Title: The Beast and the Bethany
Author: Jack Meggitt-Phillips
Publication Date: 1 October 2020
Genre: Middle-Grade Fantasy
Number of Pages: 256
Review: Thank you, Dave, at The Write Reads for organizing and inviting me to be part of this blog tour. Thank you, Egmont Publishing and Net Galley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I want to start off this review by saying that I absolutely loved this book. I’ve been in a bit of a reading/blogging slump for the past month or two, and this book was a perfect combination of some things that I love, and it certainly helped pull me out of my slump.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if Roald Dahl, Lemony Snicket, and Neil Gaiman got together to write a children’s version of The Picture of Dorian Gray? If so, you need to pick up The Beast and the Bethany because that’s the best way for me to describe this fantastic book. I thought that this book was the perfect combination of whimsical, dark, creepy, and suspenseful, and I cannot recommend it enough.
My favourite thing about this book is that it kept me on the edge of my seat while reading it. There were so many moments where I didn’t know what was going to happen, and I was glued to the pages to find out what would happen next. I also found that during the scenes where I knew how they were going to end, the lead up was suspenseful, and it was almost like watching something terrible happen in slow motion.
I was a huge fan of the characters in this book, and I thought that Ebenezer and Bethany made an excellent pair. I like watching both of the characters grow into better people, and I liked watching them try to figure out how to deal with their hungry beast problem. I thought Bethany was a very clever character, and she’s definitely a character that I’m going to remember for a while.
Finally, I loved that this book felt like a combination of some of my favourite things. When I was growing up, I was obsessed with A Series of Unfortunate Events, and I devoured every Roald Dahl book I could get my hands on. More recently, I’ve read a lot of Neil Gaiman’s middle-grade books, and I love the creepy vibes that a lot of them have. It felt like this book was the perfect combination of these three authors, and I think it’s the kind of book that could get someone hooked on reading and stories. I also loved that it had similar elements as The Picture of Dorian Gray because that’s my favourite classic.
Overall, I thought this book was fantastic. It was dark and full of suspense while still having an element of whimsy. I highly recommend checking out this book, and I can’t wait for the sequel.
Rating: 5 Stars!