I Am the Swarm is weird in a really interesting way. It’s lyrical, haunting, and full of emotions that don’t sit quietly. It’s the kind of story that quietly works its way under your skin.

Nell’s magic is deeply tied to her emotions. When she feels too much, she swarms. Her fear. Her shame. Her hope. It all takes form as insects that crawl into her world and refuse to be ignored. It is such a visceral and unique metaphor for trauma and emotional repression. It’s strange and kind of creepy and totally powerful.

Her family is complicated. Her mom is unpredictable. Her sister bleeds music. The whole house feels like it’s holding its breath. It’s not a comforting kind of magic. It’s messy and sharp and sometimes scary. But it also feels real in a way that hits hard.

That said, I don’t think I totally understood everything Nell was going through. I love books written in verse, but this one felt a little too vague at times. I wasn’t sure what was actually happening, especially with some of the more surreal or symbolic scenes.

This is a story about grief, survival, and what happens when you finally let yourself feel. It is eerie, sad, and hopeful all at once.

Tropes and Themes
🪲 Emotion-based magic
📖 Novel in verse
👧 YA girl with a dangerous gift
🖤 Family trauma
🎭 Magical realism with identity themes

Written in verse, I Am the Swarm follows Nell as she gets her strange magic, a gift all women in her family have. But gift might not be the right word. Their magic twists and shapes their world in unexpected ways. A mother whose age changes every day, a sister who bleeds music, and little space is left for Nell and the insects that emerge with her emotions—some she barely understands. She’s left to navigate her power and the dangers of life alone.
This book is absolutely stunning. The metaphors for mental health struggles through twisted magic that alter perception and connection are breathtaking. Along with the inherent risks of growing up a girl. We see generations of women struggling in their own ways, helping how they can, and sometimes failing. We see the danger in struggling alone and the fight to reach out when the people you trust the most can’t bear their own weight, let alone yours. Add this to your reading list and bookmark it for discussions of mental health and women’s struggles with older teens and young adults.

This is a lovely book in verse, that felt a tad underbaked (it's very short, and almost allegorical, with insects representing the lead character's emotions.)

I guess I liked what this book was trying to do, even though it didn't necessarily always land for me personally. The writing is circular, which is both evocative but also a little repetitive. For example: "I hid. And I was invisible. I was invisible. So I hid. I hid. So I was invisible. I was invisible. And I hid."

However, the idea that all of the women in this family get such strange magical powers and how this young woman tries to live her life in spite of hers, is really compelling. (Loved Aunt Sabine!)

If you find insects gross or scary, this likely isn't the book for you, although these bugs mostly pop up when a feeling is in play and then quickly die en masse. But this book deals with so much trauma and dark, powerful feelings that they feel like an apt metaphor.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Despite this being a novel in verse and shorter in length, I am the Swarm took me longer to get through. Throughout the story, I was seeking more depth to the story and details added to the different aspects. The story lacked a general flow which made it more difficult to read. The concept of magic being a specific gift, different for everyone, was a wonderful premise. The bugs arriving due to current feelings, brilliant. I wanted to love this book, but it fell short for me.

Despite the beautiful cover and fantastic story description, I just didn't get it. The books is written in a non traditional format and it jumps right into a story line that makes no sense unless you read the book description. There is a phenomenal story within these pages, but as a traditionalist, I thought it could have been told more cleanly and succinctly in another way that would captivate more readers. Thanks you Netgalley for the copy for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Viking Books for this E-ARC.

This book is not at all what I thought it would be. I loved it. It is hauntingly sad. The description of this book is written so well that you will think it’s a book about magic. When in reality it is pure heartbreak. I will say it took me a little bit to understand what was happening but I think I started figuring it out with Nells sister and then with her piano teacher. I got full body chills when the piano teacher part happened. I love the way this book was written. It is poetry in its saddest form. A quick read that crushed my heart.

Nell’s family has magic. But it’s not the kind you might want! Nell’s mom’s magic changes her age and she is sometimes to young to take care of Nell. Nell’s sister has music in her veins that she tries to release!

"Every girl needs her anger."⠀
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Hayley Chewins, I Am The Swarm ⠀
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I Am The Swarm by Hayley Chewins is a beautifully broken work of art that perfectly captures the confusion and pain of coming of age as a young woman. The difficulties of the main character's relationship with her mom and sister is relatable and so is the feeling of abandonment by her uninvolved father. She needs support as she grows and goes through her magical change but her family is not up to the challenge and it builds inside of her as anger and pain. I loved the imagery of the different insects as emotions, especially the happy ladybugs and the angry wasps. The lyrical verse and short pages of text make this an easy yet impactful read.

This book was confusing to me. I made my way through it but I was kind of grasping at straws and tried my best to piece together. It was a little more work than I wanted.

Thank you to Penguin Group and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book

I want to preface this review by saying that this was my first experience in reading something written in this style. Unfortunately, I have found that this just wasn't for me. While the writing is truly beautiful - because of the style and cadence I had a really hard time engaging with with story and characters. I think that if this is your style then you would really appreciate this story because it does feel that it is well done. There are elements of mental illness, self-harm and feminine rage interwoven with a very specific kind of magic. The way the magic manifests is also oddly beautiful - as someone who doesn't love bugs.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I enjoy novels in verse, and this one is a fascinating exploration of family, mental health, and emotional repression. It’s actually quite heartbreaking and there are a lot of trigger warnings. That said, the structure lends itself to such a strong narrative and is quite well done! It’s a VERY different style from other YA novels in verse like Poet X, but it manages to hit similar emotional notes through a more fantastical/magical approach.

I read this book as an ARC through NetGalley. It’s a story about a teen girl who, like the rest of the women in her family has the gift of magic but hers is in the form of insects appearing whenever she has any kind of feelings. This story also talks about self harm and sexual assault and how the girl processes those feelings. I liked this book and its characters, but I felt like it was missing something in the story.

I am the swarm is a YA story full of heart and magical realism. This is an emotional ride along in living with those who are supposed to love, nurture and protect you when they are caught up in themselves. Written in verse we take a journey in mental health from the perspective of Nell, a late bloomer in a family where most receive their powers at 15. Through the manifestation of her own abilities, will Nell find herself despite the abuse and neglect of those around her?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me access to this ARC! Here are my thoughts:

I really wanted to love I Am the Swarm, the premise is haunting and original, and I can tell the author put a lot of intention into crafting something poetic and surreal. But for me, the prose just didn’t land. It felt overly abstract at times, making it hard to stay grounded in the story or fully understand what was actually happening. I found myself re-reading sections trying to piece together the plot, which pulled me out of the experience more than I’d hoped. If you’re a reader who really connects with lyrical, experimental writing, this might work better for you. But personally, I struggled to stay engaged and left the book feeling more confused than moved.

I found this story interesting. I can't quite explain what it was, but there's something about the way it was written that draws you in.
I look forward to reading more from this author!

A book in verse will forever be placed on my bookshelf. I Am the Swarm delves into the world of magic among family members and sensitive topics of depression, self-harm and abuse just to scratch the surface. A book young adults can possibly relate to. I was a bit hurt and lost with the characters, however, it all started to make sense as I kept reading.

Thank you to NetGalley, PENGUIN GROUP, Penguin Young Reader's Group, Viking Books for Young Readers, and Hayley Chewins for the opportunity to read I Am the Swarm in exchange for an honest review.

I Am the Swarm follows Nell Strand. Told in the first person perspective, the story explores Nell and her family, who come into their magic at age fifteen. Each family member's magic is different, and they can never truly know what to expect, Nell's mother is a different age every day. Nells sister, Mora, has music inside her veins, and she cuts herself to let it out. This magic is an interesting choice by the author, as my perception of it is exploring the mental health behind cutting, and the feelings held within that need to be let out. Mora's cutting lets the music come out, but also continually sees her back in various facilities for her own safety.

When Nell's own magic manifests, it is an unexpected physical embodiment. Her strong feelings, whatever they are in the moment, embody themselves as insects that physically form out of her own self based on whatever she is feeling. There are so many different kinds of insects: ladybugs, butterflies, beetles, and wasps, each representing a different emotion, hence the title of the novel. Many beetles from from Nell during her piano lessons because of the way her teacher looks at and touches her. Shame. Butterflies flutter from her when she kisses her boyfriend, a blissful happiness. And wasps, when she experiences instance anger.

The novel explores the experiences of unwanted touch, as well as family and romantic relationships, and how all these different factors build up to form an individual. It also explores coming to terms with one's own feelings and why someone may feel the way they do about a person or situation, as well as how to speak up and say something when situations become uncomfortable.

This novel makes for an incredible approach to the exploration of mental health and self exploration in a unique way. An intriguing novel-in-verse for teens.

Could unfortunately not read this, due to it not being able to be sent to my kobo ereader. Will rate highly until I can get my hands on a copy.

The story concept was very intriguing -- emotions represented as insects, fantastic! Verse novel? I love that. Unfortunately, the Kindle ARC did not work well for the verse format. I struggled becasue of that, however, I was intrigued by the story. Due to the heaviness of the content, I do not think i will be purchasing for my middle school (grades 6-8). I'm looking forward to checking out the print copy to see if that helps with the reading experience.

I’m sorry, I really tried to like this book but it just didn’t work for me. I love novels in verse, but I found myself in this one constantly going, “Huh?” The story felt very disjointed and hard to follow. I’d be reading about Mr. ___, then all of a sudden it would skip to another aspect of the main character’s story. Likewise I’d be reading about “the boy,” and then with no warning it would jump to something else. The magic element of the insects showing her feelings was nice but not executed effectively in my opinion. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am the Swarm was hard for me to follow and get into. It’s very short, and yet I struggled to connect and finish. Not for me.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.