3.1k reviews for:

The Compound

Aisling Rawle

3.79 AVERAGE

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was a book club book and it got the job done - very polarizing! In some ways it was a light palate cleanser about a near-dystopian reality show ("Big Brother meets The Hunger Games.") In another way it was a grim meditation on our late-stage capitalist hellscape. I thoroughly enjoyed it - very thought-provoking but also entertaining as hell. 
adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

"Another gaping sore on the face of our compound."

Messy, stressful, griping. This was unlike anything l've ever read (yay for bookclub helping me out of my comfort zone!) It really felt like watching a reality tv show.
Like Hunger Games X Love Island. The pacing and writing were solid, but it was the shocking things that happened, not the characters, that kept me reading late into the night. The end was completely unsatisfying for me but I'm sure the author wanted you to be left unsatisfied and unsettled.
challenging dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I was super into this at first, but it kind of started to fall off for me by the end. It’s a crazy concept and really interesting if you’ve ever watched shows like love island or big brother. I think I maybe didn’t like it by the end because it gets really dark (obviously that’s the point but for some reason I wasn’t vibing)
dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
dark funny medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
dark funny tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes