Thank you Random House Publishing Group, for providing the copy of The Compound by Aisling Rawle. I loved the premise of this book but the execution fell short. I loved the idea of the reality show but it was never clear what the point of the show was or why the contestants were forced to pair up every night and share in the same beds. We don’t hear about how the contestants are chosen, or why the women wake up in The Compound while the men have to traipse through the desert.What were “the wars”? Where was this desert? What year was this? I wish the challenges had made more sense, maybe building up to a huge reveal, instead of being weirdly random and sometimes mean. I kept reading the book because with all of the great reviews I thought at least the ending would be fantastic.This wasn’t the book for me, but plenty of readers loved it! 2 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Love Island meets Lord Of The Flies in this dystopian reality tv show that takes place in The Compound. A group of twenty singles must coexist together completing tasks to have a more comfortable home and avoid banishment. Soon the tasks take a turn and they find themselves struggling to even want to compete anymore. Is winning even worth it?

I loved the drama but the ending was a bit of a letdown for me taking it down to 4 stars.

So thankful to be done with this book! If the author's purpose was to illustrate the inanity of reality TV and its participants, she succeeded. Clearly, the intention was to have the backdrop be some sort of dystopian disaster, making remaining in the compound so appealing. However, there was insufficient information provided about the war, its impact, etc., to understand the situation. And the immediate surroundings of the Compound were only described as the desert...not dissimilar from where I live. Hostile but not impossible.

The Compound by Aisling Rawle follows a group of contestants trapped in a high-stakes competition where alliances shift, betrayals run deep, and survival depends on strategy and sometimes luck. With its Hunger Games-meets-reality show vibe, this debut novel delivers tension, drama, and ruthless eliminations that keep you guessing!

As Aisling Rawle's debut, this book shows a lot of promise! The premise was gripping, and I loved the cutthroat, fast-paced nature of the game. The writing pulled me in, and once I got my bearings, I couldn't stop reading.

That said, I did find it a little challenging at first to keep track of the characters, especially since eliminations happen quickly and some eliminated contestants are referenced later. It reminded me of watching a new reality show, it takes a few episodes (or chapters) to figure out who's who and who to root for. But once I got into the rhythm, I was hooked and couldn’t put it down!

Overall, this was an exciting, bingeable read that I'd recommend to fans of survival games, psychological tension, and morally gray characters! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Aisling Rawle and Random House Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley! All opinions are my own.

3.5🌟
A new twist on reality TV.

How to describe this book?
Hmmm… how about if Bachelor in Paradise and Big Brother had a baby.

As a viewer of certain reality TV shows😉, this premise peaked my interest.

A group of singles have signed up for the latest reality show. They’ll be secluded from the world in a compound somewhere in the desert. To improve their living conditions, they must perform certain tasks to gain rewards both for the group and as individuals.

Rewards can be anything from food, furniture, personal hygiene products, all the way to jewelry. The harder (or more humiliating) the challenge, the bigger the reward.

The rules also include the expectation for everyone to couple off by the evening and if anyone wakes alone they’re banished from the compound. So pick your partner and hope it lasts!

So just how far are the producers willing to push the contestants for ratings? Because those diabolical producers are free to dish out punishments and additional banishments at any given moment.

Couple things that just didn’t work for me:
🔻The book turned out to be a very (and I mean VERY) slow burn.
🔻There were so many characters to keep track of, that until half of them left the compound I was hopelessly lost trying to keep track.

Saving grace:
🔺It did hold my interest enough that I wanted to know how this would end. Strangely addictive.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group Ballantine via NetGalley.

4.25 stars

This was one of the most entertaining books I’ve read so far this year! It reminded me of the shows Big Brother and Perfect Match, but darker…I was immediately hooked by the reference to Mollie in Orwell’s Animal Farm, who is similar to many of the characters in this novel. Great pacing, great writing, would definitely recommend this as a summer read ☀️

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!


P.S. Sam and Lily forever ❤️

Pub date: 24 June 2025

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Thriller and dystopian novels are my favourite genres, so I had high hopes, and they were well-met.

This book is intentionally vague. We never learn much about the outside world, and the characters are kept at a distance. However, I appreciate vague world-building, and the loose character development worked well. It really evoked a true reality show where you only learn what the producers want you to know. I was a big fan of the Bachelor franchise in its heyday, and I was able to picture the characters and people from that show, which made the book more vivid. Despite the number of characters being in the double digits, I found it easy to follow and differentiate them!

This book had some great commentary. For instance, the way it’s structured, we don’t know what the characters do for work outside of the show. We only find out about 40% of the way through, and that revelation changes how the characters interact. In real life, we often ask people what they do for work when we meet them. It’s a casual conversation, but we also place a lot of importance on people’s jobs coaching our opinion about them based on what they do. This connected well to the large theme consumption and what we will do to get things (and people) we want, or even things we don’t want/need.

I also enjoyed the conversations about how heterosexuality and whiteness are the standards by which relationships and rewards are judged and quantified.

This book also evoked the vibes of Lord of the Flies. Of course, the setting/circumstances are different. However, the central theme of the depravity of humanity and the interactions between the characters reminded me so much of that classic novel.

Overall, if you enjoy ambiguous dystopian novels with light thriller or mystery plot points, I highly recommend giving this book a try. I hope people pick it up because it’s a great summer read!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the gifted copy.

This book started strong and I was fully into it, but the last 20% were dragging and could have been summarized into a lesser amount of pages. This is a book about nothing, but at the same time reflects on our society. It was not too heavy and could be a perfect beach vacation read. I had a good time with it and do not regret reading it, but at the same time I still do not understand the purpose of the story.
It is weird, it will not be for everyone but I would be interested to see what the author writes next.

There are some books that are incredibly addictive while reading and this is one of them. I’m not sure if it’s the cohesive writing, the plot line of the reality tv show that strokes that part of our brains, or the low key apocalyptic vibes that lie under the surface. Either way, I couldn’t put this down and stayed up way too late consuming this.

The irony of my overconsumption of this book is that overconsumption is truly the main plot line of this book. There are many books that take the reality tv plot and they’re always fun but this book has a depth that was surprisingly enjoyable. This book highlights our societies need to consume, the effects of that culturally, environmentally, sociopolitically and psychologically without overtly shoving it in our face. We need to be gently lulled into our wrongs as a society and Rawle does this impeccably.

I’m truly so excited for this book to come out and have everyone eat it up, unironically.

3.5/5 rounded up.

This was such a unique book and I want more things like this (I can also see this as a tv show or a movie due to its whole vibe and based on the actual story).

The blurb literally describes this as Love Island meets Lord of the Flies...need I say more? And I get the feeling I'm definitely going to want to reread this book later on down the line.

This book follows our main character as she wakes up in this compound with a bunch of other young women. It's kinda spooky. The world outside the compound is going crazy and falling apart (sounds familiar) with rampant poverty, political turmoil and environmental collapse. But then our main character discovers that being in this compound means that she is being broadcasted to the rest of the world...isn't that fun?!

This is definitely a massive commentary and satire about so many different aspects of our whole, but it didn't feel preachy the way that sort of commentary can be. This was so well done. And I feel like I'll need a reread because it feels like the type of thing where the more times you read it, the more you will catch, the more little details will be uncovered and noticed.

If you like reality tv shows and spooky novels, definitely give this a go! This was so fun.

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

4.5⭐️ Very Black Mirror meets Love Island aka everything I love to watch on tv. I started this book late on a Monday evening thinking I’d read few chapters before bed, a mistake on part as this book hooked me in from page 1 and kept me reading until 1am.

I was absolutely living for this premise and all the different characters. I knew I would like this book going in, since it’s right up my alley, but wasn’t expecting it to quickly become a favorite.

I really enjoyed how every single character was written and the different personalities that were presented. Lily was a complex and flawed character that often times was a bit infuriating in the best way. Sam will forever have my heart ❤️

This was an incredible first novel from Aisling Rawle and I can’t wait to read more of her work in the future! Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Random House.

For a book about a reality tv show this lacked a lot of juice and felt more like a dry cappuccino.

The writing and ideas were solid but needed a heavy or experienced editor and lacked playfulness to fully realize the concept.

The premise of this book was really intriguing at the start - reality tv meets lord of the flies (it was kind of reminding me of white lotus there for a second). 18 contestants live at a compound in the middle of the desert where they have to form relationships and complete tasks for rewards. If they fall asleep alone, they are eliminated.

There were parts of this book (when things started to take a dark turn) that really gripped me, but others had me wondering what was the reason of it all lol. Any information about the outside world, the characters lives, or motivations for the show would have really dressed up the context and provided some character development, but it was just very one dimensional. I was really excited at the concept of this book, but it overall fell flat for me.

Imagine waking up in a desert compound with nine other beautiful women, cameras tracking your every move for a reality TV show where contestants must couple up to avoid banishment while competing for increasingly lavish rewards - all while the outside world slowly burns. I've always felt smugly superior about not watching reality TV (what does that say about my cultural elitism?), but here I was completely hooked by this book from the first page. There's something uncomfortable about my willingness to consume the exact same content when it comes packaged as literature rather than television - as if the medium somehow legitimizes my guilty pleasure. It was perfect airplane reading - I was both literally and figuratively a captive audience for this fraught, escapist fantasy. Lily isn't particularly deep or likable, but I found myself weirdly invested in her journey as she navigates the show's manipulations, forming strategic alliances and pursuing diamond earrings with single-minded determination. What made this work was how it used the addictive format to deliver an underlying critique of consumerism without ever getting preachy. The strange mix of boredom, forced intimacy, and manufactured drama created an oddly compelling world, while hints of environmental collapse and war in the background create an unsettling undercurrent. I blew through it in one sitting and finished feeling both thoroughly entertained and vaguely uncomfortable with how much I enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House and the author for an Advanced Reader Copy of this novel.

THE PLOT
This uniquely written debut novel by Aisling Rawle combines Survivor, Big Brother, Love Island and The Hunger Games together to make an extreme reality show where contestants compete for fame, luxury, and survival. This novel is set in a remote desert compound and follows Lily, a young adult who awakens alongside 9 other girls on the show, with no idea how they got there. There are also boy contestants competing for the win on this high stake’s reality show. The contestants compete in challenges as a group and individually to win prizes, that will make their stay a little easier. As the competition intensifies, lines are blurred, contestants are pushed into forced intimacy. There are betrayals that show how dehumanizing reality TV can really be. Who will make it to the end? Is it worth it?

MY THOUGHTS
This dystopian style thriller hit the nail on the head. This was a compelling and thought-provoking read. Why do we enjoy reality TV? Does it make us feel better about ourselves to watch others struggle? These were questions I was asking myself while reading, as a therapist and as a human being. I enjoyed watching Lily’s character evolve and find her way. The character development was done well, and I found myself liking certain characters and disliking others, which I believe was the author’s objective. This novel delves into themes of consumerism, performative identity and the psychological impacts of being watched. This is a cleverly written, at times fun novel. I found myself looking forward to finding out what was happening to each character, who was going to make it, what the rules and challenges were going to be. I was drawn in from the first few pages. Honestly, this was more entertaining than reality TV itself. The only thing that I would have liked to see more of was what was happening in the outside world? Lily hinted that things were bad, and she didn’t want to return. But it did not detract anything from the story, and I highly recommend this book!

I chose to read The Compound in hopes that it would help me understand the reality TV craze. Sadly , it did not. I did, however, really enjoy the story. I cannot phantom why anyone would put themselves in that position voluntarily.

Equal parts dystopian thriller, biting satire, and psychological character study, this novel takes reality television to its most chilling, logical extreme—and it’s absolutely riveting.

At the center is Lily, a jaded but magnetic twenty-something whose beauty and boredom make her both a perfect reality show contestant and a dangerously passive observer of her own unraveling. Waking up in a desert compound with nineteen others, she quickly adapts to the warped rhythms of the competition: perform, survive, repeat. Luxury and necessity are gamified, alliances are fleeting, and intimacy becomes just another tool for advancement—or escape.

The brilliance of this book lies in its eerie plausibility. The challenges are outrageous but not unbelievable, and the producers’ manipulations echo the worst excesses of unscripted TV. As viewers (and readers), we’re complicit, watching Lily’s descent into something more primal with a mix of horror and fascination. The line between spectacle and survival blurs, and the novel never lets you fully settle into comfort.

It’s The Hunger Games meets Black Mirror with a touch of The Bachelor—and it’s as unsettling as it is impossible to put down.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5. A dystopian Love Island! I really enjoyed it until 75% in and just lost what the plot was. It was a fun read though!

The story begins with our protagonist Lily waking up in a compound which we soon learn is the set for a popular reality show. The compound is located in a desert that half the participants will have to safely cross before they join the competition, and once all the participants are in place, they will complete group and individual challenges to earn both resources and luxuries. I imagine a lot of people will describe The Compound as Survivor meets Love Island, but that comparison only captures the surface of this novel. Rawle's choice to tell this story through just one participant's point of view increases the narrative's tension and uncertainty and allows the reader to experience the same surprise, confusion, excitement, and fear as Lily. As compelling as a season of The Traitors, this novel invites readers to consider what choices they might make in similar circumstances. Who would you betray for food or water? What might you compromise for love or safety? What circumstances make your life worth living? What is the value of becoming a reality show celebrity? An engrossing, well crafted novel. 4 1/2 stars.

A young and beautiful woman wakes up in The Compound with 9 other beautiful women. They are being filmed, as in Big Brother. Soon the boys will be there and join the women. We read through the eyes of Lily and get to know all of her housemates. This is a dystopian not so far future, there are some references to "the wars" that the men have fought in. I am not certain why the author chose this to be dystopian - this could easily have been just an alternate timeline of our current universe, so giving this book the dystopian label may be disingenuous, there are no sci fi or even speculative fiction elements to this book.

It almost reads like a suspense thriller, although it isn't very suspenseful, just a pretty normal reality show like Love Island meets Big Brother with an element of The Hunger Games in that there are some sponsors and gifts that are branded based on contestant behavior.

They have to share beds with someone of the opposite gender and if someone wakes up without a bedmate they are banished from the compound, so they have to partner up, and if someone is banished or chooses to leave then the others need to banish someone to keep it even. They don't have a lot of food or a front door but they can do personal or communal tasks to be able to earn things.

This is a really fun set up, I just kept expecting something more futuristic or sci fi elements and really this read more like a reality show that just gets a bit violent at the end, nothing like The Hunger Games but they are allowed

The point of the game is just to be the last one there and then everything is provided for them, anything they would ever want, and they can stay as long as they want. It is a very strange goal and at the end you think more is going to happen than actually does. It doesn't end with a bang, but with a sigh.

That said, this was extremely readable and I kept picking it up and tore through it to see what would happen.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC. Book to be published June 24, 2025.