Right off the bat, I have to admit that going into reading Beneath, I was very intrigued by Ariel Sullivan’s decision to follow up Conform with the first book in a prequel trilogy for a lot of reasons, the first reason being that Conform is only the first book in the series, and the second reason being that Conform ended on a cliffhanger. That being said, after reading Beneath, it ultimately worked for me in many ways.
First off, it was very interesting to read a book that was written hundreds of years before the Illum existed and before the events that took place in Conform. It was also very interesting to read a war story, and I have to admit that I oftentimes don’t love war stories. Thankfully, this is one that I ultimately did end up loving for many reasons.
Sasha is a really great, well-written protagonist. I honestly enjoyed the whole medic aspect of the character, Sasha. Her backstory and the fact that other characters called Sasha “Death’s Angel” were all very compelling. I also thought that the flashbacks did an excellent job of developing her as a character when it came to fleshing out the details of her past. Tristian also served as a great love interest for Sasha, and was a well-written character as an individual. I felt like Sullivan did an excellent job of developing both the chemistry and the romance between Sasha and Tristan throughout Beneath.
The found-family element in Beneath was one of the aspects of the book that I especially enjoyed. That aspect of the book also really helped the supporting characters become very well-developed. As someone who thought that many of the supporting characters in Conform blurred together, I was thrilled to see that Sullivan found a way to make the supporting characters in Beneath stand out more in this book.
It was really interesting to see how Sullivan connected Beneath to Conform by having Sasha, Tristian, and the other characters in the unit find a bunch of art while they were completing the mission to the above section of the world, given how art factored into Emeline’s job in Conform. That being said, I really wish they had done more with the whole part where they found the art.
The overall plot of Beneath was very interesting and emotionally engaging, just like Conform was. The plot also had great pacing. The whole illness that spread throughout Haven definitely added an interesting element to Beneath's plot and raised the stakes. As for the ending of Beneath, with the military unit’s victory being short-lived, I found that to be kind of predictable, and I was disappointed to see Sasha back in Expansion in the epilogue. It was interesting to see Kaleo in Expansion with Sasha, though. Beneath’s ending definitely lacked a little bit of excitement compared to Conform’s, as far as I’m concerned.
All things considered, Beneath definitely serves as an excellent prequel to Conform with a great plot and great characters. Unfortunately, Beneath suffers from having a slightly predictable ending, which left me feeling just a tiny bit less excited for the next book in the series than I am compared to my excitement for the sequel to Conform; even though I’m very excited for the release of the next book in the series!
That being said, my final score for Beneath is 8 out of 10.
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