Anna Bright’s The Boundless is a satisfying conclusion to a sparkling, surprising story

Anna Bright’s The Boundless delivers a satisfying conclusion to Selah’s story with many unexpected turns.

The Boundless is a sequel that both offers a satisfying conclusion to the events of the previous novel The Beholder, while telling a completely different – and equally meaningful – story at the same time.

In The Beholder, Seneschal-elect Selah is sent out from her father’s kingdom of Potomac to find a husband. But her story isn’t simply one about (literally) chasing boys, it’s also a journey of self-discovery, as Selah learns how to embrace who she really is, what it means to be a leader and how to stand up for herself and what’s right. And over the course of the first novel, she travels to several different countries and meets several attractive suitors, only to discover that her royal mission has also been serving as cover to smuggle weapons and assistance into the famed Imperiya in support of those rebelling against its brutal tsarytsya.

The Boundless continues that tale, as Selah, the Beholder and its crew head into the dark and dangerous port of Shvartsval’d, where she must court a minor noble in a decaying castle, while simultaneously covering for the rebels and the members of her own entourage attempting to help them. Unlike the first novel in this series, very little of The Boundless is focused on romance – Selah’s previously existing feelings for Price Torden of Norway are generally presented as both real and lasting – and instead is a tale about fighting back, in ways both large and small.

As a result of her attempts to help the resistance leaders known only as Hansel and Gretel, Selah finds herself not heading back to her kingdom with a future husband in tow but being dragged further into the darkness of the Imperiya and forced to meet its fearsome ruler face to face.

Where the first novel was largely a series of different kinds of romances, The Boundless is very much a different kind of story. Here, love takes a backseat to politics and survival, as Selah and her friends must use their wits to stay alive in the face of darkness and oppression. Most of the novel is spent in the heretofore unseen Imperiya, and it doesn’t shy away from how terrible the conditions are for the people who live there. Selah is given the chance to prove both her mettle and her intelligence, giving readers an example of why she’ll be exactly the kind of leader her people need when the time comes.

That said, this is the kind of sequel that may alienate some readers simply because it’s such a different kind of story from its predecessor. For me, the story works as a natural evolution of Selah’s journey and I found her time in the Imperiya both frightening and compelling. But, if you’ve come into this book expecting more princes and flirtation, you’ll likely be very disappointed. If The Beholder was a fun twist on happy fairytale tropes, then The Boundless is its dark twin, digging into the creepier side of these stories – evil queens, lonely towers, and that kind of thing.

In fact, the focus of Selah’s story has changed so drastically that the one truly out of place element in The Boundless is her bizarrely nebulously relationship with Lang, captain of the Beholder. He’s something that’s not quite a friend and not quite a love interest either, and their pseudo-flirtation thing feels strange given the heaviness of everything else that’s going on in the story. Given the many other men in this story who exist as options for her heart, Lang’s jealousy and possessiveness are wildly out of place, and Selah’s low-key anger at him is constantly referenced, but never fully explained.

Happily, The Boundless is also the kind of novel that doesn’t end with a traditional happily ever after either. Its final moments reassert the idea that Selah is a different kind of heroine, with the power to forge her own future, romantically speaking and otherwise. She’s certainly not the same girl that started this series, but that’s part of what makes it such a joy to read.

The Boundless is available now. Let us know if you’ll be adding this sequel to your summer reading list!