Beast

Palace of Fires #3

by Bill Bennett

She spun around and saw a shape, a form, a presence. In shadow. Dark on dark. With gleaming eyes and teeth, and an old dank smell of gravesites and death. Then a sudden glint of metal – a flash of steel – a sword. A sword she’d seen before. It jolted her with fear. The moonlight shifted and glanced his face. Lily gasped and stepped back from the Fallen Priest. He was holding the Soul Cutter.

To prepare herself for the final climactic battle between dark and light, Lily goes to a remote region of Japan to study under a legendary ninja grand master. But she returns as the Golden Order is about to unleash Ganglia, a disturbance designed to kill thousands and wreak global havoc. Can Lily’s own powers of witchcraft pass the ultimate test in the final deadly confrontation with the Beast, son of Satan come to earth?

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

345 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 3, 2019

Reviews

[Brooklyn Tayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can find all of my reviews on my blog here, the latest one being for "Beast" by Bill Bennett: https://brooklynthebookworm.wordpress...

I recieved a copy of Beast, along with Initiate and Unholy, from Penguin Books Australia in exchange for an honest review, all thoughts are my own.
I can hardly believe that The Palace of Fires trilogy has now concluded! This trilogy completely gripped me by surprise in the best ways, and I definitely feel like I’ll miss these characters! It’s funny, I found myself not being the biggest fan of Baphomet priestess Kritta during Initiate, but I found myself feeling so emotional for her and what she goes through in this book! All throughout, I was wondering what would happen with her character and her two precious familiars, Andie and Bess, all of whom embrace their ferocity so boldly! Her chapters were so engaging as they have been in the previous two books, though there was definitely reminisce of Kritta’s banter with The Hag, which took place in Initiate, only now in Beast, she is finding herself up against a potentially even more dangerous and powerful enemy!
The development of Beltane was quite interesting to read, meeting her in Unholy as The Hag’s protege, who would teach her all her endless wealth of knowledge, and I found myself enjoying their scenes in Unholy, but in Beast, I couldn’t wait for Belt to meet her end! After her crucial ploy in the fate of Angela Maguire, I couldn’t believe her character and how much hatred she must have built up within herself against goodness and her sheer determination to take the world over in her dark ways. This statement actually brings me back to Kritta, thinking that if the two weren’t so proud and competitive, they definitely would have been fierce allies! Their other common factor is that they’re both competing for the affections of Kevin Johnstone, who’s overall character development definitely took a pleasant turn as we find out where his true loyalties lay all along!
Lily, as per always, remained every bit as fierce and brave as she always has been and to see her develop from just a young teenage girl to fully fledged Witch was just so thrilling and satisfying!! In Beast, Lily finds herself facing the titular demon that has been haunting her dreams for so long, the very same creature who was at the dealing exchange of Lily’s ancestor, the founding member of Cygnet, Jeanett Maguire.
But it’s not just The Beast that Lily needs to worry about, there’s someone hot on her heels, promising to kill her when Lily is a worthy warrior, brave enough to fight this person to the death, for the Book of Light, which is of course the Cygnet spellbook which gets handed down from generations to generations, containing all of their worldly magic. Definitely all throughout this book, whether it was the page time of Lily, Kritta, Belt, or even the newly introduced The Pull (who literally pulls his victims limb from limb, honestly, the descriptions leave little to the imagination, it’s insane!), or of course Oliver and Marley, Cygnet’s recent recruits, or geek Gummi and spy extraordinaire, Kee, this one was a final installment that I could not put down!
The writing all throughout felt like it was building up to one epic battle of good vs evil, dark vs light, and truthfully, whilst from the very beginning I have always been team Cygnet, I was so scared for Lily as she was going up against some pretty terrifying opponents! She never once wavered in fear though, which is pretty commendable, and this trilogy will be still staying in my mind for time to come! I had not heard of it, truthfully, until that day when the parcel arrived on my doorstep containing these three books, so once again a huge thank you to Penguin Books Australia for sending me the trilogy to read and review!

[Sin · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with the other books in the series the writing style/ level felt at odds with the content and themes in the book. Having so many characters meant that while something was almost always happening, some things were explored in depth that seemed unnecessary or only there as a plot device while other sections felt quite shallow. The author is better at writing the darker characters, with the lighter ones feeling lackluster in development and their point of view/dialogue sections. Once again, interesting concepts (even if they aren't uncommon) and I feel with further exploration and a different approach to the writing it could have been great. The way parts of it are written are more reminiscent of the style and level found in books aimed at the much younger end of YA, whereas events in it felt much older. A pity as I was really looking forward to loving this series. Also there were a few inconsistencies and errors in the book, some were regarding past events of what actually happened in the last book (vs what was said in reference to it) and at least 1 error in reference to something in the book itself.

[Angelina Pierson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly such a good finish to the series. The way it's written is so nice, and the jounry te characters go on is truly mesmerising.

[Ellie]

3.75 ⭐️

[Deb Godley · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good to see this story through, but the end sadly felt rushed, but otherwise still an entertaining read.

[savvy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love this series it’s such a great book, I do feel like the last half of the book was rushed and they tried to fit a lot of new plot, characters and storylines into half a book and left with a little cliffhanger leaving me wanting another book. Overall I really enjoyed reading this book.

[Lise Atteraas Allard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Trilogy by Bill Bennett, who has proven he can really spin a yarn.
This 3rd book in his Trilogy of "Palace of Fires" BEAST is the best. He shows knowledge, intuition, style, as well as a restrained, elegant ending.
Bill has clearly done his research in to The Left Handed Path and their Evil wants to create Chaos, Control the World, and Encourage Displeasure, Hate, Envy and Social Decline on a Grand Scale.
Thankfully there are many of us who have the exact opposite idea, to spread Love, Gratitude, Encouragement and most of all, Kindness in to our world.
Let's Keep The White Light around us, and Keep Committing to a World of Love and Social Inclusion.
Thank You, Bill; For Your excellent work <3

[kyla · Rating 5 out of 5]

FANBLOODYTASTIC!!!!!

LOVED ALL THE BOOKS!! Cannot wait for Book 4!! Fast paced and intrinsically amazing read.. more more more more please!

[Kait · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ 177