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A review by shimaira
Beneath A Bethel by April-Jane Rowan
5.0
A beautifully written horror fantasy
April-Jane Rowan has a delicious writing style that made this book a pure delight to read. The story takes place in a very cold climate and it's described so well, I craved a hot tea and my blanket while I read it. In certain scenes, the smell of gore almost wafted up from the pages--and I loved it!
I found myself clinging to every word and thus finished reading this in just two evenings--but while the story might be on the shorter side, it did not feel rushed or if there was anything left out. Sure, you can always desire more, but this story as it is, feels complete and the pacing was just right.
At the start of the book there's a very vivid assault scene, and I have to admit that I read that with a pounding heart as it was so well written--meaning it was extremely terrifying. There were several parts in the book where I felt all the more for the MC because of my own trauma background, so I truly want to give points to April for having written these parts with such care and skill--it was extremely well done!
The lore behind this race of people--as they aren't human--is distributed throughout the story and only as much as is needed (which makes me hunger for more). The frigid town where this story takes place in begs for more books and I truly hope there will be further stories that take place there or in the same universe--as there are also hints about other towns and cultures with different magic use/abilities.
The illustrations done by Nem Rowan give this book just that little extra and I greatly enjoyed looking at them, but even without them this story is so well written that it all played out like a movie in my head--I would honestly love to see this as a(n animated?) movie ♥
By the end of the book I was reading with my mouth agape because it was just gruesome--in the good way because hey, this is a horror story! I was moved to tears multiple times too.
All in all, this was an amazing read and I gave it a special spot in my bookcase.
April-Jane Rowan has a delicious writing style that made this book a pure delight to read. The story takes place in a very cold climate and it's described so well, I craved a hot tea and my blanket while I read it. In certain scenes, the smell of gore almost wafted up from the pages--and I loved it!
I found myself clinging to every word and thus finished reading this in just two evenings--but while the story might be on the shorter side, it did not feel rushed or if there was anything left out. Sure, you can always desire more, but this story as it is, feels complete and the pacing was just right.
At the start of the book there's a very vivid assault scene, and I have to admit that I read that with a pounding heart as it was so well written--meaning it was extremely terrifying. There were several parts in the book where I felt all the more for the MC because of my own trauma background, so I truly want to give points to April for having written these parts with such care and skill--it was extremely well done!
The lore behind this race of people--as they aren't human--is distributed throughout the story and only as much as is needed (which makes me hunger for more). The frigid town where this story takes place in begs for more books and I truly hope there will be further stories that take place there or in the same universe--as there are also hints about other towns and cultures with different magic use/abilities.
The illustrations done by Nem Rowan give this book just that little extra and I greatly enjoyed looking at them, but even without them this story is so well written that it all played out like a movie in my head--I would honestly love to see this as a(n animated?) movie ♥
By the end of the book I was reading with my mouth agape because it was just gruesome--in the good way because hey, this is a horror story! I was moved to tears multiple times too.
All in all, this was an amazing read and I gave it a special spot in my bookcase.