Welcome to my stop on The Beast and The Bethany: Revenge of the Beast Blog Tour!
I am always excited to join #TheWriteReads for a book tour and to be joining them again for the sequel to The Beast and the Bethany which I absolutely loved last year! Revenge of the Beast is similarly humorous and the character exploration was just what I needed.
Title: The Beast and the Bethany: Revenge of the Beast
Author: Jack Meggitt-Phillips
Publication date: 30th September 2021
Publisher: Farshore Books
Blurb
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?
Purchase Link: AMAZON
Review
With the beast gone (or not), Bethany’s new job is to prepare Ebeneezer for his life after the Beast that have thoroughly owned his life. That includes doing away with anything that the Beast gave to Ebeneezer and getting him to do go things (maybe something to turn his karma around). But as soon as Bethany’s plans are made, they goes up the flames. Ebeneezer is dealing with a problematic shirt of his own (yes, I did say shirt) and Claudette, the parrot seems to be losing her feathers and voice. Is this all the vanished beast doing?
I really loved how we got to see Ebeneezer as a boy and how the world has changed in the 511 years that he has been alive. And also how his need for friendship and acceptance led him to taking the beast in until it absolutely overtook his life! I have always said that ones most vulnerable time is childhood! The humour that I loved from the first book is still here and even better. We get to see snarky Bethany who is on a quest to prove she can Do Good and every attempt is just precious even when it is tarred by her past behaviour and the subtle lack of trust Ebeneezer had in her. It was fun to see them grow fond of each other, it was teeth-aching sweet and I loved every minute of it.
The artwork complimented the story and it was quite beautiful. The inner child in me was absolutely buzzing. The ending was so interesting and I cannot wait to see how these two characters progress in the coming books (Please let there be more books!)
Rating
I gave this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars
Thanks for reading