Beyond (the Academy): Afterlife

Plagiarism or Hero Worship? Good and Bad

I have very mixed reactions to this book. It starts out with 16-year-old Meghan finding out that she has died, and is now a Ru'ach, or a spirit. She is on her way to the Academy of the Spiritual Realm, where spirits learn how to function as a spirit and move throughout their new life. The first chapter was very interesting, and got my attention.

Chapter 2 to Chapter 8, I had a very hard time not putting the book down in disgust. It felt like reading a parody of Harry Potter. Here are some examples, that while reading them almost made me want to scream "plagiarism":

1.The scene of the tiny man taking them to the castle reminds me of Hagrid meeting the first years at the train platform. He calls for "new students" instead of first years, and he's not a giant, but the tone of the entire scene is almost exactly like Harry Potter.
2.Once in the castle, the descriptions of Hornam Hall are reminiscent of the Great Hall at Hogwarts. They eat on golden platters with silver forks and knives, and the plates magically refill with whatever food they are currently craving.
3.There are magic ladders in the Academy castle that sometimes go different places at different times, and will sometimes lead you nowhere at all. The descriptions of the staircases, doorways and hallways at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry sound surprisingly the same.
4.The 'villain' of the book (besides Satan and his Se'irims) is another student sharing the dorm with Meghan named Portia. The descriptions of Portia and her two sidekicks are very Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle.
5.Mrs. Onayashi, the Art of Transition teacher, holds her classes in the "cellar" of the castle. She has cold and empty black eyes, can keep a class silent without effort and hates Meghan from the beginning of the first class. (If you need a hint, refer to Professor Snape).
6.The Se'irims previously refered to, are the bad spririts or demons. They must be cousins of the dementors. They haunt dark and dirty places, they flourish in despair and decay. "They suck all life, peace, hope, and happiness out of people..."

On another note, Rahmiel who is the Angel of Mercy and Love, and makes everybody have warm, snugly feelings reminds me of Jasper from Twilight.

Around Chapter 9, the author found their own voice, and the story finally takes off. Meghan, while breaking the rules, finds herself in the human world, and in contact with a boy named Jason. Something about Jason draws her back over and over again. Then she realizes that Jason has to die, and wants to stop it from happening.

The author handles all the different sides of what can happen when interfering with humans very well. Meghan goes with Mick (another spirit) to accompany a new spirit after she leaves her body, and must see all the different angles of these events.

Jason's story doesn't turn out the way Meghan hopes for, and she pledges to be there for him until she can fix what she ruined by interfering.

I would very much enjoy reading more of the books in this series, as long as they can follow the last half of the book. J.K. Rowling is to be admired, but I don't enjoy reading books that don't have their own voice.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A quick read with a great story!

There's the age-old question "What makes a book, the writing or the story?" Most of the time, I say that both components are essential to creating a book worth reading, but sometimes elaborate prose that flow off the page and twist your mind are overwhelming and you just want to be told a good story. That's what it was my experence reading Beyond. The writing was not bad, please do not misunderstand me, but it wasn't particularly stunning. Some of the dialogue was stilted and there could have been a lot more details, but the book was quick and refreshing and told a story that was interesting.

The world was set up very decently. I still have some questions, but there are more books in the series and I can't expect (or even want, really) all the worldbuilding in the first book. There were a few things I found slightly unbelievable or inconsistent, but in the end, those things didn't matter. I also found a few things to be slightly similar to the world set up in Harry Potter. Not exactly the same, but just similar. That's not a bad thing, persay, but it subtracts from the originality, obviously.

Now the plot and main storyline were what I really adored. I loved reading about this whole new life after death and I liked how the characters in this novel didn't just turn into all-knowing being when they died. Instead they have to attend an academy, no matter how old, where they learn special things like how to fly or walk through walls. The religious aspects in this book are there, but not preachy or overwhelming. There are good spirits and there are bad, and the good must continuously fight the bad spirits' influence. There are hints and talk about an ancient war and Heaven and I'm hoping there are more of those things in the next books--in the same nonpreachy way, of course. Then here was the climax, which was my FAVORITE part. There were a lot of parts in this book that seemed sort of convienant or easy, but the climax was epic! There was a ton of anticipation that had my heart literally pounding and my mind frantically devouring each word! And then the ending! Oh my, it absolutely broke my heart! I did not see parts of it coming, and yet it didn't necessarily come out of nowhere. I wasn't crazy about the beginning because it directly addressed the readers and that's a feat that I believe to be difficult to pull off, but it only happens in the beginning, so it wasn't too bad.

This is a nice read if you're looking for something quick and creative and not too heavy. This book had many flaws, but I still enjoyed it. I definitely want to read the sequel. Also, this book is suitable for all ages and would be a good read for younger kids that are beginning to read YA and MG books!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Okay first things first...how old is this author? Seriously my 1

Okay first things first...how old is this author? Seriously my 14 year old sister could have written better than "T.P.Boje"...the writing was so terrible that I got headaches while reading this
second thing I would like to thank the Basically Books Group...it was not your fault that I hated this book, and I thank thee for the read...even if it was so bad that I originally thought it was supposed to be funny
while reading this I took some notes on microsoft word...i think i might just copy and paste it here...


1. Girl is a “spirit” but looks like a human?
a) She is made out of fluids?
b) The soul leaves the body 2 seconds before it dies?
i) But you wouldn’t BE dead yet…so the soul leaves the body before the body actually dies?
2. I HATE the narrative
a) Umm she says “cute-looking” like seriously?
b) She thinks boys just LIKES to wear old fashioned clothes….like come on!
c) She wants to “be close” to her teacher? Who is a lady…
3. So she dies then wakes up on a steam boat that is really an academy?
a) In denial
b) Umm why is the Academy a steam boat?
i) Oh wait! She just got off the boat…my bad!
a) Small man holding torch waiting at the platform looking for new students
b) Pretty sure it’s Hagrid!
i) Is she at Hogwarts?….OMG what if when you died you’d get to go to HOGWARTS…just kill me now :)
c) Unusual that she doesn’t remember her death? I think?
d) WAIT! She doesn’t remember anything ABOUT HERSELF…I’m pretty sure….
4. WHAT ARE WITH THESE NAMES!!!!!
a) What kind of parent would name their child: Rahmiel or Salethiel?
i) Because it’s not like these people came to the “after life” and suddenly changed their names to these weird ones
a) “Oh yes…this is Heaven? Then I want my name to be Salethiel, and teach people about their cool powers like becoming fluid”
b) STUPID STUPID!
5. I think I’m just going to stop reading, it’s just way to much and way to bad…

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review f

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review from the author via the group Basically Books. I am happy to say that I am pretty pleased with this book overall but a few flaws.

Now, this book really intrigues me as who would not want to know what happen after one dies. This book is revolves around the main character who is already dead and she has to attend a school before she is allowed to go to heaven. She With no memory of her past and a new surrounding, she struggled at the beginning and with the help of her new friends, she begin to adjust. But when she got transported back to the human world, she started to faced a lot of challenges.

I really like the concept of this book but there are some similarity to Harry Potter(which I love) that I felt may have been avoided to make it more original. But overall, I ll give a thumbs up for the concept and writing as it is a great easy read.

Definitely worth reading.

This book is an amazing idea. I do love where T.P. Boje is going with it. The only things that caught my attention was that a few ideas were just mentioned in the story. They were minor details like a little more about the ball that she attended. The one thing I would have loved to see was a little more drama come up to the climax in general, but that could just be a personal taste. Overall I enjoyed the book as will continue to read books by T.P. Boje.