The nearest town is Drummond, approximately 8 miles (13km) to the east. The nearest large city is Missoula, about 40 miles (64km) to the west. The next large city to the east is Butte, 80 miles (130km) to the southeast. Reading the book description gets me honestly fired up. It sounds great and like something I'd absolutely LOVE. The ending worked very well for me. It didn’t force a perfect solution; rather, the plot led itself to a believable culmination. A unique story that will take readers a while to get used to. This book might be a hard sell to teens, but for those who are ready for a fresh narrative, this gripping story of hope, friendship, and revolution will be worth it.

This was definitely a very different sort of book! The first thing you'll notice in Bearmouth is the writing style- it's written as Newt assumes words are spelled, in a phonetic way, which does take some getting used to. We're told the story of the mine through Newt's perspective, one that has seen quite a few atrocities. So let's dive into what worked for me and what didn't! I am a big YA fan, and even more so i am a fan of when YA doesn't feel like typical YA that people expect. I like them when they are a bit darker and quite bold, well this one did not let me down at all! this for me just feels like such a breathe of fresh air and such a huge deal, i hope this book gets the love and attention it deserves, because it really does have everything it needs to be on the bookshelves next to some of the YA big popular books that are much loved by many. I was very kindly sent an ARC of this book from the publishers Pushkinpress to read and review, but as always all views are my own! I work as a freelance PR consultant in the arts and run creative writing workshops as well as writing. I think it’s very hard these days to be a full time writer – almost all of the writers I know juggle their writing with other jobs. I’d love to become a full time writer but I know, realistically, it’s also very hard to make it work – we’ll see!I loved The Animals of Farthing Wood by Colin Dann. Roald Dahl, obviously, and CS Lewis. Maybe I should confess this – I never got the religious stuff in Narnia at all until I was much older. My favourite Narnia book is The Magician’s Nephew, like all right-thinking people. The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper… It’s not a very diverse list: I just read whatever was in the library or at home.

Sadly I was unable to finish this book. The harrowing and graphic torture and killing of the dog by the surgeon about 10% of the way into the book was way too much for me. It turned my stomach and made me very upset. I don't know what else is in the book but that requires a Content Warning. It is a thing I can't stand and something I avoid in books and movies. It makes me hugely distressed. I can't imagine what that level of distressing detail could possibly add to the story. You could easily show he was an evil man without the detail. I’m scared of the dark, and I don’t like small spaces or being underground, so writing a book about a mine was a foolish thing. But I did go down a lot of mines, and I read a lot of books about that period of mining. And then it sort of wrote itself. Newt was such a strong character in my head. I must add that this is a novel to be read, not heard. With a mix of long and short chapters, multiple characters, and interlinked arcs, this won't be a comfortable audiobook even if you are an attuned listener.There are a few highly triggering scenes concerning dogs. While a couple of these scenes might have been essential to detail the nature of that specific character, the rest felt forced in. This might be traumatising for sensitive animal lovers, so proceed with caution. I had to zoom through those sections because it was too much for me, but I also didn’t want to keep the book aside. Furthermore, there are dark scenes connected to the medical procedures of those times. Thank you so much Liz for your story. And to the publisher, Zaffre Books for sending me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I see that some people love this book but it is not for me and I think the synopsis needs rewriting to make it more accurate and it definitely needs Content Warnings.It’s very much a one-off. I didn’t want to write a trilogy or a long running series, the idea I had for Bearmouth was only ever going to be a single novel. Etta: A young woman of mixed parentage, Etta is dealing with the grief of her pet dog’s passing when two huge wings suddenly rip themselves from her shoulders. October 1840. A young woman staggers alone through a forest in Shropshire as a huge pair of impossible wings rip themselves from her shoulders’.