Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - The Compound

Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

The Compound by Aisling Rawle

34 reviews

disguisedposer's review against another edition

3.5

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

lindsayerin's review against another edition

5.0

dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

comeherecupcake's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense 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

This book felt like reading a more extreme version of Love Island, fighting for survival as well as "love." I enjoyed the blurry lines between reality and reality TV.

Content Warnings

aileron's review against another edition

3.5

dark mysterious tense fast-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

Content Warnings

unhingedbookbitch's review against another edition

3.5

challenging emotional reflective 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

My first reaction? Love Island, but make it post-apocalyptic. Basically what the next season will look like once society fully collapses. Honestly, I was into it. Two of my life goals are 1) become a reality TV icon and 2) survive the end times, so this felt like a two-for-one special.

I usually enjoy speculative reality TV stories with ambiguous endings, but this book kind of gave... entry-level. Like if I were grading it, I’d give it a C+—solid concept, some interesting themes, but the execution felt like it ran out of budget halfway through.

You can tell the author wanted to explore real issues—racism, misogyny, homophobia in reality TV—and I respect the attempt. For example, there’s a moment where the only Black woman expresses concern she’ll be paired with the only Black man just because they match skin tones. Real! Valid! And then… nothing. The moment just vanishes like someone said “racism exists” and then sat back down like it was handled.

Same with the queerness angle—there are a couple characters who express same-gender attraction, and the show’s fear of it is noted, but again… the narrative just throws a tarp over it and walks away. Like—are we confronting this or what?? If you’re gonna invite the elephant into the room, either talk to her or give her snacks. Don’t just let her hover awkwardly in the corner like a middle school substitute teacher.

It felt like watching someone go, “Look! A cockroach!” and then do nothing. Not stomp it, not spray it, not even trap it under a cup. Just letting it vibe out. And no offense to cockroach truthers, but I grew up with flying ones the size of small birds, so I do not play like that.

You get what I’m saying? The problems were pointed at, but never actually handled. It’s like if the book said, “This man is a misogynist,” and then expected me to give it a standing ovation for noticing. Like… yes?? Correct?? But now what??

Final Verdict:
This book had the bones of something great, but never really put meat on them. It felt like it wanted to be deep but got distracted by hot people making out in the apocalypse—and hey, same, but I needed a little more follow-through. Would I watch this as a Netflix show at 1 a.m. with a snack I’m ashamed of? Absolutely. Would I reread it? Probably not unless the world actually ends and I need something to barter with.

Content Warnings

cassiereadsbooks_'s review against another edition

2.0

Content Warnings

jessicajernigan's review against another edition

4.0

dark funny medium-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: Complicated

This is just a very weird and creepy book, and I mean that in the best way possible. I guess I would categorize it as reality show dystopia?

Content Warnings

hunni_reads's review against another edition

3.75

dark mysterious tense medium-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: Complicated

Content Warnings

melissa_b_67's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Do you love reality television? How about people behaving badly for material items? Are you a fan of coming-of-age stories with morally grey characters? Do you love books with a dystopian setting? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, The Compound, would be a good book for you to try. Even if you don’t like any of those things, you may still enjoy this book! I do not watch reality television, but while reading the very binge-worthy, The Compound, by Aisling Rawle, I totally get the hype. Even though my personal experience as a viewer of reality TV is quite minimal, as I turned the pages of The Compound, I was able to understand why this sort of television is so riveting. In the same way that viewers become invested in the characters of reality TV, this reader became equally invested in the outcome of the characters and the “game” they were playing, so much so that I found my heart rate accelerating with each turned page.

With characters that I wanted to love, but loved to hate, I couldn’t help but wonder what choices I would make if I were in their shoes. Mainly I was pretty sure I would never put myself in their shoes. Although I remained conflicted about the purpose and benefit of such a show/game, as I learned more about what drove some of the characters to apply to the show, I had more empathy for them. Ultimately, I couldn’t stop turning the pages because I had to know who was going to be voted off the compound next, and who would be the last contestant standing.

This was a fun and immersive reading experience, albeit a disturbing commentary on our materialistic culture, that I will not soon forget. If you are looking for a bingeable story that will take you outside your own daily existence, make The Compound the next book you pull from the shelf.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC of The Compound by Aisling Rawle in exchange for my honest review.

Content Warnings

britloveslit's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

Content Warnings

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