The Festival by Louise MumfordMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Out 30th July 2024
I think this is 3.5 - 3.75 out of 5 (rounded up to 4) for me.
It's a story set in Wales and using some fabulous old legends and myths, which I will always enjoy and centres around Libby who's unloving mother had recently died of cancer, with Libby being her main carer.
Libby's friend Dawn takes her out and while at a new nightclub, librarian Libby wins tickets to the hottest festival in Wales, Solstice!
Solstice is ran by the Blake family and their farmland, which holds a great story of the grey sisters and mystery, as this festival is hard to get tickets for and even harder to get are the tickets to the festival within a festival Sanctum, which Dawn wants to find out what happens there, as it's surrounded in mystery and whilst trying to get in there, she loses Libby and from there the trouble starts to unfold.
I really enjoyed the build up of mystery and myths and legends and wasn't quite sure which direction the story was going to go in, it definitely kept me intrigued and interested.
The flash backs to 20 years ago, really helped to build the tension and give insight into the story and from others perspectives and start to unravel the story in a way that was a little more interesting as it still had the element of mystery.
It felt like the climax and end were a little rushed and not enough time or detail was told, it came from a year on point of view rather than real time, which took some of the suspense and drama out of the story for me, especially after such a great build up of tension throughout I was hoping to be wowed, but this technique dulled it a bit for me, almost a too safe way to tell the ending, when I was already braced for whatever was going to come.
Overall a really good read with some great characters throughout, some I instantly loved, some I was suspicious of, but they all added to the tension and atmosphere of the book.
Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC.
Reviews also published on:
Instagram || Coffee and Kindle Blog || The StoryGraph || Amazon
Happy to make friends on all socials
View all my reviews
