This is for all the lesbian losers out there 🤘🏽

It took me some time to get used to the first-person narration, but after that, I couldn’t put this book down. Nan is an amazing character to follow; you never guess where she’ll take you. She gives off so many unhinged vibes that you can’t help but be excited to see how far she will go.

Thank you Scholastic UK for the arc.

Ahhhh! This was an instant 5 star for me! I'm not gonna go into it too much, cause it's such a wild ride and I don't want to apologise anything.

BUT what I can say is that it's incredible! The characters are so well done, and feel so real! It's the kind of book I wanted to Google as I went along cause it felt like it could have been a real event!

I loved all the twists and turns that we went on and I absolutely devoured this!

Kill Creatures comes out in June, so go and get it ordered now cause this book is gonna be BIG!

Thank you to @netgalley and @scholastic_uk for the digital arc!

This is a well constructed, highly readable and atmospheric queer YA thriller. I liked the clear and memorable characterisation and the strong narrator voice as well as the sense of place.
There were some gasp moments but overall the twists felt a little predictable and heavily signposted but this didn't detract.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and tore through it in a day.

Rory Power has written some great YA horror fiction, including Wilder Girls (2019), which was featured in my YA Horror 400 almanac and Burn Our Bodies Down (2020) before a stylish sidestep into fantasy. In Kill Creatures Rory is in fine form, blending horror with strong elements of thriller and mystery. If you are after a book to keep you guessing, whilst doubling up as a cool page turner, then Kill Creatures hits every note. It is populated with great hooks and has terrific sense of ambiguity regarding the supernatural and is blessed with a highly engaging unreliable narrator, who comes across as very believable, but without going into spoilers, be careful what you believe. There are also some great twists, double twists even, and even if the police chief was pretty dumb I had great fun with this book.

This is mentioned in the blurb, so don’t see it as a spoiler, Kill Creatures opens a year after Nan killed her three best friends and the anniversary church service is about to begin. The story slowly circles back to when the four teenagers were out swimming in a remote area, meanwhile, one of the supposedly dead girls returns claiming to suffer from amnesia. What really happened? Who is telling the truth? All I’ll say is that there are secrets everywhere and do not trust anybody! The novel features LGBTQIA+ representation and a lot of f-bombs, otherwise most teens could read it. AGE RANGE 13-14+

Welp. This was certainly a strange book. Leaning more towards entertaining sort of strange, but there were just some things that hold it back.

I have been meaning to read Power's previous works for a while, but with this being my first, I didn't know what to expect. One thing I will say for certain is that Power is pretty great at creating a tense, mysterious atmosphere. The tension between Nan and Luce, the friend who came back from the dead, was dense, and you're questioning not only he friend and her motives but Nan's, as well, because of what she did to her and their friends. Nan is very unreliable, and her conflicting thoughts, on her love and hatred for her friends, make for interesting insight into her true role in this story. It got predictable, sure, but the pacing was determined to keep the story moving, its reader intrigued and desperate to devour the book in its entirety.

Unfortunately, there's a plot device that was very much contrived and annoying: Nan's memory loss / distortion. While unearthing these memories explained some things, such as why the relationships between the friends and Nan were so divided, it also left me questioning more than not. I was wondering why Nan became obsessed with Luce & co., but I think it was inferred that, as Luce's neighbor, Nan watched the other girl get/be everything she wanted from her isolated life across the street. She envied her as much as she wanted to be her. She only got that opportunity because the trio decided to "be nice" for the summer by letting her hang out with them. Again, this is all based off the crumbs the narrative hinted at. I do wish Nan's predicament/character before last summer was expanded on, and that memory loss wasn't the device Power used to conveniently hide crucial info until the big reveal at the end.

I don't know what to take from the story other than the brief entertainment it provided me. I did manage to fly through it in, like, two hours; Power's prose is short but snappy enough to make the reading go by very smoothly. I think anyone who likes small town mysteries, unreliable narrators, and who don't overanalyze like I tend to would be right at home with this read.

Really enjoyed this book, the twists and the turns and the ending was nothing I ever expected. The characters were great and the whole story was really unique (it’s really hard to explain without giving the story away). The author did an amazing job and I was so caught up in the book I read it in one sitting!

this was a fast-paced YA thriller that hooked me from the start. i was curious to see where it would go. once the twist hit, though, it didn’t quite have that ‘wow’ moment - more of an ‘oh, that’s it?’ kind of vibe. i expected something a bit wilder (what we were given felt predictable), or at least an explanation that felt more connected to the rest of the story. still, it was fun and unhinged. a quick, easy read.

⭐️ 4 Stars ⭐️

Having followed Rory Power’s career since reviewing an ARC of her debut Wilder Girls in 2020, I’d been waiting for Kill Creatures since it was first announced. When I was sent this ARC, I finished it in a day.

Last summer, Nan’s three best friends vanished. On the anniversary of their disappearance, one of them returns. Everybody thought they were dead. Nan knew they were dead—because she’s the one who killed them.

Nan’s increasingly sinister perspective guides the reader through the novel. As the line between reality and delusion blurs, you’re left questioning not just what happened, but whether Nan herself is capable of recognising the truth. The fog of obsession that lingers over every interaction between Nan and her girls makes even the quietest moments feel sharp-edged.

The narrative oscillates between past and present, gradually unveiling the events leading up to that fateful night and the aftermath of Luce’s unexpected return. While the mystery itself is enjoyable to unravel, it does rely on some familiar tropes. The story felt predictable at times, which took away some of the suspense. And while the overall pacing kept things moving, the ending left me wanting more.

You should read this book if you like:
+ Unreliable narrators 📖
+ Obsessive teenage friendships 👭
+ Slow-burning psychological horror 🎭

I received an advance review copy for free via NetGalley. I am leaving this review voluntarily. 📚

I dont read a huge amount of YA anymore, but make an exception for Rory Power's twisty horror adjacent stories, and delighted that I did. A return to her usual style after In A Garden Burning Gold, much more akin to her debut Wilder Girls, this really did it for me.

The story follows Nan, whose three closest friends went missing last summer and havent been seen since, until the day of the one year anniversary memorial, when Luce suddenly returns. Nan is shocked by her reappearance, and she had left her dead in the desert the previous summer. At first she suspects an imposter, but it really is Luce, alive, and claiming to have no memory of what happened that day a year ago, or in any of the time since, and no knowledge of where the other two missing girls are.

Confused as to how she is alive, and why she has returned, Nan does her best to protect her secrets, and stay close to Luce, but eventually the truth must come to light.

It was twisty and gripping writing, a little predictable overall, but certainly suitably so for its audience, and the epilogue caught me out. It was a speedy read, feeling much shorter than it was at 288 pages.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

Rory Power never disappoints.

Kill Creatures is a gripping, dark, masterpiece. Nan as a character is intriguing, complex and perfectly fleshed out. Her depiction may is fantastic, and this may be my favourite Rory Power book now.

Last summer, Nan killed her 3 best friends. Her girls. Except, on the anniversary of their “disappearance”, Luce is found. Alive.

I could not put this book down, and when I did, I couldn’t get it out of my head. This is a fast paced, addictive psychological thriller - and it is my new obsession.

The characterisation is artful, sucking you in deeper, just like the siphon in the Devil’s Eye. The characters, combines with the setting, are described so vividly that it feels as though I could step into the story. I would kill, or die, to revisit this story for the first time.

Nan thinks she's got away with murdering her three best friends, until a year later when one of them reappears alive!!

It is giving PLL x YOU

A fast-paced, fun YA thriller. Loved the writing. The two timelines of then and now worked really well. The twists/reveal at the end was great, but I do wish it had been a crazier haha. But other than that, this was a great, intriguing read.

Also, the cover is absolutely gorgeous wow!

i absolutely loved this!!! felt a lil predictable BUTTT i loved it nonetheless. being inside nan’s head was scary at times and luce being alive was wild!!!! such a good book for so little pages!!!!!