Revenge of the Beast

Name: Revenge of the Beast
Author: Jack Meggitt-Phillips
ISBN: 9798855089301

by Jack Meggitt-Phillips

Ages 8–11 Reading age 9 Novel Set in everyday life funnyspooky

Ebenezer and Bethany are trying very hard to be good, which is difficult with the beast still in the house and hungry.

A story about children and magical creatures, funny and spooky in tone. We would put it with children of 8–11, and at a reading age of about 9 for reading alone.

Worth knowing before you buy

Mild peril

None of this makes it a bad book — often the opposite. It is here so you can decide whether it is right for your child now or in a year or two.

Part of a series

This is book 2 of the The Beast and the Bethany series, so there is more to read if it goes down well — which is worth a great deal with a reluctant reader.

Our take on this book

Ebenezer and Bethany are trying extremely hard to be good — which is a struggle, because the beast that granted Ebenezer's wishes for five hundred years is still in the house, still hungry, and not at all reformed. Jack Meggitt-Phillips writes with a wicked, Roald-Dahl-ish glee: the humour is dark and the villainy is gruesomely funny, but the moral engine of the book is genuinely warm, as two selfish characters haltingly learn to be kind. There is mild peril and plenty of grotesque comedy involving the beast's appetites, all pitched to make a child gleeful rather than genuinely scared. For an eight- to eleven-year-old who enjoys their stories a bit ghoulish and very funny, this second Beast book is a treat; it can be followed on its own but works best after the first, and its blend of nastiness and heart keeps readers hooked through the series.