Title:

The Land Beyond

Author:

Dana Stabenow

Category:

Literature

Rating:

Date Reviewed:

February 21, 2026

he Land Beyond is the final book in the Silk and Song Trilogy. Johanna and Jaufre and company return for the final installment of their adventures. Unfortunately, this tale is not as compelling as the first two books. Once they reach Venice and Johanna gets to meet her grandfather, the aged Marco Polo, there really isn't anything else for them to do. Stabenow concocts some reasons for them to wander through Europe and up to England as a trading company, but Stabenow's heart doesn't seem to want to tell a story built around wool trading.

The middle third of this book tells the story of Félicien's rescue. Johanna's Wu company had grown so large that I honestly had no recollection of Félicien at all, but apparently the bard joined the group somewhere near the end of book 2. Stabenow has added so many characters to the storyline that most of them have nothing to do. Sasha, Firas, Hayat, Alma and Hari basically just tag along with an occasional remark to remind the reader that they still exist. Stabenow even adds another member to Johanna's troop - Tiphaine, the streetwise Venitian teenager who also doesn't have much to do once she joins the troupe. I felt all these pointless characters diluted the main story of Johanna and Jaufre.

It seemed remarkably easy to avoid the taxes and guilds in England and collect the wool fleeces for trading. Perhaps a more realistic plot would have shown the struggles of Wu Company to become established traders. Awfully convenient to have a smuggler's cove just waiting to be exploited, and an old smuggler currently looking for some younger partners.

Partway through, I actually set this book aside for a month or two and read several other more interesting books instead. But it became due at the library (no more renewals permitted) so I finished it to complete the trilogy. But this one is not as good as the first two books.