Lord of the Fly Fest is a fast-paced, dark comedy with effective commentary about '"do it for likes" culture. The author's style of writing in this novel made me laugh aloud in some parts in the way she accurately presented the shallowness and absolute ludicrousness of living one's life in pursuit of follower count and a curated social media image. Rafi is also an interesting character whose motivation was told in an engaging podcast format (which I usually tend to skim over in books). The book did meander in the middle and lag for a few chapters but it picked up again by the 80% mark. If you were compelled by the Fyre Fest documentaries and liked the satirical style of White Lotus then you'll like this book.

Lord of the Flies meets the disastrous Fyre Fest. When our main character arrives on the island for Fly Fest, she expects glamor and super models. Of course, nothing is there. And all of the folks who have been dumped off on the island are spoiled influencers, who are now on a deserted island without their luggage and without the fancy accommodations and gourmet chefs that they paid for. A whole lot of nothing happens and then they are rescued at the end. Many references to the original Lord of the Flies, even a kid named Jack and wild pigs on the island.

I thought this was a fun read and having watched the two documentaries on the Fyre Festival, I can see the obvious similarities and the author did a great job. The author obviously was poking fun at the influencer culture and the festival which I appreciated and thought was really funny. I liked Rafi and was rooting for her. There was a lot of suspension of disbelief, like the fact they managed to stick it out for an entire week on the island without clean water or adequate food. But other than that, I enjoyed the book and if you know going in that it's over-the-top and tongue-in-cheek, then I think readers will think it's funny and horrifying at the same time.

Wow this book sucked.... Imagine an author was making fun of Fyre Festival while attempting to remake Lord of the Flies, except nothing actually happens and everyone is horrible. I mean I understand everyone was supposed to be horrible, the author is making fun of rich people, but they were all so flat (even the MC) that they weren't even people. Just caricatures. And honestly most of her jokes either came across incredibly cingey or as mean. I cannot recommend this book.

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I so wish I had something nice to say!

This book made me laugh and for YA, I really enjoyed this! The satire in this booookkkk was like understandably easy to understand and not like the confusing type and I enjoyed how this was a true crime podcast POV!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

Lord of the Fly Fest puts a modern spin on Lord of the Flies, filling the island with social media influencers who have flocked together to party at a festival a la Fyre Fest.

Up front, if you don’t like Lord of the Flies, you won’t like this book. It does ultimately boil down to a Lord of the Flies retelling with the occasional satirical bent. It is sprinkled with modernity, including WiFi, an absolute dud of a festival, ample mentions of TikTok followers and Instagram lives, and the True Crime podcast that drives the thriller-murder-mystery plot. I did find that the book was often incredibly on-the-nose — down to three notable characters being Jack, Peggy, and Rafi, as opposed to Jack, Piggy, and Ralph — but when viewed as a twisted modern retelling, I think there’s something fun and interesting here for Lord of the Flies fans.

Goody Moldavsky’s writing is solid, but I did wrestle with my rating for this book because these characters are just plain annoying. I ended up going for four stars instead of three simply because the characters in Lord of the Flies were also incredibly annoying, and so I do think that’s an inescapable, or even essential, aspect of this people-stranded-on-an-island-doing-stupid-things story.

So yeah, overall I did have a good time, especially because I am a fan of Lord of the Flies, but I’m not sure that this book will be everyone’s cup of tea. If you are in the market for Lord of the Flies retellings, though, this is a fantastic option

I laughed quite a bit while reading this. I had previously read The Mary Shelly club, and looked forward to this one as a result.

The characters were great, often funny, and somehow believable. What wasn't terribly believable was it lasted a week. I wondered about how much water Rafi in particular was drinking (since she had little to trade) and wondered about electricity and WiFi connections.

I never saw any of the documentaries on Fly Fest, but did read a bit about it on various sites. The satire and characters were wonderful.

I will post review online after it is published.

Tongue in cheek satire about influencers and their followers and the fickle world of social media. There are so many Lord of the Flies references, which makes it even more fun to read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader in exchange for my review.

Lord of the Fly Fest is like Fyre Fest meets Lord of the Flies. It's a fun, fast-paced, humorous romp of a time. The story follows true crime podcaster Rafi who just wants to interview Fly Fest headliner about his missing girlfriend. What Rafi doesn't expect is to be fighting for survival on an island against a bunch of influencers. The pop culture references are a fun touch. This is an enjoyable satire. Recommended!

Thanks Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

What can I say... this really felt like the failed Fyre Festival meets Lord of the Flies. The satire was not lost on me. I quite enjoyed reading this one. It tackled instagram culture and the idea of social media influencers. Were there things that made me cringe at times? Sure. For example, the "it girl" of social media was called Hella Badid. Clearly that is way too similar to a real American model name. Some of the references that made me think of Lord of the Flies might be lost on those who have never read it.

Overall I loved the snark of this novel.

I'm being slightly generous with the rating of 3 stars, in large part because the over the top portrayal of the absurdity of the uber-rich and influencer culture did have its humurous moments. However, based on the writing style, I am not completely sure if it was meant to be a funny, satirical take, or if we are meant to truly find the situation the people stranded on the island are in to be frightening. Contrasting it to the original Lord of the Flies, for instance, the situation did not strike me as nearly the same level of perilous or chilling. Additionally, other reviews have noted that almost none of the characters are remotely likable, instead passing in to farce with the level of self-centeredness and disconnection they exhibit. For me, this is a strike against my enjoyment of a story, however, it may not prove the same impediment for all readers.

This was meant to be a satirical combination of the Fyre Festival and Lord of the Flies, but it was cringey and not remotely funny. I’ve enjoyed Goldy Moldoasky’s previous books, but this one was a miss for me and I couldn’t force myself to finish reading it.

DNF at 20%.

Very timely and fun thriller that feels ripped from current days headlines. Fans of Moldavsky will find something here to enjoy.

Fly Fest, the most exclusive summer musical festival happening on an island most resembling paradise. Headlining the music festival is River Stone, most known for turning his tragedies into number one hit songs. Rafi Francisco needs to interview River Stone for her true crime podcast, because there is something not quite right about River Stone. He's lying and she's going to find out why.

But when they arrive for the music festival and the island is empty, Rafi's got more things to worry about than getting an interview with River Stone.
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This Lord of the Flies retelling was funny, fast paced, and full of pop-culture-ish references. Working in a high school library, I picked out several of my students throughout the book.

If you like Beauty Queens by Libba Bray, Lord of the Flies by Williams Golding, or if you enjoy reading books by Christopher Moore, this is one I think you'll enjoy.

I’ve never read Lord of the Flies, but I’m sure this book did an excellent job of updating it. I love the survival aspect and entwining it with a scam music festival (much like the Fyre festival). I found it intriguing, immersive and a well written fast paced book. While I was not crazy about Rafie, I understand the purpose of her as the narrator (even without knowing the inspiration). I’m curious to see how it matches up with the mentor text.

This was pretty cute— The Lord of the Flies references were pretty funny and the commentary on true crime podcasts was well done, but there were a few moments that didn’t land for me, including the use of the word ‘savages’ which was Not Good.
That said, I would say this might be a funny book for students to read after Lord of the Flies, but I feel like without that context, the jokes/references are either going to go over kids’ heads, or that they’re a little mean spirited in a way that idk if I love?
Overall, this had some missteps that took away from my enjoyment, but it did have funny moments (the ‘kill the pig, slit its throat’ thing did make me laugh) so I don’t regret reading it either 🤷‍♀️

A "murder board" made out of cheese sandwiches, decorated with sand art, and glued together by lip gloss. Not only does this happen in the book, but it is an apt metaphor for the sheer ridiculous shenanigans that is this book! If the fierce cover made you think the main character would face perils untold in untamed wilderness, well your not wrong, it just doesn't happen in the way that you think. No apparently the precursors to certain death are unorthodox make-up tutorials, pig feces, wi-fi dictatorships, and a hot pink t-shirt.

Thank you Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for providing me with an Advanced Readers Copy. The opinions here are strictly my own.

The book is filled with what seem like 2 dimensional stereotypes meant to hate on "influencers". The vast majority of characters do not get backstory or emotional depth, but that's OK because that's not the kind of story this is. This style of storytelling bothered me, until I came to understand the flavor of the book. This whole book reads like a sitcom or a parody with characters straight out of TV. If you like the humor of Schitt's Creek or Letter Kenny then this is probably for you.

The book is fun, fast paced, and the chapters are short. Combine this with the tropical island setting and you have the perfect summertime read for the beach or the pool. Great to read in between distractions.

If I could give one suggestion to the author, I would say make this book sillier sooner. It is not immediately apparent that this book is meant to parody influencers, and not understanding the mindset was a big draw back. This could also be remedied by a more accurate description on the back of the book, reading it lead me to believe it was going to be far more serious. I would hate for readers to miss all the fun because it wasn't what they were expecting.

I also thought the main characters drive could be stronger, I never really get a sense of why she so desperately wants her podcast to succeed. She also comes off kind of shallow and whiny, but I realize now that that is intentional, and indeed part of her character growth.

The best compliment I can give this book is that it didn't have a hard time grabbing my attention. I never once found it to be a drag to read, and found myself wanting to read it over other books on my TBR. It also speaks to my sense of humor, so that probably helped.

This book is not for everyone, if you like your mysteries serious with higher stakes, if you cant stand comical stereotypes, if you hate your main character making rookie mistakes over and over again, this book is not for you. If your looking for a fun, quick read, where the sitcom is more important than the destination, then give this a try.

I couldn't review this book without making a comment about the cover art. I LOVE this cover art, I want it as a poster on my wall. The cover is what made me read the back of the book in the first place. I do think the cover is misleading about the tone of the book, but I don't think I could bare it be replaced by anything less.

Lord of the Flies meets Fyre Festival in this story about a girl who goes to an exclusive music festival on an island only to be stranded with influencers and no festival actually taking place... and madness descends upon them. Rafi Francisco runs a podcast that discusses music mysteries and wants to get her podcast to be more popular... so she takes on the case of famous pop boy singer River’s mystery of the disappearance and death of his girlfriend... and the only way to do so is to go to this festival. What Rafi wasn’t expecting was that the festival was completely fake and now she is stranded on an island full of influencers and a few minor celebrities... and River himself. Rafi needs the interview with River and is willing to do anything to get it... even lie... and her actions have bigger consequences. She believes that River is a killer but the more she gets to know him the more wrong she feels. It also doesn’t help that more people are starting to disappear... and there might be a different killer on the loose. Rafi is one of those “not like other girls” but “I want to make it famous” kind of gals, she’s manipulative, think’s she’s better, and honestly obsessive. She’s not a likable protagonist and while the story had potential it felt meh overall, it was funny to see the correlation between Fly Fest and Fyre Fest and Hella Badid and Bella Hadid. Overall, it just wasn’t for me but if you do like the original story maybe give it a try, it definitely is a unique take on the original story with modern adaptations.

*Thanks Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Lord of the Flies meets Fyre Fest in this book. Rafi is a true crime podcaster intent on exposing famous musician, River Stone, as a murderer on the next season of her podcast. She decides she will confront him at a big music festival. However, when all the attendees arrive on the island, they realize the festival is a sham. Soon, people are trying to survive the island.

I was so excited about this premise but It didn’t quite deliver for me. Part of the problem was that I really hated the main character. She wasn’t very relatable and was just kind of annoying. There also wasn’t enough suspense for me based on the synopsis.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t even know where to begin. This is the first book I read this year where I really strongly felt about dnfing. I only decided against it, because I got an arc from Netgalley. But this book was just so bad.

I hated the characters, all of them. I don’t know if it was meant to be funny how shallow and stupid the influencers were depicted. Maybe it’s meant to be a parody? If so, it didn’t do a good job of that either. I didn’t think it was funny, it was just so annoying all the time. And Rafi I hated the most. She was SO stupid! At times I wanted to bash her head in with a bat. All the talk about her podcast and being so overly clever and solving the ‘murder’ of the girlfriend of a popular musician. I’m actually wondering how anyone can believe that this dumb dumb is bright enough to produce a podcast, let alone one where she tries to solve a crime.

It’s advertised as a “funny YA thriller”. There was not one second I thought it was thrilling to read this garbage. I wasn’t scared for the characters or their situation. Everything was just so over the top ridiculous.

I always try to at least say something positive about a book, so here it goes: The cover looks beautiful and the band O-Town is mentioned more than once. (If you don’t know them, they were a boy band in the early 2000s).