Tag: Lord of the Flies

38 Best Book Deals for 5/20/20: Big Little Lies, The Library Book, The Proposal and more

Book Deals

As of this posting, all of these deals are active, but I don’t know for how long!
Less than $1

The Seventh Sun by Lani Forbes

The Angel Experiment (Maximum Ride #1) by James Patterson

Less than $2

A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Storm and Fury by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

No Judgments by Meg Cabot

A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

The Beholder by Anna Bright

The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala

Watch Us Rise by Renee Watson & Ellen Hagan

The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials #1) by Philip Pullman

Final Girls by Riley Sager

The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory

My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, & Jodi Meadows

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

How To Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Less than $3

Rebel by Marie Lu

The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo

Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim

A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

Bloodleaf by Crystal Smith

The Shape of Water by Guillermo del Toro & Daniel Kraus

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez

The Brightsiders by Jen Wilde

Florida by Lauren Groff

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Recommended from this post:

Summer Releases | NetGalley Mini-Reviews

Call It What You WantCall It What You Want by Brigid Kemmerer

I really enjoyed Kemmerer’s other book Letters to the Lost (only $2 for the eBook right now!) so I was really excited when I got approved for this one. It did not disappoint. I found the two main characters to both be likable (Rob a little more so for me than Maegan). I thought the book dealt with some tough topics like teen pregnancy, abortion, and race and crime in a really mature, sensitive, and realistic way. The plot wasn’t as cut and dry as it first seemed and I enjoyed the depth there as well. I didn’t feel like the characters’ choices always made a ton of sense, but in the end, the author really made me try to examine how I would react if I were in Rob’s shoes. 4/5

Hardcover | eBook

Wilder GirlsWilder Girls by Rory Power

This book was being marketed as a Lord of the Flies type story which so happens to be one of the only required reading books from High School that I actually enjoyed reading. So I was all in. Unfortuntely, I was to be disappointed. This book had so much hype around it and I found the premise to be really intriguing and I liked the eerie and unsettled tone that wove throughout the book, but I felt like there was too much that was just weird. The Tox itself doesn’t really make much sense. Why does it effect everyone differently? What causes the flare ups? And then in the end, the explanation for it is unsatisfying, comes out of nowhere, and doesn’t really fit the tone of the rest of the book. It actually would have been a more satisfying ending if there HADN’T been an explanation. Another issue for me was Byatt. I just 100% did not understand her as a character. Lastly, I had a hard time with Hetty and Reese’s “relationship”. I felt like so much of their currently existing relationship is backstory that we never get to see and we’re more told how they “feel” about each other rather than shown. They kind of just get slapped into this relationship and then just as quickly slapped out of it. 3/5

Gone by Michael Grant

In Perdido Beach, CA everybody over the age of 13 has vanished into thin air. Soon the kids discover that some of them have special powers, animals are mutating, and there’s an invisible wall surrounding their town. Bullies from the local private school, Coates Academy, are soon running things in a way very reminiscent of Golding’s “Lord of the Flies”. Some kids are interested in finding a way out, some kids rejoice in their new-found power and authority, and some kids are just trying to stay alive.9780061448782_p0_v2_s260x420

I loved reading “Lord of the Flies” when I was in high school so I was excited to find a book that has a similar premise (kids running wild without adult supervision). Just a warning right off the bat: this book is long (almost 600 pages) and it’s the first in a six book series (all about as long). If you do not have the time, the patience, or the desire to invest in this series, I do not recommend starting the first book. That being said, up to this point I have only read “Gone” (although I do have the second book in the series waiting on my Kindle as I’m writing this).

With that disclaimer out of the way…the book was pretty good, but frustrating. First the good. If you’ve read any of my previous reviews, you’ve probably picked up on the fact that I appreciate realism. Even in fantastical worlds that abide by different laws than Earth, I appreciate when characters are realistic in their choices and reactions. This book mostly does that for me. The author acknowledged the reality of having all adults disappear simultaneously. Babies and small children would die if no one were there to take care of them and the author brings that up. The older kids in charge may not have been as realistic as I would have liked…maybe a little too smart/clever for 13-year-olds, but I can forgive that.

Now for the bad. The mutating animals are just weird and whatever darkness is going on in the mountains…also weird. The special powers are also a little hard for me to swallow, but I’m more okay with that than I am with the talking coyotes. Like I said, weird. My main issue with this book is the length. It’s interesting to read about how the kids reestablish civilization and all that, but does that really take 600 pages and five more books? I just want to know how the kids get out and if they’ll be reunited with their families! Truth be told, if I wasn’t so interested in how that was going to happen I probably wouldn’t read the rest of the series. Alas, I’m dying to know how the heck they get out of this dang city. Looks like I’ll be slogging my way through 2,500 more pages of pre-teens fighting with each other.

Overall Rating: 3
Violence: Moderate. Some gore.
Sexual Content: None
Language: Mild
Smoking/Drinking: Mild. Some characters drink beer.

The rest of the books in the series: Hunger, Lies, Light, Fear, and Plague.