This book was a quick read. It hooked me and I read it in a day. The writing was very simple yet effective. The characters were all likeable. I enjoyed the new take on post apocalyptic situations. Killer butterflies, zombie like creatures, found families. I was worried this was going to read too juvenile but thankfully it didn't. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for any other books by Jennifer Lyle.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book.

I’ve been a fan of monster stories forever. I still fondly remember watching the creature double features on TV every Saturday as a kid. Whether it was Godzilla, the blob, sharks, giant ants, or swarms killer bees I couldn’t resist. Despite all those movies, and no offense to Mothra, I can honestly say I never imagined reading a story about a worldwide swarm of giant killer butterflies would be so thrilling. There is just something wonderfully twisted about turning one of nature’s most innocent creatures into killing machines. As for the cast, Shur is a fantastic heroine with her anxiety issues making her feel well fleshed out and making her actions seem more heroic. This is a wonderful debut and I look forward to seeing what author Jennifer D. Lyle comes up with next. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5. Thanks so much to SOURCEBOOKS Fire and NetGalley for the eARC.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/swarm-jennifer-lyle/1142959263?ean=9781728270913&bvnotificationId=2cea2fae-7d98-11ee-8c03-0a2284c295a3&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=gmail.com#review/262768385

Thank you to NetGalley and Jennifer Lyle for a free ecopy in exchange for my honest review.

One day, at Shur’s school, giant butterflies begin congregating. Soon, she and her friends realize the creatures are carnivorous and infectious. The whole world goes into lockdown, finally knowing in survival mode what it’s like to live in Shur’s daily anxiety, yet it’s up to Shur to keep those she loves most alive.

The premise of Swarm is simultaneously unnervingly exhilarating and darkly cozy, a familiar apocalypse with an interesting and enticing spin. Shur is such a powerful, well-rounded character who has the most heart-warming, strong relationships with equally unique and loveable people. (I am particularly fond of her bond with her twin brother.) And the apocalypse’s trademark gruesome scenes do the gore, rot, and disease so well.

While undeniably suspenseful and eerie, the pace is rather easygoing with higher danger scenes posted at intervals, most of which connect somehow to future points but do not necessarily throw the plot forward. At moments, this pattern could get somewhat slow. The finale is definitely one of the higher-octane scenes, fun to read, but again feels like an individual occurrence, a final yet separate adventure before an environmentally induced resolution, rather than the culmination of the rest of the pages driven by the characters actions.

Because of this—depending on the perspective and preference—it could be seen as mildly anticlimactic. (But again, absolutely exciting.)

I was not a great fan of some of the crass or suggestive adult humor sprinkled throughout, but thankfully it was sparse.

Nonetheless, it is truly a fun experience, a comforting—and at moments chilling—dive into an apocalyptic disaster with struggles and relationships that truly have my heart.

Shur is the first to see one - a giant person-sized butterfly floating around the school. Within a short time, more butterflies emerge, emergency alerts are going off and her school devolves into chaos. Shur and her twin brother, Keene, along with their two best friends (Jenny and Nathan) leave the school to pick up their 4 year old brother, Sean (nicknamed Little) before hurrying home.

While the entire world is also dealing with the massive killer butterflies, the 5 of them are also trying to survive without little communication from the outside world. After seeing the killer butterflies turn people into zombies, the 4 teens work out how to protect themselves and Little while also trying to have some semblance of normalcy for Little.

The pacing was great and frenetic. Shur having to deal with her (sometimes debilitating) anxiety and trying to stay one step ahead of the butterflies/zombies was also nerve inducing. The book is a bit gory too. The ending was anticlimactic and I wish there was a little bit more.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for this eARC. Swarm is out today.

Swarm
by Jennifer D. Lyle
YA Horror
NetGalley ARC
Publication Date: November 7, 2023
Sourcebooks Fire
Ages 14+

Instead of paying attention to her history teacher, Shur is looking out the window and sees the butterfly, but it was no ordinary insect, it was huge. Then she could see more of various sizes but all larger than the normal flower-loving bugs.

Even as the emergency alerts order everyone to stay put, Shur, her brother, and their two best friends leave the school to grab their little brother and go home. But on the way they watched as a butterfly attacked a woman on the street.


Within the first chapter, my curiosity was grabbed, but sadly by the middle the story slowed down and it became obvious what was going to happen.

But I loved the idea of turning beautiful, harmless butterflies into monsters whose only goal is to infect other creatures, though a little more detail (the cover is creepier than the descriptions) could have created a whole lotta of hibbie jibbies that would make me take a second glance at those colorful floaters come summer.

Shur, the MC, has a mental illness, and while it gives depth to her character to highlight her struggles and strengths, I feel that there wasn't enough on her illness to show readers who are struggling with similar issues that there are others who feel the same and there is help.

Even though it's aimed and written for young adults, there is violence and some gore, so it's suitable for mature 14+ readers.

3 Stars

The setting and worldview are not new. But the writing is fascinating.
I might love it ten years ago when I was still a teenager.

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC!

What a fun, surprising novel! I'm a fan of creature thrillers, but I wasn't too sure how a swarm of killer butterfly things could be pulled off without being a little silly. However! Beyond the first initial weirdness of 'okay, this is butterflies,' it was a well-paced, attention-grabbing (and keeping) disaster thriller.

Our characters are teenagers trapped at home without parents after the butterflies invade. What follows is a great combination of learning about the butterflies, adapting to the reality of the situation, and barring themselves inside against bugs (and more). The teens have enough character development to be very different and all bring their own skill set- they're not survivalists, but they figure out how to use what they know (technology, planning, brute strength, common sense, etc) to keep each other calm and safe(ish). I loved that they weren't perfectly prepared and didn't perfectly react to every situation- sometimes the panicked kid would shine through and keep the plot kicking along.

The plot, although gruesome at times, is actually very logical. Even the effects of a bite from one of these killer butterflies make sense and the progression is believable. Through bits and pieces of news reports the kids get through social media or radio, we as readers are transported on this terrifying journey with our intrepid teens. The reason I mostly appreciated the plot was that even though 90% of this book takes place in a house, we don't have a slowdown moment of boring adjustment to life inside. There's always something the reader is learning or action happening to keep it from falling into a rut.

I did take one star off because the ending is SUPER abrupt. When I hit the epilogue I had to go backward and make sure I wasn't missing a chapter because it was so surprising, and the ending itself was pretty vague (I guess believable, but I wanted more answers). But overall, this is a really fast, fun, unique read!

Huge man-eating monster butterflies bring the world to a halt in this dystopian read. Teenage Shur, her twin and baby brothers, and two close friends fight to survive and stay together while sheltering at home. Shur struggles with anxiety, using techniques from therapy to help her stay occupied and be the rock the family needs. Butterflies may give you nightmares after reading _Swarm_.

2.5/5 Stars

TL;DR - An interesting enough take on the end of the world, a little bit sci-fi and a little bit horror, but ultimately underwhelming. Not bad, not great, just average.

Big thanks to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for providing the ARC for this book in exchange for an honest review!

***Trigger Warnings for: insects, anxiety, death of a parent, panic attacks, mild gore and body horror, and brief suicidal ideation.***

‘Swarm’ by Jennifer Lyle is a young adult horror novel, told from the first-person perspective of a teenage girl named Shur. Her civics class is interrupted by an emergency broadcast, and the entire world descends into chaos as huge, carnivorous butterflies appear from nowhere en masse. Shur and her twin brother, as well as their four year old brother and two best friends, make it back to Shur’s house and begin to shelter in place, trying to make sense of their new reality. Enemies, both insect and human, besiege them as they fight to survive the swarm.

I don’t really have much at all to say about this book. The premise itself is actually really cool, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. There is no real plot other than, things happen, the kids react, something else happens, etc. There’s not a lot of ramping up of tension, the climax isn’t very climactic, and overall, I feel like the story lacked direction. Yes, there’s only so much you can do with being trapped in a house for weeks, and maybe that’s the problem - there just isn’t much that *could* happen. Either way, I was bored.

Other reviewers have said, and I agree, that this definitely reads on the younger side. This book is YA, but it reads more like middle grade in terms of language and complexity. Not a bad thing, there’s definitely readership in this range, but I was looking for something a bit more mature than what this book delivers.

Characters are average in terms of depth and impact. Not a lot of difference between all of them personality-wise. No one really undergoes a character arc of any kind. I wouldn’t even call this character-driven, either, because there’s sort of a middling amount of both plot and character.

I did like that Shur deals with anxiety (I’ve lived with anxiety my whole life and I love to see it represented), but it was, again, lukewarm at best. She’s anxious, her brother and friends try to coddle her, she keeps herself busy to avoid panic attacks, that’s about it. It feels surface-level and not very well-developed, which is a shame - I would have loved to see a deep discussion of how living with anxiety can feel like being trapped in a house with a dangerous world outside, how isolating it can be, etc, but this book didn’t go even close to that level of introspection or character exploration. Honestly a bummer of a missed opportunity.

I wish we could get to learn more about the butterflies, but there isn’t a whole lot explained or resolved. It’s just, they’re here, we think this is why, and that’s that. Thinking about it, I really feel like this story would have been better served if the characters were older and were more connected to the outside world, biologists or medical personnel or something, who would’ve been in a position to really get into the nitty-gritty of what these things are and what they can do. As I said in the TL;DR, a really interesting take on the apocalypse, but a shallow and bland execution.

Final Thoughts:

I think this might be a great book to introduce younger teens to the sci-fi and horror genres, but as an adult, it was lacking. Good enough for one read, but not enough for me to consider purchasing a physical copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

I devoured this book. Absolutely tore through it. I finished it in 2.5 hours, and all I can say is WOW. It's narrated by sixteen-year-old Shur, and the descriptions of her anxiety - and how it keeps her brain focused during crisis situations - was spot on. It was horrifying and at times turned my stomach without being excessive, and I thought the balance of horror elements and sweet family (and found family) moments was spot on.

Title: Swarm
Author: Jennifer Lyle
Genre: YA
Rating: 3.2 out of 5

Sixteen year-old Shur is one of the first to see the creatures. While staring out the window in history class, she spots one floating over the soccer field. It looks like a monarch butterfly—but it's huge. Within minutes, her classmates' phones are buzzing with emergency alerts. These things are everywhere, and though nobody's exactly sure why the alerts are telling them to take cover, Shur knows it can't be good. It's only when she's left school and headed home that she what the creatures do: they attack.

By the time Shur, her two brothers, and their two best friends make it back to her house, it's clear the five of them must survive whatever comes next on their own.

As the "butterflies"—new hybrid creatures thought to be created by climate change—multiply and swarm outside, anxiety-prone Shur focuses on what she can control: boarding up windows, stocking food, and preparing a shelter in the basement. They lose internet and power while vigilantes create terror outside. Meanwhile the creatures begin to fulfill their ultimate purpose: multiplying via parasitic load, and before long, the butterflies aren't the only thing trying to get in. To protect her family and survive the invasions, Shur must find the strength to protect their sanctuary at any cost.

This was an okay read, but some of it was far-fetched to me. And I’m not talking about the giant killer butterflies. I am talking about this group of survivors not thinking it important to cover the upstairs windows with more than curtains, or them basically sending out an invitation telling people where they are---after witnessing a group of thugs shooting up the street randomly. I mean, really? Those things were enough to detract from any enjoyment I might have had in the story itself, because blatant stupidity isn’t something I enjoy in other people, so why would I want to read about it?

Jennifer Lyle’s debut novel is Swarm.

(Galley courtesy of Sourcebooks Fire in exchange for an honest review.)

This is a dark moody terrifying horror story, where our protagonists learn from the news that when people are bitten by butterflies, they become infected almost like zombies! Well if I wanted to be scared of beautiful butterflies, I picked up the right book. Part survival story, with some bonus scifi tropes, and just all around gory, if you want something that is gripping and unique, almost giving me the last of us vibes a little but instead of fungus, it’s butterflies then keep this one in mind.

This one felt very stagnant. It had the potential to be interesting but something just fell flat for me. The beginning was decent and had me intrigued but the pace leveled out and I felt bored with the characters and storyline.

I liked the originality of zombie-like butterflies and there was some good action at the beginning but once they were in the house for a while I began to loose interest.

***** I have received and read an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for giving my honest feedback. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.*****

It feels like a mix of "The Mist" (2007 movie) and "Dawn of the Dead" (2004 movie) but with different monsters and tailored for a younger audience.

I love the concept of the book, and it really starts off strong.

A few problems, however, made me drop the rating.

The house the kids hole up in seems a little too perfect. A broken window or door that is easily opened would have added another layer of tension.

With so many different characters locked into a single location, there was ample opportunity to flesh the characters out, but unfortunately it was a missed opportunity.

The ending wraps up too quickly- it feels as if the book was rushed to the publisher when it needed another edit or two to give a smooth transition from story to ending.

Overall, it's a great idea, but it needed more work to really come together.

Ohl my goodness I will never not look at Butterflies the same way again. I tha k you for that. No, but seriously I loved this book from the very first page.
This is one of those books you don't want to put down. Because you get so lost inside of it and feel like you are there.
This book definitely did not disappoint on any level.
When Shur and her twin brother are in class with their friends and classmates they notice Butterflies but not just any Butterflies these ones are big in size, like squirrel size and bigger.
Then comes the emergency on phones and whatnot to stay inside and safe.
But that was just the beginning.
When Shur and her brother and two friends decide to leave the school and get her little brother. They try phoning their mother and it's all systems are busy try again later.
Trying to hole up into a house for the day or couple of days is fine. But when you are told to board up windows and such...
When their mother is trapped at work it's up to Shur and her bother to keep everything out and them safe.
People outside start getting bit more and infected that's when it turns worse. Cause not only are these killer Butterflies on the loose they infect humans and other animals.
When one of their own gets bitten it's what do we do? How do we save ourselves and save their best friend??
All the way to the end this book keeps you saying oh my goodness what more can happen with them? They already have to protect themselves and the 4 year old.
But don't ask cause it will happen. Ha
Definitely would like another book to this one. Just to see if..... I don't want to say. But if you read this book then you darn well know where I'm going with that thought.

I was a little worried this was going to be to YA for me but I found this to be perfect and on the darker end of YA. I'm going to be looking at butterflies a little funny after reading this book. It was interesting, emotional and at time gross but I enjoyed it.

Wish we explored more of what happens when a person is bitten by the butterflies but I feel like the story hold attention and is wrapped up nicely.

Swarm has a beautiful eye catchy book cover that immediately draws you in.
I seriously could not put my kindle down. Creatures that resemble a giant butterfly start attacking everyone. Killing,eating, people must survive but how?

The novel was well written.

Swarm by Jennifer Lyle
Pub date: November 7, 2023
Genre: YA Horror, Dystopia, Sci-Fi

Thank you so much for this gifted DRC @SourceBooksFire!

Shur and her twin brother, Keene, are in class when Shur notices a huge butterfly like creature flying about the soccer field. The whole school is abuzz with the news as more of these creatures appear. Instead of staying in the school gym as instructed, she and Keene along with their best friends, Jenny and Nathan, head to pick up the twins younger brother from daycare and go immediately home.

Soon, these creatures swarm, and the teens, cut off from their parents, are in a desperate bid for survival. Not just from the swarming new species, who’s bite, they discover, is poisonous, but from the dangers of a desperate outside world.

There’s so much to love about this story of survival in a world suddenly turned upside down. The pacing is spot on and the MC, Shur, is a realistic representation of a girl who’s had a horrible loss but manages to come into her own when faced with a disastrous situation.

Great story that I’ll be recommending!

Stay bookish, my friends

3⭐️

I found reading this book that I really love this genre of story as young adult. Teens going thru a dystopian event together and trying to figure out how to survive/take care of eachother.

I really enjoyed the majority of the book. It was a solid 4. The beginning started off with a bang. Throwing the reader straight into the beginning when the wild butterflies started showing up. That was wild. The shear panic and getting to shelter.

Then the majority of the book is inside he house as they learn to keep safe and take care of a preschooler at the same time. Taking calculated risks of getting plywood and boarding up the windows. I do also really appreciate the representation of mental health with Shur. How her family and friends look out for her.

The book lost me though at the end. It felt like it abruptly just ended. That I was missing 2 or 3 more chapters. The epilogue was even used as a device to wrap everything up in pretty package. This happened, then this, oh and these people are miraculously ok. That was really upsetting to me because I really was enjoying the book until then.

Thank you to NetGalley and Source Books Fire for this advanced reader copy. My review is voluntarily my own.

"Swarm" by Jennifer Lyle is a gripping and suspenseful YA novel that blends elements of science fiction and survival horror into a thrilling and thought-provoking story.

The book opens on a seemingly ordinary day when strange creatures suddenly appear in the world, resembling giant butterflies. At first, they are mesmerizing and beautiful, but it quickly becomes evident that they pose a significant threat. As emergency alerts flood everyone's phones, panic sets in, and the world as Shur, the protagonist, knows it begins to crumble.

What sets "Swarm" apart is its relentless tension and the sense of unease that permeates every page. As Shur, her brother Keene, and their two best friends hunker down to survive in a world overrun by these mysterious creatures, readers are drawn into a claustrophobic and high-stakes scenario. The author excels in creating an atmosphere of dread, and the suspense is maintained throughout the story.

The character development is another strong point of the book. Shur and her friends are relatable and well-drawn, and their evolving relationships and individual growth add depth to the narrative. As they face the unknown and adapt to a world in chaos, readers will find themselves emotionally invested in their journey.

Jennifer Lyle's writing is engaging, and she skillfully balances action with introspection. The novel also touches on themes of survival, resilience, and the lengths people will go to protect those they care about.

The gradual unraveling of the mystery behind the creatures keeps readers hooked, and the story takes unexpected twists and turns that will leave them guessing. Without giving away any spoilers, it's safe to say that "Swarm" takes the initial premise of mysterious creatures and expands it into something much larger and more complex.

Overall, "Swarm" is a thrilling and imaginative YA novel that will appeal to fans of science fiction and survival horror. Jennifer Lyle's storytelling keeps the reader engaged from start to finish, making it a compelling and enjoyable read for both young adults and those young at heart.