Book Review: REVENGE OF THE BEAST by Jack Meggitt-Phillips (Middle Grade Monday)

Genre: Fantasy
Age Range: MG
Star Rating: 4 stars
Series: yes - book 2

*SPOILER ALERT: contains SPOILERS for THE BEAST AND THE BETHANY*

Synopsis:

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?

Synopsis taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here.

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Review:

REVENGE OF THE BEAST continues this quirky UKMG series about greedy beasts, an 512-year-old man, and the girl he accidentally brought into his life. It’s the sort of bizarre humour you just roll with as the extra-ordinary is treated as ordinary – and the ordinary is never quite as simple as you think.

The focus of this book is a little more evenly spread between Ebenezer and Bethany. Ebenezer is still the main character, struggling to put his old life behind him and fit into this new Bethany-ed reality. He does have 500+ years of thinking to shift, after all. I really liked how the exploration of guilt continued in this book – but rather than guilt over doing something bad, the guilt of not being able to let go of the past.

Bethany is a close second in narrative importance, and there are chapters where we follow her adventures without him. It was nice to spend more time with her, and really see what’s going on inside her now she’s trying to put her disruptive days behind her. Unfortunately, the beast has other plans. . .

Having previously read the first book as an ARC (compiled before the illustrations were complete), it was so nice to experience this book (and a re-read of the first) with all the illustrations. The typify the quirk, slightly off kilter version of England (and in Ebenezer’s case, upper class England) perfectly. It’s little things like the wallpaper or clothing that really help to sell

The final chapter contains quite the promise about what will happen in the next book, which could flip the perception of the beast around and bring in some fun gadgets.

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Read my interview with the author here.

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Read my reviews of other books by Jack Meggitt-Phillips:

The Beast and the Bethany (this series):

• THE BEAST AND THE BETHANY (#1)
• BATTLE OF THE BEAST (#3)

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