Hunting: On the first day they go Stag hunting. At this point I will happily admit that all the hunting elements in this book are meticulously researched. Good job! When Greer receives an invitation from the most popular boy in school to go to his family estate for the weekend, she is beyond excited. Maybe finally she can make some friends and be included. Nobody talks to scholarship girl Greer. It gets her down, but there are other ‘misfits’, like Shafeen who dares to be Indian, and Nel, (short for Chanel.) Nel’s father has more money than half the other parents put together, but he made it by inventing a smart phone. Smart phones are out at STAGS. The Internet is for research purposes only. Most forms of technology are ‘Savage’. Nobody wants to be ‘Savage’. Everybody wants to be ‘Medieval’.

Este libro me lo regaló mi mejor amiga, pero la verdad es que había llamado mi atención antes de eso. Me gustan los misterios en que un grupo de adolescentes intenta descubrir un crimen atroz que los afecta especialmente. Series como Scream, Riverdale o la española Elite, libros como The Dead List, One of Us Is Lying y Two Can Keep a Secret (Comentario al margen: Karen McManus se ha vuelto una escritora muy interesante por lo mismo, aunque debo decir que One of Us is Lying es mucho mejor que el otro, y Jennifer Armentrout escribe muy buenas historias de misterio, pero lamentablemente hace tiempo que no escribe novelas de este tipo). But, when Ms. Olds abandons the weird, scientific analogies and whatnot and is authentic, it's a beautiful thing. Oh, come on now. . . occiput? Lambdoid? It's hard enough for poets to find people who will read their poetry; they don't need to make them run for their dictionaries, too. The students are at the mercy of their capricious host, and, over the next three days, as the three bloodsports - hunting, shooting and fishing - become increasingly dark and twisted, Greer comes to the horrifying realisation that those being hunted are not wild game, but the very misfits Henry has brought with him from school... It is different from standard YA releases and the concept is great. The problem is in the execution. Greer is a fish out of water as a scholarship student at this exclusive school for the extremely wealthy. Largely ignored by her peers, she finally feels like she is being accepted by the elite group at school when she receives an invitation. Greer is thrust into their world of privilege, but comes to realise things are not what they seem.I really enjoyed STAGS, it was a huge hit with my book club, so I was really looking forward to discussing this one with them too. We will discuss it, but for me it just falls a bit flat. It feels as though it’s grasping onto the success of its predecessor. D.O.G.S begins where S.T.A.G.S left off and the second half of the autumn term with seventeen-year-old working class northerner and film buff, Greer MacDonald, and her fellow outsider friend, Shafeen and Chanel (Nel), preparing to face their final exams (Probitiones). And with Greer aiming for Oxford and two-thirds of her overall drama mark dependent on directing a play written prior to 1660, for once her encyclopaedic knowledge of films is no help. Short on ideas and with charismatic Henry de Warlencourt of the first novel still intruding on her thoughts, the convenient arrival of a handwritten manuscript for Act One of a tragedy entitled The Isle of Dogs under her dormitory door provides the answer. As Greer reads the first act she is drawn into a dark yet accessible Elizabethan allegory that seems to provide an incisive commentary on Tudor history and Queen Elizabeth I’s reign. The second installment of the S.T.A.G.S series is centered around theatre and gets more dark academia than the first book, as Greer, the MC, decides to stage a mysterious play, "The Isle of Dogs". According to historians, all copies of this play have been destroyed, yet a mysterious person delivers to Greer a manuscript of the long-lost drama. Speaking of plot, it was so underdeveloped and so predictable that I felt like I was drowning in all the nonsense going on. I understand that the story strived to be creepy and disturbing and twisted but for me it was all ridiculous and unbelievable.

People, I love my husband, but this woman was either obsessed with her spouse or she has some supernatural capacity to love that has eluded me, because even after 30 years of being married, she was pretty much still using her tongue to scoop the belly button lint out of his navel and then holding it reverently in her mouth before swallowing it.

From that point on , I couldn't 100% trust that my copy was printed correctly and indeed, a big chunk of the plot revolved around a misheard line that isn't even in the book. Full explanation in the spoiler tag: Abbot Ridley comes under suspicion because he told Greer that Esme Stuart was a "patroness" when he knew that this person was in fact a man. But the actual line in the book says "patron" and " noblewoman", but Greer is completley hung up on "patroness" when that isn't even the line?!? 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. Hate is a strong word. I don’t use very often in my life, I don’t think I’ve ever used at all when talking about books, except maybe once and I don’t like to use it at all. But S.T.A.G.S brought out that emotion in spades and I hated every single moment of this miserable nightmarish experience. If I could take away the memories of reading this book out of me, I would. I hated it that much.

The main character was not my type of main character. Besides that she didn’t have a spine and drowned in Henry’s eyes every time she got a fraction of attention, she was jealous (at things she isn’t entitled to), annoying and extremely naïve. Not to forget the strange scenes she talked to a cut of head of a STAG, she even gave it a name. Which parts of the books do you most enjoy writing - the creepy / horror elements, or exploring the characters? Superb YA sequel for streetwise Greer & the elite students at archaic S.T.A.G.S. school. Suitable for adults too! You also show how alluring the lives of the very rich and landed gentry can be. Where did you go to research it and what would be the main attraction for you in a life at Longcross? She just gets worse and worse and worse. She constantly talks about how she's a bad feminist because basically every time Henry even glances at her, she loses brain function. And uh, yeah. You're right to worry. But this isn't bad feminist in the Roxane Gay essay kind of way. It's just... bad.

Greer has just received a scholarship to the prestigious S.T.A.G.S boarding school. As expected though, she doesn't fit in. These kids are the ultimate in privilege; years and years of entitlement and 'Old money' have led to a 'mean girls' like group known as medievals. As the nine teenagers embark on three days of supposedly harmless blood sport fun, it becomes apparent that something more sinister is going on and the misfits are the real prey that the Medievals are hunting. Greer and her two accidental comrades, Chanel and Shafeen (selected because one’s new money and the other is Indian), have a choice to make: do they ignore the ludicrous yet obvious threat to their lives, or do they try to outwit their sadistic classmates.

So let’s start my ranting by saying that if you’re looking for your next young adult thriller then get out of here as fast of you can because nothing about this book is thrilling and if you think you’re getting into a survival story with guts and stakes then well there’s survival arc alright but it’s so underwhelming and badly executed that if leaves nothing to be desired. I assure you you’ll have a greater time with books like We Were Liars, 13 Minutes and Little Monsters. These three boos are mysterious, atmospheric and disturbing in a way this book wasn’t. This second book in the planned trilogy comes with a few natty additions to the first with a brief note on the history of S.T.A.G.S, a map and a glossary for the exclusive terminology of a prestigious school. And with a third book in the works, a set piece and cliffhanger ending bodes well for one last meeting with Greer MacDonald. I had zero connection with any of the characters in this book. Yes, their appearences were described, but I never got a sense of who they were as a person, and so honestly, I didn't care what their fate would turn out to be, whether they lived or died... meh. Instead of ruining five young lives - and condemning their characters as wholly evil when they may now improve without the malign influence of their ringleader. I grew up in my grandmother's cottage in the grounds of the stately home where she worked, so I saw the landed gentry at close quarters. My childhood was my research - I used to be in and out of the house all the time, and as I grew up became friends with the heirs to the estate.Greer’s boyfriend and some of her friends are POC, and express to her how they feel targeted by behaviours, but Greer TOTALLY dismisses them - the author even makes out like Shafeen is completely paranoid and ridiculous for having these feelings. STAGS is a pacey and well-plotted young adult story that champions outsiders and questions out-dated viewpoints in a constantly evolving world. It makes for an entertaining standalone novel but a sequel wouldn’t be unwelcome. Even though this book didn’t quite reach the thrilling peaks the first one did for me, I did enjoy reading it and would happily invest in a third one. I’d happily recommend this book, although if you have no interest in classical English Literature you may find the premise a bit tedious but all in all it’s a decent and captivating read. The author is exceptionally talented too in conveying her imagination to the readers and I suspect her books will be very popular amongst a teen audience and I wish her every success with this sequel.