Survival Horror School for Girls

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This book is glorious but it does bring up an issue that I want to address here. When this book was pitched to me I was told it is like 'Lord of the Flies' but for girls!

Why is this problematic? Well, it creates a set of expectations that this book just doesn't meet. This does not mean the book is bad, in fact, it is really a wonderful take on survival horror with an LGBTQ twist. I just have a bad feeling that some people are going to be disappointed that this book doesn't have the same social impact and commentary as LOTF.

So outside of that, let's talk about this book in general.

Pros: Our narrator is wonderfully flawed and well, kind of a terrible person. Her actions all have consequences and it leaves a path of blood and tears behind her. The author actually handles this really well and we see our narrator struggling with the guilt she feels about her actions and we watch as she not only buries those actions but lies to others about it. This aspect never gets resolved and that gives this story a sense of realism. Sometimes we lie and most of the time we have to live with those lies alone, never letting others know the truth of our actions.

The author also does a great job talking about PTSD and trauma. All of the girls are in a terrible situation and even though they are going through so much hell, we really see how the girls' survival instinct really influences their actions. However, there are also some problems with this.

Cons: Umm the love interest beats the hell out of the narrator multiple times and it seems like we are supposed to be okay with that. This character is aloof and honestly, a terrible human being. There is nothing about her that I really hated their relationship. It felt forced and unneeded and that our narrator should have been with someone else. Considering the cliff hanger of an ending, maybe we will see this develop and change in the future.

Another issue is just, something about the start of this book makes it feel very slow. It does pick up near the middle but there is a hell of a lot of world building for a book set on an island and the fact that the reader will not really understand what is going on with the girls' physical symptoms until about 20 pages from the end.

Finally, the narrator is also a problem. She is so dependent on the other characters in the book and I understand, fully, that the premise of this book is her trying to find her friend but for some reason this aspect of the book really fell flat. She whined and at one point it seemed like the other thing she even talked about, worried about, or cared about was finding her friend. This might not be an issue for other YA readers but for me it felt really one dimensional. I would have loved to see the internal struggle someone might feel when faced with saving one person or saving many.

With all of that said this was still a great ride of a book. It is unapologetic with its brutality and point of view and that is really refreshing for a survival book aimed towards girls. I was so close to giving this five stars but it was just not quite there for me. 4/5 great summer read for sure!