It's absolutely wild that it's been nearly twenty years since I read the last installment of this series and am just now picking up the second. Blame younger me for not keeping up with book release dates and utterly forgetting about this sequel series. Spiderwick has always been incredibly nostalgic for me and one of the standout series I remember reading in fourth grade. I remember being somewhat ambivalent about the Beyond series, even though it was just getting started.

I will say, I don't know if it's nostalgia or not, but the Beyond series doesn't really hit in the same way as the first one does. There's nothing really standout about Nick or Laurie, only except that Laurie makes so many bad decisions it's a marvel the faeries haven't kidnapped her already. Nick is just a blank vessel and our two leads don't really mesh well together. The faeries as well seem so bland and toothless in comparison. I know that there's still one book left in this series to go, but I'm struggle to see why it was made or what it attempted to accomplish with expanding(?) the world. 

The illustrations though are also gorgeous and the creatures wonderfully designed. DiTerlizzi always excels at making them appear both ethereal and otherworldly. 

I'll probably wrap this up with the last book, as it may only take me an hour or so to read and just for some completion points.