Full Review by Lupe Farkas

Bellhaven has twelve different kinds of rain, an impossible city underneath it, and approximately seven teenagers who desperately need one adult capable of giving a straight answer.

I was sold.

The Echoes of Bellhaven: The City Beneath the Rain has one of my favourite things in fantasy: a setting that feels less like a backdrop and more like another character.

Bellhaven is wet, old, secretive and slightly impossible. There are bells, strange vibrations, hidden places, buried history and the constant feeling that the city knows considerably more than anyone living inside it.

And apparently it has absolutely no intention of explaining itself politely.

The atmosphere was easily one of my favourite parts of the book. The rain, the old streets, the architecture and the feeling of something enormous sitting just underneath ordinary life gave Bellhaven such a distinctive personality that I could picture it almost immediately.

This is a city of echoes, old secrets and things that refuse to remain buried. The deeper the story goes, the more the setting starts to feel like a puzzle the characters are walking through rather than simply a place where the plot happens.

I also really liked the friendship group. Kael, Celia, Orin, Liora and Tarek feel like people who actually have relationships with one another rather than characters assembled simply because the plot required a team.

There is affection, frustration, humour and the kind of loyalty that makes a group feel lived-in. That mattered because the fantasy elements can become quite large, and having relationships that feel human underneath all that mythology gave the story something solid to hold on to.

For me, the middle became a little dense at times. There is a lot of mythology and information arriving, and occasionally I wanted the story to give me a moment to catch up before handing me another mystery.

It never made me want to stop reading, but it did make me occasionally feel as though Bellhaven had handed me twelve keys, three maps and a warning written in rain and then politely declined to explain which door I was supposed to open first.

But the final part pulled me completely back in.

The emotional stakes became stronger, the different pieces started feeling connected rather than simply mysterious, and by the end I was genuinely curious about how much more Bellhaven is still hiding.

Most importantly, the book finishes in a way that makes the world feel bigger, not smaller.

And that is exactly what I want from the beginning of a fantasy series.

One thing I want to mention because the page count may scare some readers away: this is a long book, but it is a surprisingly fast read.

The prose is fluid, the scenes move easily and the atmosphere keeps pulling you forward. I never had that feeling of dragging myself through a giant fantasy brick simply because I had already committed to it. Once Bellhaven gets hold of you, the pages go much faster than the number on the listing suggests.

So yes, 599 pages. But do not let that number frighten you.

Fantasy level? Approximately 1,000,000.

There is a lot of worldbuilding here, but there is also enough momentum, mystery and character interaction to keep it moving.

So for me, 4 stars.

Fantastic atmosphere, an intriguing city, friendships I cared about and a world I absolutely want to explore further. A slightly crowded middle kept it from five stars for me, but I will very happily return to Bellhaven.

Also, somebody please introduce Professor Rook to the revolutionary concept of giving a straight answer.