Savage Island

What would you do for a million pounds...?

Today I am very tired and this book is the reason. I just could not bring myself to put it down and ended up staying up deep into the night just devouring every page.

When first reading the blurb I was kind of expecting a story along very similar lines to Battle Royale or The Hunger Games but I was pleasantly surprised to find it was much more elegant than that. With echos of The Troop and even Lord of the Flies there is far more of a psychological element to the story.

The five main characters were compelling and interesting and the author managed to avoid most of the usual stereotypes and tropes. We learn the most about Ben and Will, the two brothers of the group and so they tended to have the most character development. I do wish we could have learned more about the other characters and their backgrounds so the reader could connect to them a little more.

The flashbacks to Ben and Will's childhood experiences were almost more disturbing than the main story. Their mother is a true villain and you can't help but feel for Ben particularly. The reader having this connection with Ben means that you really do care about what happens to him and his friends and helps to invest the reader in the story.

The story itself is certainly fast paced and I just couldn't stop turning the pages to find out what happens next. The twists and turns towards the end were brilliant and I genuinely did not know how it was going to end until it did.

I absolutely recommend this book, particularly for its intended audience - young adults with a love for horror. I had a blast reading it.

Thank you very much to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review

'Savage Island' has to be my favourite of all the Red Eye books. It's so atypical in terms of setting and tropes but I LOVED that Bryony thought outside of the box and made geocaching something to fear! The whole book played on expectations and cliches, and even though I was biting my nails the whole way through, I loved every second of it!

I had heard about this book from a friend who told me it had a real hunger games vibe to it. At first, I felt it was nothing like the hunger games, much too wholesome; then it took a massive turn. I loved the suspense and the drama throughout this, it kept me guessing until the end. There was a great variety of characters and I am really hoping this becomes a film one day! I would 100% recommend this book.