Title: Bacchanal
Author: Veronica Henry
Type: Fiction
Genre: Adult, Historical, Horror, Paranormal
Publisher: 47North (Amazon Publishing)
Date published: June 1, 2021
A complimentary physical copy of this book was kindly provided by Thomas Allen & Son in exchange for an honest review.
Abandoned by her family, alone on the wrong side of the color line with little to call her own, Eliza Meeks is coming to terms with what she does have. It’s a gift for communicating with animals. To some, she’s a magical tender. To others, a she-devil. To a talent prospector, she’s a crowd-drawing oddity. And the Bacchanal Carnival is Eliza’s ticket out of the swamp trap of Baton Rouge.
Among fortune-tellers, carnies, barkers, and folks even stranger than herself, Eliza finds a new home. But the Bacchanal is no ordinary carnival. An ancient demon has a home there too. She hides behind an iridescent disguise. She feeds on innocent souls. And she’s met her match in Eliza, who’s only beginning to understand the purpose of her own burgeoning powers.
Only then can Eliza save her friends, find her family, and fight the sway of a primordial demon preying upon the human world. Rolling across a consuming dust bowl landscape, Eliza may have found her destiny.
⤖ My Review ⬻
I had a very specific vibe in mind that I was expecting from Bacchanal that I can’t really put into words…and now that I’ve read it I can just as vaguely–sorry!–it was a little bit more and a little bit less of what I was anticipating. Again, can’t put it into words, so I’ll focus on more specific aspects of the book instead.
I liked the characters. I appreciated how the author didn’t portray any of them as wholely evil or wholely good. Some of them tipped more in one direction over the other of course, but I found this aspect about the characters well done. It also kept me a little on edge because I didn’t know who to root for some of the time. I also want to note that I didn’t really become invested in any of the characters until more toward the last quarter of Bacchanal.
Based on my personal tastes, the pacing in Bacchanal could have been adjusted a little. Otherwise, I think a lot more things happening around the middle of the book would have been a good alternative. I found that I had to push myself a bit to get through the middle portion of the book.
I really enjoyed the settings in which Bacchanal took place (the larger places that the Carnaval travelled too as well as the Carnaval itself). I really liked some of the surprised and turns in the plot that the author included, but again found that I really had to work to get to those parts due to having to push through reading some of the parts that came before. Overall, definitely an entertaining and intriguing read and this is definitely an author who I will keep on my radar!
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Thank you for reading my review! Have you read this book? What did you think? And if you haven’t read it yet, do you plan to? Let me know in the comments!
Excellent review! I had my eyes on this one for a while since it really does tick off a few boxes on themes I enjoy, a bit sad to see it missed the mark in other aspects. I’m glad you found the setting itself to be enjoyable, seems like an author to have on my radar
Thank you so much, Lilly! I hope that you enjoy it! Honestly, it missing the mark on some things was probably just a personal thing 🙂
I haven’t heard of this one yet, but that cover and synopsis really put a certain type of vibe in my head too! Thanks for sharing!
Right!? I’m so glad to spread the word about this one 🙂 Thanks so much for reading and leaving a comment!