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challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“I thought, in a brief moment of unease, about the trampoline that I had wanted so desperately as a child - that maddening, all-consuming desire to possess something that I didn’t have - and how quickly I tired of it, how soon after I was looking for something new to covet.”
The Compound follows a group of young adults competing in a reality television show, where they live together in a compound and compete in challenges to acquire gifts and luxury items. It definitely has a dystopian vibe and is very much a critique on society.
As an avid reality tv watcher- I think this does a fantastic job of portraying that kind of show and setting. It was super interesting to see the dynamic in the compound as it unravelled throughout the story. It started out with such harmony and felt like a vacation/show you’d want to be a part of too and then continued to descend into something darker, with stakes getting higher and tasks getting more unhinged. Really goes to show what one might do when they’ve been cut off from society for so long and when fame and riches are waiting for them on the other side. I didn’t really find myself rooting for any of the characters and it overall felt really grim. Even though this is meant to be thought-provoking, I kind of kept waiting for something to happen that never came. So for that I am left feeling slightly unsatisfied.
Overall an intriguing novel that will leave you thinking about it!
Thank you to Netgalley, Aisling Rawle, and Random House Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
The Compound follows a group of young adults competing in a reality television show, where they live together in a compound and compete in challenges to acquire gifts and luxury items. It definitely has a dystopian vibe and is very much a critique on society.
As an avid reality tv watcher- I think this does a fantastic job of portraying that kind of show and setting. It was super interesting to see the dynamic in the compound as it unravelled throughout the story. It started out with such harmony and felt like a vacation/show you’d want to be a part of too and then continued to descend into something darker, with stakes getting higher and tasks getting more unhinged. Really goes to show what one might do when they’ve been cut off from society for so long and when fame and riches are waiting for them on the other side. I didn’t really find myself rooting for any of the characters and it overall felt really grim. Even though this is meant to be thought-provoking, I kind of kept waiting for something to happen that never came. So for that I am left feeling slightly unsatisfied.
Overall an intriguing novel that will leave you thinking about it!
Thank you to Netgalley, Aisling Rawle, and Random House Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, War
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Compound follows Lilly, a young woman waking up in a remote desert compound with nineteen strangers, all competing in a high-stakes reality competition. As the game progresses, seemingly simple tasks evolve into dangerous, morally questionable situations, and Lilly must decide how far she’s willing to go to win.
Overall, the book started strong and gave me major Love Island meets Big Brother vibes, with a touch of Nerve. I was hooked until chapters 15/16 when the plot took a chaotic turn that lessened my enjoyment, ultimately dropping my rating to 3.75 stars. It’s a great fit for reality TV fans who enjoy suspense, but even I—an avid reality TV viewer—found the chaos a bit overwhelming.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Racism, Sexual content, War
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The ending sorry of fizzled for me, but it was non stop, couldn’t put down until about 85%
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence, Fire/Fire injury
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Loved the first half and the love island vibes but the second half felt like it lacked the depth ot needed to continue the story in a compelling way, the second half was trying to lean into the dystopia vibes but it didnt get deep enough for me. It was a good interesting read, just not enough depth for it to be a favorite.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Fire/Fire injury
dark
mysterious
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
I wanted to be free from the daily confrontation with the slow decay of humanity and everything we had built. I wanted to be left alone. I wanted quiet. I wanted to stop pretending that I cared about things.
I used to be obsessed with Love Island UK so jumping in to this book, it felt like a page turner to me, wanting to see how couples paired off, the challenges and so forth. Being in charge of maintaining the villa was an added element of interest.
With the Animal Farm quote at the beginning, you're primed to expect symbolism and metaphors at every turn. I do wish the capitalism/ materialism commentary was a bit less spelled out for the reader.
The most novel thought that was explored was Lily and her disenchantment with the failings of the world while being so passive about engaging in wealth hoarding. Similar to virtue signaling,
Really I just want to get back to watching Love Island now. But it was a fun reading experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: War
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book doesn't so much end as just stop, and usually that's a thing that leaves me feeling frustrated and let down even if I had enjoyed the book up to that point. With this one, I didn't feel very much like it detracted from the overall story, because I think the point was that everything leading up to the ending was what was important. I was interested in the characters even if I didn't necessarily like most of them, and I found the whole premise to be unique and entertaining- it was a little bit reality TV, a little bit survival of the fittest, a little bit psychological horror. The ending, such as it was, left me feeling unsettled and unresolved in the best possible way, and I can't really explain what I liked so much about the book as a whole, but I'm still thinking about it the next day.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Confinement, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a page-turner! FINALLY, something that made me want to keep reading! 👏🏼 The plot was pretty unique. Kind of a Big Brother meets Hunger Games vibe. I don’t watch a ton of reality competition shows, so there may be a better fit, but you get the idea. I loved the challenges and rewards set up. I kinda thought there would’ve been more to those at times, but overall, still a great story. I would definitely read another “season” of the show. I’m already wanting to seek out similar books to read, so if anyone has some recommendations, feel free to comment! It was a nice change of pace from all the “romantasy” books I’ve been talked into reading. Definitely much needed.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
The group dynamics were gripping and exciting. Rawle really expertly observes undercurrents of feelings that guide our behaviour in times when valued things, be they material or abstract, are scarce.
I loved how the book explored Lily's feelings about the life she was escaping from. We generally hear so much about the evils of things like reality TV and consumerism but here we see the grinding sadness and exhaustion of being a worker bee trapped in pressure, monotony and dismissal that makes these things appealing.
I thought it would ramp up at the end but it kind of petered out.
I loved how the book explored Lily's feelings about the life she was escaping from. We generally hear so much about the evils of things like reality TV and consumerism but here we see the grinding sadness and exhaustion of being a worker bee trapped in pressure, monotony and dismissal that makes these things appealing.
I thought it would ramp up at the end but it kind of petered out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Infidelity
Moderate: Bullying, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was uncomfortable and voyeuristic and claustrophobic and emotional in all the right ways. As I was listening, I felt like I was experiencing a reality TV show, cheering for couples, detesting the overbearing male contestants, etc. I was also surprised that it touched on topics like racism and consumerism.
It took me a while to get into it because I couldn't keep track of all the contestants - maybe because I was listening to the audiobook - but people get eliminated fairly quickly and everyone in the "main" group of people is fleshed out enough to distinguish them.
There are also some hints to a larger kind of dystopian setting with active wars and bush fires - we don't learn that much about the world beyond the Compound, but the hints stay vague and yet feel a bit too close to what's currently going on in our world to make this feel like a proper science fiction novel. That bit was a bit disorienting at the beginning, but I quickly accepted the Compound to be the eye of the world (just like Lily, the FMC, does).
I'm so glad I stuck through the bumps in the beginning, because the author is so good at creating an eerie and yet alluring atmosphere. The oppressive heat of the desert, the boredom that you need to pretend doesn't exist, the collateral damage of living under the conditions of the compound, the tension between contestants, the men and their entitlement and sometimes barely-restrained violence are so well described that I felt super uncomfortable during large stretches of the book and yet I couldn't stop listening.
Things that I normally don't like work in favour and even enhance the story in this case: the pacing is a bit wonky, with days or weeks that the author jumps over or just summarizes in one sentence - mirroring Lily's skewed sense of time in the compound where there are no clocks and the routine is alway the same.
I'm a bit torn about the ending - on the one hand, it didn't feel as rewarding as I would have liked, on the other hand, it kind of supports the lesson about materialism and consumerism.
It took me a while to get into it because I couldn't keep track of all the contestants - maybe because I was listening to the audiobook - but people get eliminated fairly quickly and everyone in the "main" group of people is fleshed out enough to distinguish them.
There are also some hints to a larger kind of dystopian setting with active wars and bush fires - we don't learn that much about the world beyond the Compound, but the hints stay vague and yet feel a bit too close to what's currently going on in our world to make this feel like a proper science fiction novel. That bit was a bit disorienting at the beginning, but I quickly accepted the Compound to be the eye of the world (just like Lily, the FMC, does).
I'm so glad I stuck through the bumps in the beginning, because the author is so good at creating an eerie and yet alluring atmosphere. The oppressive heat of the desert, the boredom that you need to pretend doesn't exist, the collateral damage of living under the conditions of the compound, the tension between contestants, the men and their entitlement and sometimes barely-restrained violence are so well described that I felt super uncomfortable during large stretches of the book and yet I couldn't stop listening.
Things that I normally don't like work in favour and even enhance the story in this case: the pacing is a bit wonky, with days or weeks that the author jumps over or just summarizes in one sentence - mirroring Lily's skewed sense of time in the compound where there are no clocks and the routine is alway the same.
I'm a bit torn about the ending - on the one hand, it didn't feel as rewarding as I would have liked, on the other hand, it kind of supports the lesson about materialism and consumerism.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Infidelity
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Racism
The animal death/cruelty relates to wild animals, not pets.