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Book, Beast, and Crow

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

Part The Hazel Wood, part Stranger Things, this spine-tingling, genre-bending novel from Elizabeth Byrne will leave readers breathless as they follow a group of teens who face catastrophic consequences after their friend gets bitten by the town's most feared creature.

Anna Kellogg has always felt different. Growing up in Hartwood, New Jersey—where frequent disappearances are attributed to an urban-legend-like beast that dwells in the walled-in swamp at the center of town—can have that effect on people. But for Anna, it's more than that. Since she was a child, she's been plagued by episodes where she sees things others can't see. Feeling different is one thing, but actually being different is another. If it weren't for her best friend, Olivia, Anna's not sure where she'd fit in.

But any hopes of having a normal senior year come to a halt when Olivia is attacked in the woods, bitten, and left for dead by a whirling cyclone of claws, fur, and teeth. Though Olivia survives, a sinister entity makes it clear that the mark had been set on Anna...and the miss has set in motion a catastrophic shift that will change Anna and her friends' lives forever.


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    • Kirkus

      Starred review from January 15, 2024
      Anna Kellogg and her best friend, Olivia Tiffin, live in Hartwood, New Jersey, known for the Wall, which encloses the Great Swamp, the abode of the legendary Hartwood Beast. For their birthday ritual, Anna and Olivia leave good-luck offerings to the Ladies of Hartwood, a carving in the Wall. After Olivia convinces Anna to follow her through a hole she finds in the Wall, they meet an ancient woman who offers to answer questions. When the girls ask about their futures, she responds, "Some friends ye'll have to let go, or perish trying to save them." Anna, feeling uneasy, drags Olivia away. Later, as they're returning from a field trip, the school bus narrowly misses a long-tailed creature running across the road, instead swerving into a tree, injuring students. In the ensuing chaos, Olivia is dragged into the forest and mauled by the mysterious animal. Weeks later, she's recovering--doing Latin homework but unresponsive, "like someone else is in her skin." Spectral women warn the girls that "those who have seen the Otherworld can never truly leave it": Olivia's time is running out, leaving Anna to save her. As the story rapidly evolves, the characters jump from one dilemma to the next. But the series of climactic moments makes it difficult to get a sense of the characters' personalities and motivations, leaving them feeling one-dimensional and hard to become invested in. Main characters are cued white. Offers continual creative thrills but is lacking in robust characterization. (Fantasy. 14-18)

      COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Booklist

      March 15, 2024
      Grades 10-12 Hartwood, New Jersey, is well-known for its high rate of unexplained disappearances, all blamed on a beast that skulks behind the Wall separating the main part of town from the Great Swamp. Locals use the Wall and its statues of the Ladies of Hartwood as an altar to wish for things. Anna has seizures and "episodes" during which she sees things that no one else can; on a visit to the Wall, she and her friend Olivia come into contact with a strange, witchy woman who offers to tell them the answer to any question. When Olivia is attacked by the beast, Anna worries about the strange prophecies and the things she now hears in her head: weird glowing women in the streets and power outages that no one else notices. Where this is all going and how it's related to the Wall, she doesn't know. Byrne has a free-flowing style that makes even the strangest things happening seem almost normal. Give this to readers of weird, witchy books.

      COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • School Library Journal

      May 3, 2024

      Gr 7 Up-Some small towns have secrets that reach far back into their pasts. In Hartwood, NJ, Anna and her friend Olivia know of only the most unique. At the center of town, "The Wall" surrounds a swamp where an urban-legend-like beast lives, who is responsible for people disappearing occasionally. To appease it, offerings are left outside on the "Waltar." Despite all this, both girls assume it will be a typical senior year in high school. However, when the Beast causes a bus crash, and drags Olivia into the woods, nothing will ever be the same again. Supernatural forces have been aligning since colonial times, and these two girls' futures are intertwined with all that will soon occur. This story wants to set itself up as a wonderful supernatural suspense tale for young adults. While Byrne is able to blend various genres of fiction, the book seems to have too many ideas going to give real depth to all but a few plotlines. The characters are central to the story, but tend to not have any memorable distinguishing features other than their names. Readers may also find the foreshadowing to be very obvious, even from the first chapter. Where it does succeed is in the friendship and camaraderie of the main characters. The last quarter of the book increases the pace and puts the story all together, leading to a satisfying, if predictable, ending. VERDICT A good starter suspense tale for middle schoolers, but older or more experienced mystery readers may find it lacking in depth.-Adam Fisher

      Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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