S.T.A.G.S by M.A. Bennett

This is a bit of a weird experience for me because I heard of this book this morning, got it on my Kindle, read it in less than two hours and now I'm writing this review. It's also kind of a weird book.

So S.T.A.G.S is about this girl who goes to this super fancy boarding school full of students with old money. She goes there on a scholarship and everything about the school is very traditional and totally unrealistic. The popular kids are these 6 teenagers called 'The Medievals' who wear monk hoods and stockings (to be fair, the entire school has to wear stockings). They detest technology and encourage everyone to read and paint and do other, more useful activities instead. We're meant to buy that the whole school goes along with this and no one ever uses a mobile phone entirely out of choice.

Anyway, the main character gets invited to a hunting weekend at the main popular guy's house, along with two other unpopular kids and all of the Medievals. If you've read the blurb of this book (heck, even if you've read the cover) you can totally guess where this plot is going. The downside is that it doesn't take it anywhere near far enough. I was disappointed by how tame this book is. Maybe I read too much horror but I was expecting the rich kids to literally hunt the unpopular kids and try to murder them. That isn't what happens. Even considering it's YA, it's a bit of a letdown.

Having said that, this is still a pretty good book. The characters behave like idiots at times and the ending bothers me so much because again, it's a super obvious 'twist' and it's not surprising at all. The one thing I liked about the ending was the callback to the comma thing. That was admittedly a nice touch. However, I feel like there was a plot hole with the whole 'it's been going on since Medieval times' thing. Like does it always take place at Henry's house? If so, how have they made sure that there is always one family member there? It's just one of those things where the more I think about it, the less sense it makes.

S.T.A.G.S is not a book that is going to change the world but it is an enjoyable and also very easy read. It's very short and if you like the sound of the blurb, you are pretty much going to get exactly what you expect from that. It's worth reading for the likeable characters and the endearing oddness of it all alone, but it's also a little more than that. Just don't expect anything super dark or surprising because you will be disappointed.

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