Title: Revenge of the Beast

Author: Jack Meggitt-Phillips

Publication Date: September 30, 2021

Genre: Middle-Grade Fantasy

Number of Pages: 275

Buy the Book: Amazon*

Summary: From Goodreads: Lemony Snicket meets Roald Dahl in this riotously funny, deliciously macabre, and highly illustrated sequel to The Beast and the Bethany in which Bethany and Ebenezer try to turn over a new leaf, only to have someone—or something—thwart them at every turn.

Once upon a very badly behaved time, 511-year-old Ebenezer kept a beast in his attic. He would feed the beast all manner of objects and creatures and in return the beast would vomit him up expensive presents. But then the Bethany arrived.

Now notorious prankster Bethany, along with her new feathery friend Claudette, is determined that she and Ebenezer are going to de-beast their lives and Do Good. But Bethany finds that being a former prankster makes it hard to get taken on for voluntary work. And Ebenezer secretly misses the beast’s vomity gifts. And neither of them are all that sure what “good people” do anyway.

Then there’s Claudette, who’s not been feeling herself recently. Has she eaten something that has disagreed with her? 

Review: Thank you to The Write Reads for organizing and inviting me to participate in this blog tour. Thank you to Farshore Books for providing me with a copy of this book through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

The Beast and the Bethany was one of my favourite reads of 2020, and I was so excited to get my hands on Revenge of the Beast to find out what beastly things the Beast cooked up in this book and to catch up with Bethany and Ebenezer Tweezer. I am happy to say that Revenge of the Beast has the same Lemony Snicket meets Roald Dahl charm as The Beast and the Bethany, and I thought it was absolutely fantastic.

Revenge of the Beast takes place a few weeks after The Beast and the Bethany. Bethany and Claudette are determined to help Ebenezer de-beast their lives by getting rid of all of the presents the Beast vomited up for him over the past five centuries. Bethany is also determined to change how the neighbourhood looks at her, and she is determined to Do Good, even if she’s not entirely sure how that works. But, of course, the Beast has other ideas and has some nefarious plans of his own.

My favourite thing about this book is how fun it was. I loved the flashbacks into Ebenezer’s past and his memories with the Beast. I also loved how fun some of the gifts that Ebenezer received from the Beast are; I specifically love the idea of a self-decorating Christmas tree. I also thought it was fun that the gifts had their own minds and started to act out against their new owners when Bethany gave them away to people in the neighbourhood.

Bethany is one of my favourite fictional characters, and I loved reading about her in this book. I loved how hard she tried to Do Good, and there were many moments where I wanted to give her a giant hug. I also loved Ebenezer in this book, and I enjoyed reading about them trying so hard to Do Good even though they had no idea what they were doing. I also loved how ghastly and terrible the Beast was in this book, and I cannot wait to see what it gets up to in the third book.

I loved all of the twists and turns in this book. I loved not knowing what the Beast was going to try to do next and being on the edge of my seat, wondering if Bethany and Ebenezer would figure things out before it was too late.

Overall, I thought this book was fantastic. It was fun, creepy, and full of twists and turns. The characters are fantastic, the Beast is ghastly and terrifying, and I cannot recommend this series enough.

About the Author: Jack Meggitt-Phillips is an author, scriptwriter, and playwright whose work has been performed at The Roundhouse and featured on Radio 4. He is scriptwriter and presenter of The History of Advertising podcast. In his mind, Jack is an enormously talented ballroom dancer, however his enthusiasm far surpasses his actual talent. Jack lives in north London where he spends most of his time drinking peculiar teas and reading P.G. Wodehouse novels.

Rating: 5 Stars!

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