A great follow-up to the first novel, with just as much humor
Thank you so much to The Write Reads and Jack Meggitt-Phillips for allowing me to be part of this experience and also providing me with a complimentary eARC and media kit!
Purchase this book (affiliate link): Amazon
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.
Review
Book CWs
For a list of warnings, tropes, and representation for this book, check out its page on BookTriggerWarnings.com.
Premise
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 (No Spoilers)
Hello again everybody! If you were paying attention to my blog this week, you’ve already seen that TheWriteReads is hosting a blog tour for Revenge of the Beast by Jack Meggitt-Phillips. Today is my spot on the tour and I’ll be presenting you with what I thought.
If you haven’t already read my review of the first book in the series, The Beast and the Bethany, you can do so here. Revenge of the Beast takes up shortly after the events of The Beast and the Bethany and follows Ebenezer and Bethany has they struggle with figuring out what it means to be Good. Not only that, but also have to deal with the fact that their friend Claudette has begun acting strange and a new bully has shown up to take Bethany’s old role at the Orphanage.
The plot of this book was very solid, and as usual, Jack Meggitt-Phillips provided plenty of laughs along the way. As I was reading, I could definitely picture a younger version of me reading this book and thoroughly enjoying it. I was a huge fan of A Series of Unfortunate Events when I was in middle school, and this book definitely gives off those same vibes. The ending leaves off with a bit of a cliffhanger, so you can bet that basically everyone on this tour is excited to read the next installment!
On that note, however, I do want to provide a bit of a warning in regards to the material (much like I would for A Series of Unfortunate Events), particularly when it comes to the character of Gloria. Gloria is the new bully at the orphanage and her entire storyline is pretty darn tragic. Not only does she physically and emotionally bully the kids (and adults!) to an alarming rate, but she also has absolutely horrible parents. In fact, her backstory is that her parents abandoned her at the orphanage because they just didn’t like her. Her parents are even featured multiple times in the book, continuously reiterating their hatred for their daughter to the public. As an adult, this storyline was particularly troubling to read, but I could only imagine how damaging this might be for a kid who has parental abandonment/neglect issues. I would probably recommend giving this book a bit of a skim before giving it to a child, just to be safe.
All in all, Revenge of the Beast was another fun read from Meggitt-Phillips and a great addition to The Beast and the Bethany franchise. If you’d like to follow along with the rest of the tour, you can find the tour schedule here!
Disclaimer: Most posts made on this blog will include affiliate links, identified by the phrase (affiliate link). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This comes at no additional cost to you.
Jenjenreviews 
Great review JenJen!
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