, providing readers with an utterly irresistible give and take.
Going to have to admit something. Inshara is more than a little infuriating as a villain. She's the perfect villain who is always one or two steps ahead of Nimh and North. There is a little bit of science fiction added to this story as the authors have told a story about a people who traveled across the universe and eventually landed on this planet. It is that journey that eventually separate one faction from the other faction. One escaped to the sky, one stayed behind and put their faith in human goddesses.
While in Ciel, Nimh meets North's best friends, Miri and Saelis, who are the two best friends that everyone needs in their lives. One of the things I loved was the fact that even though the three of them spent their lives together intertwined by love and respect, they never once wavered in their support of North when they knew he lost his heart to Nimh. This series blends magic and technology; science and mystical.
I think the book would have been a better had the authors inserted occasional chapters from Inshara’s perspective. She plays the main villain in the story and her actions would have made more of an impact if we had gotten to know her backstory to understand what drove her to take certain actions. Especially when she discovers the truth about her upbringing and the man claiming to be her father.
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