The Revelry

Starting off by first telling us what the Revelry is all about, we learn how important it is to everyone in town and how it holds your fate in its hands. It is said to contain links to if you're allowed to leave and is something that everyone in the town looks forward to. An event that is respected, followed and contains a lot of mystery. Rumours that flowers would sprout if you kissed someone during the Revelry in Ember Grove, and there have been small hints afterwards that this is the case, although we don't know if this is actually true, or just a coincidence.

The next thing to be established is the relationship that Bitsy has with Amy and what she has been convinced to do tonight. As everyone in the town grew up with the Revelry they question it but never take action. Always just choosing the easy route that hasn't brought anyone misfortune. As of yet. Amy, however, is different as she is a girl who didn't grow up in Ember Grove, and is naturally more curious about what happens, why it happens, and if this is some supernatural phenomenon, like any of us would, rather than just accepting it for what it is because it is what our parents, their parents, so on and so forth, did.

I loved this relationship and how they always had each other backs. They pushed each other, but never too far (they knew the other's limit), and seeing how this relationship grew from when they first met, and how different they were. Amy being the one who is nervous at first, and not accustomed to human contact, is now the one trying to convince Bitsy to infiltrate the Revelry and joined a theatre club. It is always nice seeing a friendship where you can actually tell the characters are best friends. Rather than just being told, we are shown everything that they do through, and how they react to it. Their reactions are what show how deep their friendship is and that is lovely to see.

Weird things start to happen once the Revelry has concluded, and also when it was going on. Bitsy loses her memory of what happened during the Revelry, gaining small chunks back, the meaning not understood. The weird things that start to happen have an effect on Bitsy, as she doesn't know what to do. She slowly realises just how mystical the woods are, and how maybe she shouldn't have interfered with the Revelry, but that is still her unconscious thinking that way. The supernatural occurrences don't stop and keep happening and are unexplainable by normal means, even if Bitsy wanted to try and explain. Emails don't send, messages don't go through, call drop off, she has a coughing fit every time she tries to mention that she went to the Revelry when it wasn't her turn, as life is playing a cruel trick on her because of those transgressions.

"Fine," I muttered under my breath. "I'll do it myself."

Bitsy decides to take things into her own hands and solve the mystery of what is happening. She feels like everyone around her isn't her friend anymore. Why she feels as trapped as she is and as if no one understands her. Why the devolvement starts to happen and slowly she learns more. Starts to piece things together, but every time it looks like something is going to be solved a new challenge comes down upon her and she now has to face that. Almost like something is intentionally stopping her from solving the mystery because it wants something...

The pacing of the devolvement was excellent. It didn't feel like things were being rushed and the emotions, feelings and everything in between felt like it was able to be fully fleshed out. A credit to Katherine for this as with the book not being too many pages, she didn't have much space to first create the happiness and then actually have proper development for the downfall of everything. You could understand what Bitsy and Amy were saying and why they both felt the way they did. Both their points made sense, and you could feel the frustration on both sides about them not getting through to the other.

The only thing that I didn't really like, why this book didn't get full marks, is because the ending felt rushed. Yes, most of the middle and the start were fleshed out excellently, but the ending felt anti-climatic. Even just an epilogue would have solved this issue I had. The final part of our heroes journey was symbolic, in it was solved with the same object as it was started with, but just because there is great meaning behind something doesn't necessarily mean that it is a good thing. I appreciated how it came full circle, but I believe that a lot more could have been done with the final act and ending of this book to make it feel like a more satisfactory conclusion.

Overall this book was good. It played with the emotions very well, especially since it isn't very long. I would recommend this book as a good book that is intriguing and solves that intrigue with a good explanation but just leaves a few loose ends for a satisfying but unfulfilling ending.

book: The Revelry

author: Katherine Webber