I enjoyed the audiobook. I did get lost a few times but for the most part I followed the story. I might need one more listen to understand completely, but I did enjoy it.

4 stars

At first, I liked the narrator, but it became boring and monotonous as time passed. I couldn't really understand the story because of it, so I DNFed. I think I would get an ebook version instead if I could since the little bit I did hear was interesting.

I was given an audiobook copy from NetGalley in exchange for a review.
Overall I enjoyed the story, but I don’t know that I was the right age demographic for it. At times I felt that I was missing part of the story. I liked how the audiobook was full cast, but there were some voice actors that didn’t do it for me. I also think that this may have done better with one narrator and more explanation on what was happening. It felt like we just went from one place to the next with little to no explanation.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher/author for providing me with an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was exactly what I wanted it to be! I loved it. I will make sure to check out other books by this author. When I requested this I was just intrigued by the concept of it and I loved how it turned out. This story had a great plot and if you have read this and enjoyed it, This was so much. It was such a great story. I would say give this one a try. I will continue to follow this author. Way to go to this author for not letting me down.

I highly enjoyed the narrator of the audiobook. Kept me listening.

This wasn’t bad, but the emotions were (as they should be) geared toward middle grade/younger side of YA, but the pacing and storyline felt too advanced. My kiddos had a really hard time paying attention for more than 5-10 minutes at a time and would often forget what was going on if we didn’t read daily.

DNF @ 17% after months of trying to get into this one.

Me and this book, we are just no clicking and I can take it no longer. I have been trying to read this title since October. I read a bigger chunk back then and then every few months since I have tried to get back to it but I just can’t. There is just something here that I don’t find at all compelling enough to continue. I don’t really get the world that we are set in. I can’t tell if it is fantasy, sci-fi, or some kind of mixture of the two. But whatever it is, is confusing and not being well communicated to me. Also, the main character, doesn’t really know anything about her or the plot of this book really and at 17% you'd think I would have picked up on it to some degree, but no I could not tell you what this was about. I was also not a super big fan of the prose in this book. It felt very juvenile and like “ Character 1 turned and said this to character 2” * I think something bad is happening * “Character 2 turned and says, I agree”. It is just too rough draft for me and for how many complicated and advanced words get thrown in from time to time I’d expect the overall quality of the texts to match better and feel more developed. So I think I will officially abandon this one as just not up to snuff with what I want to be reading.

This is such a fun and adventurous fantasy with a phenomenal audiobook. It felt like listening to a DND podcast without the storytelling breaks to roll dice. The audiobook has a full cast and a soundtrack and was really well done! I love how it created a really immersive experience. If you love fantasy and creative audiobooks, I would highly recommend this!

Thank you Netgalley for providing a digital ARC.

This was a really fun ride. I enjoyed the pov and the world building. The audiobook was well narrated and made the book come to life.

I’m not a huge fantasy book lover. However, when a book can magically transport me to another world I automatically love it. The storyline was developed much better than most young adult stories – and character development was great, too. The story introduced me to mythical creatures with personalities, and it took me on a journey of ‘edge of your seat’ adventures, danger, magic, love, tenderness – and sometimes even sadness – all of which kept me from wanting to put the book down.

Omggg yes I bought the physical copy to reread for a vlog. I enjoyed this first time reading anything by this author & all I can say is chefs kiss .

Sera is a faun in a world where everyone is 'plugged in' to an online system that is called Omnilink. The problem? Omnilink is a gift from this grand sorcerer from another planet that basically takes a few young fauns as sacrifices each year under the cover of 'ascending'. When Sera finds out about an older brother she didn't know she had because he had ascended years prior she works to get to the bottom of it, finding quite the adventure on the way.

FIrst, lets go with the story. The world building was great. You can tell that a lot of thought went into creating the creatures, the magics, and the whole dynamics between the fauns, the aries, and the relics. Sera was very clever in how she accomplished her goals and I absolutely LOVED her dead-ringer sidekick. There were some parts of the story that I thought were a little too easily navigated, but its hard to say it wasn't 'realistic' when it is pure fantasy. I also had a hard time with Enry. I realize that they were only a year apart, but he acted much younger and he was continually referred to as 'the boy' but there was something more to their relationship?

Now, the audiobook, since I listened to this book rather than reading it. I thought that it was great that they had several people voicing this book, including the author. It really helps bring the book to life. That being said, the audiobook also had mood music, which sometimes overtook the story and made it harder to listen to. Additionally, there were a few times when they had a relic speaking with a very deep, distorted voice that was impossible to catch while listening if there was any ambient background noise.

I wanted to start and say thank you to NetGalley and Source for giving me an eARC of this book!

**DNF'd @ 38.8%**
**Unfortunately the audiobook did not work the majority of the time.**

While the illustrations in the book and the synopsis was extremely interesting, which ultimately is what drew me to request the book I was let down a little bit. I started getting really excited about the mystery and romance that was budding, but my attention was just lost. I found myself not wanting to pick this book back up and continue, and I tried over and over again after a small break. I have longed for story like this with fantasy with a sprinkle of technology and I just stayed confused, as well as the aspects of the culture as well was just too much for me to wrap my head around.

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Belly of the Beast is the first book in the Source series and sets the scene for a new fantasy world to unfold.
We follow Sera Skohlidon, whose curiosity about finding the Royal Coven and uncovering their magic leads her to uncover a hidden family secret and leads her to be embroiled with the coven but not in a positive way. Sera was a fantastic character, and I loved her growth and maturity through the story. The illustrations are just as beautiful as the cover art on the book. The book format took me a little while to get used to but wasn't off-putting. I am looking forward to the next instalment in this series!
The narration was good and fun to listen to on audio.

I both read the book and listened to the audio for this, my review for the story:
I really enjoyed this book! The plot was well paced and drew you right into the story form the beginning. I loved the MCs and the chemistry between them. The book had some twists and turns that had me on the edge of my seat! It was a very, fun, fantastical story and I'll be keeping my eye out for book two.

Audio specific:
The audio book was done beautifully, I was really impressed with the quality. Each character had their own voice and the sound effects and music were so atmospheric - it was like listening to a theatre production.

Intense yet comforting story that made me want to find out more and more. With unique circumstances that somehow made it work all together abd likeable characters that led the story.
The naration was very immersive and it was easy to get into the story.

In my taste I think it was a bit to fast and rushed in the end, but overall enjoyable book.

I listened to the audio recording of Belly of the Beast. The narrators all did a good job, but there was so much peripheral noise (music, sound effects, etc.) that I experienced sensory overload and had a hard time staying focused on the storyline. Also, I didn’t realize that the main characters were fauns and not humans. It felt like I was reading a fantasy where all the animals are given anthropomorphic qualities. I’ve never been a fan of those kinds of stories (even as a young girl), so I wasn’t able to connect with this one.
Although this book wasn’t for me, I know many other young people will find it quite enjoyable, so I’ll round my rating up to 3 stars,
Thank you NetGalley for providing me with the audio recording of this book in exchange for an honest review.
#BellyoftheBeast #NetGalley

I feel like this audiobook was too much of a good thing. The music on its own, great. The voice cast/performance, fantastic. The sound effects, a fun touch. But putting them all together at once just became a sensory overload that often took me out of the scenes they were trying to immerse me in. It felt like I was often being forced to feel something about a scene rather than come to that natural conclusion or the music was just so overbearing I couldn't even focus on the story. It's akin to watching a movie and realizing the actors are acting and that you're not just seeing a story unfold.
That aside, this story felt a bit juvenile for teens/YA. I really really wanted to like it. The summary, the book cover, the setting all seemed like a story I'd be interested in. But again, too much of a good thing. I felt like there wasn't enough world building/character development to justify why it was a fantasy/magic/cyber futuristic/space /dystopian setting. The call to action didn't feel strong enough for the main character to just abandon her life without so much as a goodbye to anyone. I did very much enjoy the secondary protagonist, and the relationship between them was interesting, but times it felt like I was watching a mid 2000s childrens action movie. They're fun if you're 10 and don't think too hard on it but once you get older and revisit it you realize how shallow the story is. I feel like it would have been easier to enjoy if this was some alien race on an alien planet, but having it be on earth and never really explained how they came to be the dominant race or what happened to the humans (unless I missed it amongst the sensory overload) kept making me feel like I was being left out on some type of inside joke among the main cast.
I could be overthinking this all. If this was marketed as a children's book, I could forgive a lot of the shoe horned plot devices and suddenly developed skills with no prior training on the heroines part. But, being that it's teen/YA, I would have expected more as many other authors in these genres have been able to and have more faith in the reader picking up on complicated concepts rather than spoon feeding it. I'd say it's still enjoyable enough but having her go from just a girl discovering a buried family tragedy & wanting to do something about it, to she's actually the fated chosen one and now all the universe has its eyes on her as she leads a rebel army is a little hard to swallow.

While I thought this novel played with some intriguing ideas, I had trouble connecting with the story and characters. Certain plot elements struck me as a bit too contrived. The concept of a device that provides extraordinary advantages for everyday life but comes at a terrible cost (and massively undermines the users' privacy) is definitely timely, but I wish that conflict had been explored even more.

I'm adding a star to my rating for the voice work on the audiobook, which I found quite enjoyable overall. Tammie Armstong in particular made me feel more invested in Sera than I might have otherwise.

Unfortunately, the audiobook file wouldn't load properly in my Netgalley app so I was unable to listen to it to review it. I then tried to read the ebook version. Though the file wouldn't open and there was showing up in my Netgalley app shelf. I will have to pick it up sometime. As reviews have been great. Shame I was unable to read. Thank you to the author and publishing company. I really tried all sorts of things. I need to give the book a rating to post the feedback. So giving it 4 stars for premise and cover and the fact it wasn't the authors fault of the file not working.

“We are strong. I am ready.”

Belly of the Beast is a meticulously crafted fantasy/sci-fi blended novel that is highly entertaining – I had such a good time reading & listening to this! The immersive storytelling (enhanced by the audiobook featuring multiple narrators & accompanying music), strong characters, and relevant reflections on the integration of AI in our lives makes Belly of the Beast a must-read for fantasy & sci-fi fans.

In this book, we follow Sera, a resilient faun on a quest to reveal who is responsible for her world’s magic; a process engrained in her guilds’ lives. It took me a few chapters to get used to the book and its format but very quickly I was immersed in one of the most uniquely blended fantasy and science fiction worlds. Sera is an amazing FMC – having the courage to confront her fears while advocating for those without a voice. Despite being written in third person, the inclusion of Sera’s internal monologue adds a personal touch without introducing a biased perspective of her surroundings. I love that Charles Armstrong did not cut corners when writing the conflict in this book. Sera’s challenges are not easily solved, requiring her to employ her wit and rely on her found family of eccentric companions. There are beautiful illustrations scattered throughout the book which contribute to the immersive nature of the story. I do hope that future books maintain the illustrations (and I wouldn’t say no to even more).

Being the first book [in a planned set of 6], Belly of the Beast set high standards and I am eager to read the next book. The book's accessibility and engaging narrative make it a strong contender for required reading in schools, addressing important topics while remaining suitable for young adults aged 13 and above.

I received an ARC of Belly of the Beast through NetGalley; all opinions are my own.