briecheezit's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Racism and Miscarriage
erinarkin20's review against another edition
3.0
Review to comeThe Beast is an Animal by Peternelle van Arsdale is one of those books that after I finished, my first thought was “how am I going to review this?” I love the summary on this book as it draws on the creepy atmosphere that van Arsdale has created and the (beautiful) cover just brings it all to life.
The story begins with a separate story that sets the stage for the main character Alys. In the time where superstition rules people’s thoughts, a village needed a scapegoat to explain why their crops were failing and people were in danger. Upon noticing a star shaped mark on the farmer’s twin daughters, the villagers immediately informed the farmer they didn’t blame him – it was the work of a witch (his wife) and the offspring of the Beast (his daughters). All he had to do was banish his wife and daughters and everything would be fine. With that, the farmer took his wife and daughters to the woods believing they would be safe from the angry villagers there.
Eventually the mother and the girls are forgotten but over time, the girls become something else and that something else leads to the label “Soul Eaters”. To get back at their father and the village, they let the wolves attack their livestock and that isnt’ enough for them. The sisters decide to go back and seek out those that accused them and their mother of being something dangerous. They went back to make the adults of Gwenith (the village) pay and they left the children alone. This is really where Alys’ story begins.
Alys was an interesting character. She did not have an easy go of things once the adults in her village were taken by the Soul Eaters. As the only child to stay awake when the sisters visited the village, people were immediately wary of her. Add to this the fact that she tends to be in the wrong place at the wrong time fairly often and you can imagine what the villagers think about her. Alys doubts herself as well. She can’t explain why she is the way she is and she almost gives in to the things she is being accused of later in the book.
As she and the children of her village are taken in by the people of Defaid, a village down the road, they are not treated in a way one would expect. When the fear takes hold of the people in charge in Defaid, they immediately build a fence and force the children to guard and protect. When the children continue to go missing or die, they are just replaced with other Gwenith children. Clearly the Defaiders don’t really care about these children and are really just looking at them as an added line of defense against the Beast and the Soul Eaters. When Alys sees something she shouldn’t have, she is accused of being a witch and that’s when things take a turn for the worse for her. I honestly couldn’t believe what the women and Elders put this young girl through and when her adoptive father does what he can to save her, I finally felt like he cared about her.
The secondary characters were interesting. Pawl was one of my favorites. He had flaws but they were definitely outweighed (in my opinion) by the positive things he did for Alys and the children. Through Pawl we are introduced to Cian. The interactions he an Alys had were some of my favorite parts.
As Alys confronts the Soul Eaters and the Beast, she realizes what she wants out of her life…and it definitely isn’t the heartache of being a Soul Eater. When she stands up for what she really wants and ultimately helps the sisters escape the lives they have been living for so long, she also helps the people she cares about because they are no longer going to be threatened by them.
Overall I thought this was an interesting story. It was slow at times but that didn’t bother me overly much. There is quite a bit I am not mentioning in my review as I don’t really want to give away everything and to be honest, this one was tough for me to write about only because there are so many layers to this story that I can’t really cover it all. If you are looking for something different in YA, consider checking this book out.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!
The story begins with a separate story that sets the stage for the main character Alys. In the time where superstition rules people’s thoughts, a village needed a scapegoat to explain why their crops were failing and people were in danger. Upon noticing a star shaped mark on the farmer’s twin daughters, the villagers immediately informed the farmer they didn’t blame him – it was the work of a witch (his wife) and the offspring of the Beast (his daughters). All he had to do was banish his wife and daughters and everything would be fine. With that, the farmer took his wife and daughters to the woods believing they would be safe from the angry villagers there.
Eventually the mother and the girls are forgotten but over time, the girls become something else and that something else leads to the label “Soul Eaters”. To get back at their father and the village, they let the wolves attack their livestock and that isnt’ enough for them. The sisters decide to go back and seek out those that accused them and their mother of being something dangerous. They went back to make the adults of Gwenith (the village) pay and they left the children alone. This is really where Alys’ story begins.
Alys was an interesting character. She did not have an easy go of things once the adults in her village were taken by the Soul Eaters. As the only child to stay awake when the sisters visited the village, people were immediately wary of her. Add to this the fact that she tends to be in the wrong place at the wrong time fairly often and you can imagine what the villagers think about her. Alys doubts herself as well. She can’t explain why she is the way she is and she almost gives in to the things she is being accused of later in the book.
As she and the children of her village are taken in by the people of Defaid, a village down the road, they are not treated in a way one would expect. When the fear takes hold of the people in charge in Defaid, they immediately build a fence and force the children to guard and protect. When the children continue to go missing or die, they are just replaced with other Gwenith children. Clearly the Defaiders don’t really care about these children and are really just looking at them as an added line of defense against the Beast and the Soul Eaters. When Alys sees something she shouldn’t have, she is accused of being a witch and that’s when things take a turn for the worse for her. I honestly couldn’t believe what the women and Elders put this young girl through and when her adoptive father does what he can to save her, I finally felt like he cared about her.
The secondary characters were interesting. Pawl was one of my favorites. He had flaws but they were definitely outweighed (in my opinion) by the positive things he did for Alys and the children. Through Pawl we are introduced to Cian. The interactions he an Alys had were some of my favorite parts.
As Alys confronts the Soul Eaters and the Beast, she realizes what she wants out of her life…and it definitely isn’t the heartache of being a Soul Eater. When she stands up for what she really wants and ultimately helps the sisters escape the lives they have been living for so long, she also helps the people she cares about because they are no longer going to be threatened by them.
Overall I thought this was an interesting story. It was slow at times but that didn’t bother me overly much. There is quite a bit I am not mentioning in my review as I don’t really want to give away everything and to be honest, this one was tough for me to write about only because there are so many layers to this story that I can’t really cover it all. If you are looking for something different in YA, consider checking this book out.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!
sarapie32's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
anavaldes13's review against another edition
5.0
is not the best book, but it is interesting. I only give it 5 stars because this book got me into fantasy and it hold a special place in my heart.
nata_sa_b's review against another edition
5.0
4,5*
Predstavujem vám moju ďalšiu obľúbenú knihu do zbierky.
Nemám slov! Bolo to fantastické! Magické! Surové! Kruté! Miestami creepy a ja som si to totálne zamilovala!
Od tejto knihy neviete, čo máte očakávať, ale to čo dostanete! Och! Môj ty Bože! Toto je jedna z kníh, ktorú chcete čítať a vlastniť. A nielen kvôli tej nadpozemsky krásnej obálke. A dokonca vám nebudú vadiť hluché miesta a ani ten koniec, ktorý....ani neviem čo sa tam vlastne dialo, tak ma to pohltilo:D Je to mega! Len smelo do toho, nebudete to ľutovať!
Predstavujem vám moju ďalšiu obľúbenú knihu do zbierky.
Nemám slov! Bolo to fantastické! Magické! Surové! Kruté! Miestami creepy a ja som si to totálne zamilovala!
Od tejto knihy neviete, čo máte očakávať, ale to čo dostanete! Och! Môj ty Bože! Toto je jedna z kníh, ktorú chcete čítať a vlastniť. A nielen kvôli tej nadpozemsky krásnej obálke. A dokonca vám nebudú vadiť hluché miesta a ani ten koniec, ktorý....ani neviem čo sa tam vlastne dialo, tak ma to pohltilo:D Je to mega! Len smelo do toho, nebudete to ľutovať!
zara_sa's review against another edition
3.0
It had potential but something seemed to have gone wrong in its execution.
jordandotcom's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars. Took 200 pages in for me to truly be interested, and the poorly executed instalove scenario didn’t do it for me at all.
popthebutterfly's review against another edition
4.0
Disclaimer: None, I bought this book on my own.
Rating: 4.5/5
Publication Date: February 28, 2017
Genre: YA Fantasy
Recommended Age: 15+ (creepy moments, death, demons, murder, possession)
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Pages: 352
Amazon Link
Synopsis: A girl with a secret talent must save her village from the encroaching darkness in this haunting and deeply satisfying tale.
Alys was seven when the soul eaters came to her village.
These soul eaters, twin sisters who were abandoned by their father and slowly morphed into something not quite human, devour human souls. Alys, and all the other children, were spared—and they were sent to live in a neighboring village. There the devout people created a strict world where good and evil are as fundamental as the nursery rhymes children sing. Fear of the soul eaters—and of the Beast they believe guides them—rule village life. But the Beast is not what they think it is. And neither is Alys.
Inside, Alys feels connected to the soul eaters, and maybe even to the Beast itself. As she grows from a child to a teenager, she longs for the freedom of the forest. And she has a gift she can tell no one, for fear they will call her a witch. When disaster strikes, Alys finds herself on a journey to heal herself and her world. A journey that will take her through the darkest parts of the forest, where danger threatens her from the outside—and from within her own heart and soul.
Review: This book is really interesting. It’s told in a creepy way without being overly cheesy, the book continues the creepy vibe throughout the book. The plot is intriguing and the writing flows really well. The book is also very well paced and I didn’t feel there was any lag at any point in the book.
However, I was confused by the ending and I was left with a sense of lose at the end. I also feel that some of the characters weren’t as well developed as others. Some of them were repeating characters in the narrative but they were hardly developed.
Verdict: A creepy story perfect for Halloween.
Rating: 4.5/5
Publication Date: February 28, 2017
Genre: YA Fantasy
Recommended Age: 15+ (creepy moments, death, demons, murder, possession)
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Pages: 352
Amazon Link
Synopsis: A girl with a secret talent must save her village from the encroaching darkness in this haunting and deeply satisfying tale.
Alys was seven when the soul eaters came to her village.
These soul eaters, twin sisters who were abandoned by their father and slowly morphed into something not quite human, devour human souls. Alys, and all the other children, were spared—and they were sent to live in a neighboring village. There the devout people created a strict world where good and evil are as fundamental as the nursery rhymes children sing. Fear of the soul eaters—and of the Beast they believe guides them—rule village life. But the Beast is not what they think it is. And neither is Alys.
Inside, Alys feels connected to the soul eaters, and maybe even to the Beast itself. As she grows from a child to a teenager, she longs for the freedom of the forest. And she has a gift she can tell no one, for fear they will call her a witch. When disaster strikes, Alys finds herself on a journey to heal herself and her world. A journey that will take her through the darkest parts of the forest, where danger threatens her from the outside—and from within her own heart and soul.
Review: This book is really interesting. It’s told in a creepy way without being overly cheesy, the book continues the creepy vibe throughout the book. The plot is intriguing and the writing flows really well. The book is also very well paced and I didn’t feel there was any lag at any point in the book.
However, I was confused by the ending and I was left with a sense of lose at the end. I also feel that some of the characters weren’t as well developed as others. Some of them were repeating characters in the narrative but they were hardly developed.
Verdict: A creepy story perfect for Halloween.
xxsaka's review against another edition
2.0
This felt like the longest prologue ever...
spoilers ahead, I guess?
The synopsis of this book sounded so eerie and captivating, I was so looking forward to reading it!
But what I expected to be told in the first 50 pages dragged on for over 300 pages.
I think this book and most of all its characters suffered a lot from a severe lack of "show, don't tell". Most of Alys' thoughts and emotions were plainly written down and as I was reading, I didn't take much notice of them. She hardly ever speaks which leads to slow pacing and boring dynamics. Instead, the same scenes and paroles were repeated over and over - or at least it felt like it. Especially the scenes in Defaid.
I was also missing a great deal of information - what is Alys' power?
The fforest and The Beast were somehow really anti-climactic and disappointing. When Alys entered the fforest for the first time I got ready for danger, for voices luring her in, for her losing her mind or for The Beast preying on her. But nothing, the fforest and The Beast are not what Alys was told - but what are they then?
The ending seemed a little "self-solving" to me.
spoilers ahead, I guess?
The synopsis of this book sounded so eerie and captivating, I was so looking forward to reading it!
But what I expected to be told in the first 50 pages dragged on for over 300 pages.
Spoiler
For me, the real story took place in the last 40 pages or so. That was where the whole issue is adressed and Alys sets out to fix it, this is where most of her actual character development takes place. For 300 pages she just thinks about how bad she is, before she finally makes up her mind and tries to do something about it. I was almost not making it to this point. I understand that it was important to really show how hard Alys' childhood was, but her feelings and how her trauma affected her don't come through.I think this book and most of all its characters suffered a lot from a severe lack of "show, don't tell". Most of Alys' thoughts and emotions were plainly written down and as I was reading, I didn't take much notice of them. She hardly ever speaks which leads to slow pacing and boring dynamics. Instead, the same scenes and paroles were repeated over and over - or at least it felt like it. Especially the scenes in Defaid.
I was also missing a great deal of information - what is Alys' power?
Spoiler
Why is she like the soul eaters? What is The Beast and why does It do what It does? Why was it even in this book? It didn't really do much besides telling Alys about the hole...The fforest and The Beast were somehow really anti-climactic and disappointing. When Alys entered the fforest for the first time I got ready for danger, for voices luring her in, for her losing her mind or for The Beast preying on her. But nothing, the fforest and The Beast are not what Alys was told - but what are they then?
The ending seemed a little "self-solving" to me.