This book was good! I liked it but didn’t love it. I definitely see potential in it and look forward to seeing what else the author does.

What Wakes the Bells was an intriguing read, but it didn’t fully land for me. I appreciated the unique premise and the lyrical writing style, but at times the pacing felt uneven and the characters’ choices were a bit frustrating to follow. It had moments that really drew me in, yet overall it left me wanting a stronger emotional payoff.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group | Feiwel & Friends for the ARC copy they provided.

Unfortunately, I did not finish this book in time to leave a review before the publication date, and though a review after publication is no less welcome or useful, I feel I do not have the time or space to give this book the attention it deserves.

Though I did not manage to finish What Wakes the Bells before its publication, I look forward to reading it at my leisure some time in the future.

DNF 30%

When I first heard about this book, it sounded right up my alley. I was intrigued by the premise and the Hunchback of Notre Dame vibes. However, the execution unfortunately fell flat for me. I tried to keep pushing through, hoping the beginning was just slow, but it never caught my interest. One of my biggest issues with this book was the world-building. Everything about the bells confused me; none of the explanations given made sense. Considering this is a YA book, I think the world-building should have been easier to follow. I also wasn't interested in the relationships; I appreciated the tension between Mina and her mother, but I never got a full grasp on her relationship with Max. I thought things would start to pick up once the gargoyles came to life, but even that couldn't hold my attention. I'm happy to see that others enjoyed this book, but ultimately it was not the right fit for me.

Loved the gothic atmosphere, but I'm afraid the plot and characters didn't compel me! I DNF'd, but hope someone else would love this read.

Thankful to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

My favourite part of What Wakes the Bells is its fantastic atmosphere. The living city of Vaiwyn is a gothic dream! A perfect place for enchanted bells, long gone saints, and a newly awakened ancient evil to stir!

4/5 :)

gothic + fantasy + romance oh my god SIGN ME UP!!!!!! this had such a unique setting and the character development was ON POINTTTTT. honestly you can take my money any day i would buy this book just to eat it up again.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book. When I put it on pause last year, I truly had every intention of returning to it. The premise was unique and I really enjoyed the author's writing style.

However, I found myself increasingly disconnected from the characters. There wasn't an emotional attachment. That lack of connection made it difficult to stay engaged and ultimately made it almost impossible to pick it back up.

So, after attempting to return to it several times, I have officially decided to mark this one as a DNF.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

'What Wakes the Bells' was one of my most anticipated books of this year because I adore Gothic fantasy and it had a beautiful vibe to it. However, the worldbuilding and the lack of characterisation for the characters made me not enjoy this as much, DNF at 31%

*I received an e-arc via Netgalley and the publisher. Thank you for the opportunity to review. All thoughts are my own*

Beautiful and atmospheric, I thought this was a great debut by Elle Tesch! This gothic fantasy was such a unique concept. The city that the story takes place in was built by Saints long ago, and it lives, breathes and bleeds. The main character Mina and her family are in charge of the Vesper bells which protects the city from the Bane. Mina’s worst nightmare comes true when the bell rings 13 times and shatters the city’s peace. The clock is ticking, and Mina must stop and destroy the Bane’s host.

I loved how this story explored Mina’s relationship with her mother which has been tenuous since the passing of her father.

I definitely recommend and hope to read more from this author in the future!

What Wakes the Bells is the debut novel for Elle Tesch. The premise of this gothic fantasy was fabulous but then you meet the 19 year old protagonist and this character was annoyingly brash and sometimes just not likeable. I don't even feel like she had any character growth. The author does give us Max and while you can see the plot twist coming from 5 miles a way I also wasn't all that thrilled with the ending of the story. Tesch does a great job of describing the sentient city but leaves out details on other points that made the story a bit more confusing, such as the Saints themselves or how they created the city. 2.5 stars rounding up to 3.

Overall, I really liked the plot of this book, I think it’s super unique and the writing was so poetic, but sometimes it was a little too poetic and would lose me in certain places. Certain things I predicted but the very ending I definitely did NOT predict, which was nice. I know it’s a standalone but I honestly would so be down for a sequel.

4/5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
What Wakes the Bells
Author: Elle Tesch

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Macmillan Publishing Group for this copy! This book was such a unique and intriguing read. Our main character, Mina, is one of five bell guards tasked with protecting the city from ancient evil, a role her family has carried for thousands of years. But one night, Mina is… distracted… and her bell rings thirteen times, unleashing that very evil onto the city. Now, statues and gargoyles are coming to life, attacking civilians, and an evil spirit is hiding in plain sight.

The gothic fantasy vibes in this book were absolutely stunning, and the pacing was fast right from the start. I also really enjoyed the romance. It wasn’t the main focus, but it added a nice emotional thread. The complicated relationship between Mina and her mother gave the story an extra layer of depth. Highly recommend this one!

Sadly, this book was too predictable for me but it was a fast paced YA gothic fantasy with good world building and compelling characters. Even though I was able to find out what was going to happen next, the villain was kind of interesting one for me.
I got confused too many times and went back to understand it but it was good debut nonetheless!!

Not gonna lie, the concept was hard to follow. A sentient city, 5 bells that’s supposed to keep the Bane from awakening, a history long lost. It was too much but not enough at the same time. I almost DNF at the beginning but thankfully the narrator was good so I kept going. I loved Mina’s character and her dynamics with her siblings, but other than that, the story’s not really impressive. I predicted the twists, and by the time I reached the big final battle, I didn’t care much anymore. So that was it.

Y'all are telling me that this is Elle Tesch debut book... After reading this you would think that she's been writing for years. What Wakes the Bells was written so beautifully and had such intricate world-building. I always say that I'm obsessed with great world-building and this book has fed my obssesion.

This book follows Mina, a keeper who is tasked with caring for Vaiwyn's bells and preventing them from ringing thirteen times. When the bells goes off, Mina is faced having to save her city and to figure out what is causing the city to be alive.

I loved this book so much, I will definitely be rereading and recommending this to my friends.

someone please teach me the art of DNFing books that irk me this much. please i’m begging

anyway, this is the first of four reviews i need to write today, so i’m trying a new format:

what i liked
• the gothic atmosphere of a living city built by saints and inspired by a prague legend. honestly, the city of vaiwyn was the best character in this book and it wasn’t a close competition. i absolutely loved the concept of a magical, ever-changing city.
• a MC in an established relationship with no absurd relationship drama. mina has a kind, attentive boyfriend. there’s no love triangle, no issue that could have been resolved by mina and max just talking to each other for two minutes, and that’s a pleasant change from a lot of YA fantasy.
• a queernormative setting with several LGBTQ side characters.

what i disliked
• the purple prose. i assume tesch was trying to create a gothic, moody atmosphere, but the end result was me begging her to please for the love of god put down the thesaurus. it’s max’s mouth, not his “maw.” (reminder: i read an ARC, so this may have changed in the published version!)
• hazy world-building that left me with more questions than answers. at a certain point i just had to shrug and say “okay, sure” because i kept getting caught up in plot holes and unanswered questions. i chalk this one up to this being a debut novel; it’s a great concept with an unpolished execution.
• the heaping praise max receives for checks notes respecting mina’s boundaries and prioritizing consent (you know, the absolute bare minimum of any healthy relationship). mina needs to take things slow in relationships. max is respectful of that. i wish we could normalize that instead of putting so much emphasis on how amazing max is for not being a pushy, demanding asshole.
• on that note, mina’s defining character trait is how she experiences attraction, which doesn’t make sense given the queernormative setting. her sister is married to a woman, her brother is asexual, other characters are nonbinary, there is no pressure to marry. the point of a queernormative setting is that this should be a nonissue. otherwise she’s a very generic YA teen—afraid of not living up to the family legacy, upset at being left out by the “adults” when she’s the one who runs off, developing mysterious powers, close with her male relatives and has a complicated relationship with a mean mother, etc.

"what wakes the bells" follows mina, who's appointed the very difficult task of being the youngest bell keeper after the death of her father. as a part of her family's duty, bell keepers are required to keep evil at bay by stopping the bell's ringing at the start of every hour. all is well, until mina makes a mistake regarding her bell, bringing evil back to the city and wreaking havoc, and it's up to mina restore peace within her city once more.

the premise sounded very promising and i was excited to start it. like, come on, it's gothic and based on a legend from prague (which is probably one of the most aesthetic, atmospheric places ever), what could possibly be cooler than that? however, in terms of execution, i feel like it completely missed its target. there was so much info-dumping regarding the world building, and while the descriptions sounded nice, there was too much going on within one paragraph and i found myself very lost and confused at times. as for the main character, there wasn't much to her and i thought she was kind of shallow.. the only thing i can really say to define her is the godly amount of unresolved mommy issues that she has, and as i read more of her actions throughout the book, i found myself siding with her mom more than the main character herself. she keeps talking about how her mother looks down upon her for everything, and all she wants to do is to prove herself worthy of importance and acceptance in her mother's eyes. but her actions never really seem to contradict her thoughts and prove herself to be who she thinks or ought to be, and that made it hard to root for her, despite trying very hard to do so.

in short, while this book sounded like one of the interesting things i'd read this year, i can't really think of any redeemable qualities and it just ultimately fell flat :(

I had high hopes for What Wakes the Bells from the moment it was announced. The premise—a sentient city steeped in mysterious lore, with Saints and ancient magic—sounded fresh and full of promise. Unfortunately, despite its potential, this debut fantasy ultimately fell flat for me.

Starting with the positives: the prose. There were so many moments where the writing shone with lyrical beauty. The concept of a sentient city was ambitious, and while I didn’t enjoy how it was executed, I admire the author's willingness to take creative risks.

That said, the execution of the story was overall disappointing. The worldbuilding was both confusing and underdeveloped. There were sections that felt like info dumps, yet I still had so many unanswered questions. The lore surrounding the Saints was intriguing at first glance, but it lacked depth and coherence. I often felt like I was grasping for context that never came.

The characters, unfortunately, were not strong enough to carry the story. Mina, the protagonist, kept making frustrating decisions, often acting impulsively.. Her conviction that she alone could fix everything felt unearned, and instead of rooting for her, I found myself annoyed. Her relationship with Max had potential, but it was never fully explored or emotionally grounded. The side characters lacked dimension and seemed to exist more as narrative tools than as people with lives of their own.

The plot, while built on an intriguing premise, became predictable as the story went on. I didn't find anything surprising, and the ending didn’t leave a lasting impression. The dialogue often felt stilted, and the tone of the prose—elaborate at times, juvenile at others—made it hard to stay immersed.

I say all this keeping in mind that this is a debut novel, and many of these shortcomings can be common for first-time authors. There’s clear potential in Elle Tesch's writing, and with more refined storytelling and deeper character work, I believe her future books could shine. What Wakes the Bells may not have worked for me, but I can see other readers being drawn to its unique premise and atmospheric setting, and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on Tesch's next work.

Thank you to Macmillan and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I mainly enjoyed the story because there were so many magical aspects to the story. It was not like any other stories I read before. I like European legends and actually like that many of the cities are these dark entities themselves. The city is dark but comes alive with an example being the statues. You can see how it becomes ominous. I did not like how it was over-described though and you lost yourself in the story. I would do 3.5