The Beast and the Bethany – Revenge of the Beast By Jack Meggitt-Phillips @MeggittPhillips @FarshoreBooks #TheWriteReads #UltimateBlogTour #MiddleGrade #RevengeOfTheBeast

The Beast and the Bethany – The Revenge of the Beast
By Jack Meggitt-Phillips

The Beast and the Bethany – Revenge of the Beast is the second book in this series, the first being The Beast and the Bethany, popular amongst the Middlegrade readers for all its fun and havoc. Today I am on the blog tour, thanks to The Write Reads, with a review of Revenge of the Beast. Discover more in the blurb and then my review and a bit about the author below…

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?

Review

First of all, I was somewhat surprised at their being a second book, to start creating a series and then I got excited for Middlegrade readers because the first was so good (so great in fact that it is tipped to be made into a film by a major film company).

This sequel reunites readers with Ebenezer and Bethany and it doesn’t disappoint at all and is rich in story and has lots of humour, especially the sarcastic wit that readers got to know in the first book.

Ebenezer isn’t your average person, in fact he is far, far from average and so far away from any average age. He is 511 years old. The book leads children on an entertaining story, full of humour and like Roald Dahl, it gives readers a whole gambit of emotions and a terrific plot. Ebenezer wants to de-beast as it were and become a better person.

Bethany wants to become a “Do-Gooder”, but she first has to work out what that actually means. This in-turn has humorous consequences as she grapples with this concept and her inner-self wanting to still cause havoc and be the prankster.

There is also a shirt that seems to become a character with a mind of its own and Claudette the Bird acting very strangely.

There are also a few new characters to enchant children as they find out more about Ebenezer and Bethany’s lives, from what they have lived to their present. 

Expertly weaved through this are other themes about how people sometimes treat others and it will keep children engaged to see if Ebenezer and Bethany can really change and become better people, like they want to be. 

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.