How dare Spike and Matilda fall in love? As residents of Edin, they’ll be lucky if they’re still alive in six months’ time.
Edin is a city on the brink …
On the brink of collapse through overpopulation.
On the brink of revolution because of government oppression.
On the brink of being overrun by the diseased hordes outside its walls.
In a place like Edin, love is a luxury. But it’s a luxury Spike and Matilda--even when dealing with the very real threat of their own demise--refuse to live without.
Will Spike and Matilda realise their dreams in a world of nightmares?
And even if they do, what lies in wait for them beyond Edin’s walls?
Beyond These Walls is a post-apocalyptic epic where staying alive is reward enough. Join Spike, Matilda, and their friends to see if they can survive the brutal landscape, and maybe answer that one big question: Why does their world belong to the diseased?
REVIEWS
5 stars ***** ‘Excellent world building and in depth characters …’ Amazon customer.
5 stars ***** ‘I highly recommend this book … and I can't wait for book 2.’ Amazon customer.
5 stars ***** ‘The characters are great. Both good guys and bad.’ Amazon customer.
Michael Robertson is an author and blogger. He has had several short stories published, including one with HarperCollins. He is the author of Crash - http://michaelrobertson.co.uk/crash--...
“You talk about sins like he does, like, you’re an authority, when you’re nothing but a hypocrite.” After reading everything worthwhile in this genre, Michael Robertson continuously surprises me! He takes the genre in a whole new direction. A gritty, at times horrifying story, everything seems to have gone wrong with enough twists to keep me guessing until the end. As always with the other installments in the series, this premise also kept me glued and snagged, totally mesmerised. Harsh, cruel instances, selfish, egocentric and sadist characters, life is strenuous enough to have to deal with these kind of obsessive people. More than zombies,-a sub genre I’m a bit adverse to- it is for me like a real life experience, normal people fighting to live another day, guided by their instincts of survival, no heroes, just their push and mental and physical strength to overcome the challenges and obstacles thrusted their way. How their feelings and emotions guide them towards a better understanding of moral conscience and ethics. Fast paced and energetic, exciting and thrilling, the series Beyond These Walls is action-adventure storytelling at its best! Really looking forward to reading #7!
I absolutely love this post apocalyptic survival thriller and have read and reviewed each book independently however the fact that now the first 6 books can be bought all at one go and read after each other is not to be missed. These books are very exciting and riveting so not having to wait between one book and another is a real blessing. Enjoy this gripping series, I know I did and will continue following our heroes battles with the undead till the end!
The Hunger Games crossed with The Walking Dead! I quite enjoy a good zombie story and this didn't disappoint.
I found the beginning a little slow, but the pace quickly picked up.
Over 18s's have to do National Service outside the safe confines of the walls of Edin, working on extending the walls around their sanctuary while fighting off the diseased on the other side. You gradually come to realise that this walled sanctuary isn't all it's cracked up to be.
An exciting read.... the enemy aren't necessarily all 'diseased' trying to bite you! This was a bargain at 6 books for 99p.... well worth a read if this is your thing.
Halfway through book 3 and I had to stop. The prose is in need of a legit editor. It's damn near laughable in places. (See what I did there? If you know, you know.) There's one passage about the depths of a horse's wisdom that I won't quote. Best to discover that gem for yourselves. Otherwise, it has a lot of deus ex machina but no more than others in this genre. The action is decent so adding a star. However, the plot armor and "chosen one" trope is so so tired. It has the roots of a decent book/series but doesn't hit the mark.
I you don't like killing then don't these books. Very brutal but necessary if you live within the walls. I enjoy all 6 books which I didn't think I would. No I have to find out what happens next
Excellent start to the series. Only the first six books but it seems to have carried on forever - and that's a good thing for this series. I'm ready to continue with the Next box set, books 7-9, and beyond. The action is outright fantastic with every book I progress through. Now on to book 7 box set !!!!!
This is an awesome series. The character building was slow in the beginning but read on and you will not put these books down. From National Service to who the protectors really are through finding out what’s on the other side. I’m not giving much away, just pick up the series and go for it.
Read up to and including book 4 First of all it was quite good overall and I would definitely watch a picture or series made from it. Found book 1 a bit juvenile and the characters very childish but story was good enough for me to keep going. Books 2 & 3 were quite good but by book 4 I’d had enough and it ended at a place in the story that was enough for me. I couldn’t picture the city of Edin enough to easily visualise so that detracted from the story and I didn’t really care enough about the characters. I think only Hugh really had his character developed and the change in him wasn’t explained also the main character was a bit tiresome. I couldn’t understand how the citizens were kept in control when they were all so unhappy and the guards so few. I was disappointed to have no clues as to what happened prior to Edin and when this was supposed to be taking place so all in all it didn’t have enough answers to keep me interested. I read the covers of the remaining books and realised I wasn’t interested enough to plod through another 16 books! All that said, I will look up another book by this author and give that a go.
I read the box set 1-6 and even though it has zombies that they call the infected outside the walls of the different areas where people live. One a person turns 18 they go outside of the wall with a few guards to try and add on to the walls. Not all of them will make it back. Fighting the infected is hard for these young men and women and the protectors don’t seem to put a dent in the infected when they go out everyday. The community is divided into several sections like agriculture, woodworking, crafts and more. But young people are only supposed to date within their section, But Spike and Matilda fall in love even before they go into national service. The plot in these books are good, it is action packed and seems to move fast. I recommend this box set if you like post-apolyptic. I also read book seven that I will review and am looking forward to book eight.
I have been a fan of Michael Robertson since I read his series, The plague Wars. I try not to miss any of his books. While this series is not as amazing as The Plague Wars, it’s a very good series. The main characters are 18 or below that in age in some cases. They are not always very mature. But they grew up in a restricted and oppressive environment. They know they face at 18 a dangerous mission which may end their lives. Spike is in love with a girl from another district and if he doesn’t go on to be a “protector “ he will never legally see her again. All the odds are stacked against him and Matilda and so much more! I can’t wait for book seven to be available.
Fast zombies that bite to infect not to eat - all citizens have to participate in building an extended wall at 18yrs old for 6 months so the community can grow . You stay in the group you are born into so while protecting the population this wall building causes many to die and has produced a society of people with PTSD and just plain rage many things are acceptable to this community like beating your wife and kids gangs flourish and abuse more kids and some of the younger people don’t agree the protector apprentice program is the solution for William until it’s ripped out from under him the story follows the young group of friends and fr-enemies there are many twists and turns to follow characters to love and hate looking forward to book 7
I have reviewed each story separately, so will just say the first six books are excellent reads from page one.
With well-developed characters, a great sense of place and world-building, in addition to a brilliant plot, all indeed make for a page-turner.
I liked the writing style (except for the break in flow with Oxford commas in lists and 'me either' instead of 'me neither). I was surprised that a British author would make the American error, especially with the latter. There were a couple of typos but nothing major. The rest, though, was superb.
However, I thoroughly enjoyed all the parts - the good and the evil; each a perfect foil for the other.
What a fantastic series! I am not a zombie person and I don't buy zombie books. But in "Beyond These Walls" the "diseased" as they are called are simply a backdrop for the great storyline and incredibly rich universe created by the author. I found myself purposely slowing down so it wouldn't be over! Then I found myself thrilled to find out there are more books! Another thing I enjoyed was the editing. So often books in this genre are full of typos - not these books. Its very unusual to read so very many pages and not find any typos. Overall, I highly recommend this series to post-apoc|dystopian fiction fans!
I read each of the six Beyond these Walls stories as they came out, and when I saw this box set, I borrowed it from KU and sat down to revisit the series without the delay between stories. I very rarely reread books, but rereading these stories was awesome. I highly recommend grabbing the box set and settling in for the duration as you travel through Mr. Robertson’s post-apocalyptic dystopian world.
Really enjoyed these books. A little bit different from the standard zombie story. Fast paced and engaging story of a group of young adults battling the undead and their youth and inexperience
These are 6 GREAT BOOKS. I found Book # 1 a little slow to get into, it was probably a 1/3 of the way in before it took off for me. From that point thru Book # 6, they’d were very hard to put down.
2.5 stars, pass mark, rounded down so it won't affect recommendations.
An average formulaic YA post-apocalypse zombie story, teen version of the Walking Dead, complete with insane over-the-top cruelty, paper sketch villains, a cheesy teen romance or two, and detailed gory grotesque action scenes. I'm sure the kids will love it. For me at my age, not so much 🤪.
I could forgive a lot, given its genre and intended audience, but the world-building is particularly poor. Especially Edin, with its implausibly stupid social setup. Amazing they survived at all. Some sections of dialogue are cringeworthy, but our gang of intrepid teen heroes and heroines continue to win the day.
The best is that the long action scenes, and sections of sniping teen dialogue, and cliche villains pontificating, can be so easily skipped over without losing the plot, that it makes a quick read, with occasional funny moments.
Ok these books took a bit of getting used too. It’s a narrative style, where I usually prefer first person point of view. I also didn’t like the characters, especially Spike to begin with, or the slower writing pace. That said I continued on due to reviews saying it was good and I’m glad I did. I got used to the writing style and don’t mind or notice now, I might actually prefer this style for the multiple POVs which works well in this story. The character arc is great for each of the multiple characters. Spike has grown on me but I still don’t love him as a lead, other characters are stronger and more relatable. World building has been incredible. Overall this series is brilliant and I can’t wait to read more.
Book 1 - I'm invested. It's not the best writing but it's easy and holds my attention. I'm very disappointed in how weak the Spike is proving to be after all the bravado but I'm assuming the author is going to try to grow him with the series. There are a lot of plot holes and things that make no sense but my expectations were low anyway. I'm going to continue to book 2.
Book 2 - I'm still hooked. Spike is growing as a character although he's still lacking. Some of the plot holes are getting bigger. But I still want to know his story so I'm gonna keep going.
Book 3 - This one was short and quick, centered on the apprentice trials. Hugh has really come out on top but it's not realistic that he managed so much in a month. I still like him though. Spike is just alright at this point. The crap with Ranger... I wish someone would just take him out already. I don't think he's adding anything good to an already full story line. Oh, and I did not like the cliff hanger ending. I'm going to keep reading but how this turns out could make or break it for me.
Book 4 - This one seemed longer, like I was ready for it to be over and it kept going. I'm starting to get annoyed with it. Spike decided to go by William? You can't change a character's name on the 4th book. He doesn't want to save anyone but then is devastated when they die? Randomly, horses are safe but other animals aren't. Hugh went completely certifiable. The whole city fell except a handful of barely trained kids? I know the whole book is fiction but some realism is appreciated. I'm 4 books in. I have to keep going. But if you haven't started this... DON'T.
Book 5 - This is giving Walking Dead vibes - think the Governor. It was short. The characters make a lot of frustrating choices. William varies between being some kind of super hero and being pathetic. I'm going to read book 6 since I have it but I'm so ready for this to be over.
Book 6 - Ugh. Finally. I have very mixed feelings about this series. I was hooked. I wanted to know what happened. I am a little sad I won't but there is no way I'm buying the next set. The writing is juvenile. I think that's what annoyed me the most. It didn't get better as the series went along. It reminded me of stories I would write in middle school. He's got a good idea. He's got a compelling story for those of us that like the genre. But the writing just isn't there.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I may just have needed the distraction but I got sucked right into these books and the characters. The themes of political/powerful corruption are handled a bit heavy-handedly but does not detract overmuch from the tale.
I do hope the author invests in a thesaurus for the other books, as "puce" and "foetid" are overused. Also, I do not understand how rain falling from the sky can have a muddy taste before coming into contact with any dirt but, every time it rains and our overworked heroes tip back their heads and drink the rain as it falls, it is described as "muddy-tasting." However, these minor details aside, it's a good story and I'll be reading the rest of the books.
Being an avid reader, I was in a bit of a flat spot, looking for something different. I saw the first six books of this series on offer for 99p, thought I would give them a go. They didn't disappoint. Following William and Matilda through their journey so far was brilliant. There are more trials on the way as this is an 18 book series, I fully intend to read them all! Great story, great characters, really enjoyed them - Michael Robertson has created a great series here. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to the next book! Definitely worth reading.
I found the beginning a slow burn, but once I got a grip on the characters it kept me enthralled to the last page in the box set. Although quite graphic, it wasn't overly so, to turn you off. More to show you how tough the survival instincts really are and how far you can go, when you have to. It was sad to see the end of Hugh, but with Max filling the gap it flowed well to keep you moving along. A very different type of dystopian story and I look forward to the next few books.
Bish, bash, bosh. Repetitive 'books', these 6 books could have made one good story. I am an avid reader of YA and dystopian novels but these were just too repetative and unrealistic. Characters leaping up time after time, then running for their lives for hours or fighting hoards of diseased, after being brutally attacked and injured. As frustrating as it was not to get to the end of the story I won't be spending £30 for another 9 books that still don't get there.
This is a very enjoyable series. I usually lose interest when there are more than 3 books in a series. But I'm starting book ten and still enjoying it. The characters can be quite complex with their emotions and some I'm not sure if I love them or hate them. But they keep me rooting for them to survive. It's Def a series worth picking up. The plot twists are great and have kept me guessing. Enjoy the characters and stories.
Ok mixed feelings about this one lol William I often wanted to kill, his constant refusal to listen to others was maddening but he grows on you, max, Olga and Matilda I thought were great. The plot for the most part worked very well, the protectors a very good concept.the zombies very well written and believable. For the most part the story line flowed well and the action was great. I would like to learn more about the fall of civilization though.
It seemed to take forever to get there, but I did it. Some bits in the book tend to drag and just as I was about to give up, it got interesting again, now that I've finished I'm glad I carried on . Even though there's a cliff hanger and you have to get the next book.