I received a copy of STAGS as my free book, but am going to review it anyway; there seems to be very mixed 'Marmite' reactions to this book.
I was expecting some kind of Battle Royale kind of story, but as it's pitched as a YA it's certainly tamer and less blood thirsty than that. A lot of reviewers have complained about the obviousness of the story and that the characters couldn't see what was going to happen - yes, this is the case but it's easy to see what's happening from the outside and these are kids who are so damn miserable, shut off and starved of attention from the popular kids and the rest of the school that you can understand why they were so gullible and trusting.
It was a pretty quick read and I didn't feel a huge amount of empathy towards any of the characters (to be honest, most of them annoyed me to some degree), but I thought they were quite well written.
I probably wouldn't seek any future books from the author, but it was an entertaining story and I'm glad I read it. I've given it 3 stars, but feel 3.5 would be a fairer rating.
I was expecting some kind of Battle Royale kind of story, but as it's pitched as a YA it's certainly tamer and less blood thirsty than that. A lot of reviewers have complained about the obviousness of the story and that the characters couldn't see what was going to happen - yes, this is the case but it's easy to see what's happening from the outside and these are kids who are so damn miserable, shut off and starved of attention from the popular kids and the rest of the school that you can understand why they were so gullible and trusting.
It was a pretty quick read and I didn't feel a huge amount of empathy towards any of the characters (to be honest, most of them annoyed me to some degree), but I thought they were quite well written.
I probably wouldn't seek any future books from the author, but it was an entertaining story and I'm glad I read it. I've given it 3 stars, but feel 3.5 would be a fairer rating.