“Gossip Girl meets The Hunger Games.” –Bustle“Like Mean Girls, but British and deadly. . . . This book is great, from start to finish.” –Hypable Get ready for one deadly weekend in this twisting thriller for fans of Pretty Little Liars and One of Us is Lying that explores just how far the elite at an English boarding school will go.Greer MacDonald has just started as a scholarship student at … school will go.
Greer MacDonald has just started as a scholarship student at the exclusive St. Aidan the Great boarding school, known to its privileged pupils as STAGS. STAGS is a place where new things–and new people–are to be avoided. And in her first days there, Greer is ignored at best and mocked at worst by the school’s most admired circle of friends, the Medievals.
So, naturally, Greer is taken by surprise when the Medievals send her an invitation to a sought-after weekend retreat at the private family estate of their unofficial leader, Henry de Warlencourt. It’s billed as a weekend of “huntin’ shootin’ fishin’.”
As the weekend begins to take shape, it becomes apparent that beyond the luxurious trappings, predators are lurking, and they’re out for blood.
OPTIONED FOR FILM BY FOX 2000 AND CHERNIN ENTERTAINMENT–WITH HUNGER GAMES CO-WRITER TO ADAPT!
“Reinvigorates the boarding-school thriller.” —The Guardian
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This is not what I was expecting at all. It just kept getting crazier and crazier. I loved all the plot twists and all the turns. It made my head spin. Definitely a good read.
So for me, Stags was just an OK read: one that I was initially very much looking forward to reading: Unfortunately, it didn’t deliver the expected results and I found I enjoyed the idea behind this story more than it’s actual execution.
This was in itself an interesting premise: Primarily a YA book Stags is an Elite boarding school steeped in tradition and elitism.
Our main girl Greer is a recent scholarship student at this prestigious establishment and she just wants to fit in with her new peers.
The main Clique at Greers new school are called the medievals: this unique group of privileged individuals stick to all things old world in there dress and reject the modern conveniences of the twenty-first century.
So there was such a heavy ominous undertone throughout this and the emphasis here is heavily on the class divide and the over-privilege of the upper classes compared to there working class peers. There is an almost bigoted elitist bias towards what they see as lesser individuals as if the accident of there birth makes them somehow superior in some way.
The venom towards anyone they perceive as reaching above there current station in life is absolutely shocking.
Poor Chanel a classmate of Greer’s seems to get it heavily from these snobs mainly because her father is new money which is apparently worse than just being working class or a scholarship student.
She’s stuck in an almost no man’s land where she belongs to neither faction she just doesn’t quite fit either mould.
Even the servants seem to share the popular attitude and bias.
So this is told exclusively from Greer’s POV and Greer, Chanel and another student Shafeen: Indian royalty but who doesn’t fit in either are invited to the estate of classmate Henry de Warlencourt along with his fellow medievals Cookson, Piers, Charlotte, Esme and Lara for a weekend of huntin, shootin, fishin.
So as I said intriguing although this still wasn’t for me enough to elevate this into a higher rating bracket.
The writing itself was fine if slightly over-descriptive and I found myself bored and as a consequence skimming slightly.
I also found all the random movie references a bit bizarre.
I didn’t feel a connection with the characters themselves and found they lacked depth and were a bit one-dimensional.
Greer herself seemed easily swayed by a pretty face in spite of the mountain of evidence revealed to her here.
I did find Shafeen an interesting character despite sharing similar backgrounds with the medievals he couldn’t be more different in temperament and ideals.
The twist at the end of this did redeem things for me slightly it was a tad predictable but still a great finale.
This wasn’t quite my thing but that’s just me you might appreciate it more than I did.
I voluntary reviewed an Arc of S.T.A.G.S.
All opinions expressed are entirely my own.
Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
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