I love the set up here—a dark twist on a familiar reality show setup: Bachelor in Paradise meets Lord of the Flies. Sign me up! Unfortunately the pitch was the best thing about the book. I wasn’t invested in the characters (not being able to have them share their backstory as a device of the show made it hard to connect as a reader) and I wanted more from the dystopian world building element (what was actually happening beyond the compound ie the wars??). The author did a good job building suspense and the ending was intense and delivered a great payoff, but the middle was so slow (again, I think this was intentional in some spots!). Overall I felt like the author had a lot of say about capitalism and attention and influencer culture but nothing was really explored and no one was really indicted for anything.

Everything about The Compound is disorienting. Where is it? When is it? Vaguely in the future, in a desert in an unnamed country, on an unnamed continent, Lily wakes up first and introduces herself to her roommate. They go to look for "the others" and observe the disarray of their living quarters. This introduction pulls you in, wanting to know more. There's chaos (war? famine? pollution?) outside and chaos inside as the "contestants" size each other up for this edition of the reality show they're now on, one they've all watched, one they've studied and are sure they can come out on top.

Ten women, ten men, on what felt to me like a fusion of The Hunger Games and whatever reality show that forces strangers to pair up.. Let the games begin!

We view this all from Lily's perspective as she schemes and plays and contributes, completing "tasks" for "rewards". There's a ruthlessness to the contestants, who's lying, who's genuine, who's going to come out on top. They're brutal. It was hard to understand why they were there. For the extravagant prizes? Escape? To find "love"? For fame?

This was deeper than a quick summer read, with an ending that felt a bit rushed. Maybe knowing more about what made Lily tick would have helped. Or maybe that was the point.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the Advance Reader Copy. (pub. date 6/24/2025)

This book is a completely immersive experience that is a dystopian blend of concepts like The Hunger Games, reality dating shows, and what we value (and find entertaining!) in our society in the age of social media, influencers, and what really matters to us. Our narrator Lily wakes up on Page 1 in the compound, the setting of some sort of reality show that encourages contestants on the compound to "couple up", form alliances, and humiliate themselves for both personal and group rewards. As the numbers dwindle and contestants must choose who stays, who pairs up with who, and who is banished from the compound, the rewards become more valuable and fame is within reach. We as the readers are only privy to the experiences on the compound with Lily, and like her, we can only guess at how the producers think, pull the puppet strings, and create drama for their audience. We also learn very little about the outside world, other than that it is a time of war and great hardship. I found this book interesting, compelling, and insightful...even as the characters themselves were quite unlikable, though I suppose that was intentional commentary on what we value in today's society. Thank you for the opportunity to read this ARC!

The dystopian like environment of contestants waking up to find they’re on a reality tv show away from u rest in the world is what drew me to this novel. I’m not a big romance reader so I think there was a lot more romance than I had expected, which I didn’t enjoy. It reminded me of Love Island rather than Lord of the Flies. Not for me but it definitely has its audience out there.

The Compound is a debut novel written by Aisling Rawle. Lily discovers that she is living on a desert compound and partaking in having her life filmed 24/7 as she navigates her new situation. She and her new housemates must pair up every night to continue living in the house and earning rewards that they then promote on air. The longer they stay, the richer the rewards become. Soon Lily is having to reckon with her conscience as she decides just what she'll do in order to stay on the show. This one will have you wondering what you'd do if you found yourself in this situation. Do the ends justify the means? Read and enjoy!

I couldn't put this book down so I gave it four stars. It moved along well, and had a good variety of characters. It was an interesting mix of reality dating and survival shows which I enjoyed.
I was let down when I got to the ending. It felt unfinished for the protagonist. I wanted to know more and for that, I was frustrated. Overall, I had fun reading it. Thank you for this ARC!

4.25⭐️. I’m landing on a 4.25⭐️, though I’m still processing this one. The Compound is… well, unlike anything I’ve ever read. Imagine Love Island meets The Bachelorette, Big Brother, and Survivor—all thrown into a future dystopia ravaged by war. Twenty contestants are invited to “The Compound,” an isolated location, to compete for TV ratings, prizes, and fame. You can’t tell me that doesn’t sound like a book begging to be added to your TBR!

This was a wild ride—part fascinating, part horrifying, and completely unputdownable. At times it felt like watching a train wreck in slow motion: disturbing, yet impossible to look away from. While the characters and plot were extreme, the novel cleverly critiques real-world issues like overconsumption, performative living, our obsession with instant gratification, and the growing discomfort with just being still—being present, being content.

In many ways, the story is a mirror. It forces you to reflect on your own habits, your place in society, and the broader culture of always wanting more. There’s a haunting brilliance in how the book takes on themes of distorted desire, control, love, trust, fame, and happiness. It left me questioning—and that’s the mark of a great book.

This one will stick with you long after the final page.

Content Warnings: infidelity, violence, abuse, bullying, starvation, dehydration, depression, lying, psychosis, blood, graphic violence and gore, animal death, confinement, 24/7 surveillance, manipulation, psychological distress, paranoia, sexual coercion, grief, extreme trauma, mental duress

Spice: 🌶️ (light but thematically intense)

Tropes/Genres: dystopian, suspense, psychological thriller, reality TV satire, cult dynamics, gender roles, consumerism

So you think this book would be right up my alley - a dating show with a deadly aspect! It just didn't hit for me, and I'm not entirely sure why. Some of it was that Lily, our main character, isn't super likeable... and just not a lot happened in the story I guess. And maybe there just wasn't enough love for me? Not that there often is in a dating show but I digress. I just didn't find this as page-turning and "unputdownable" as I kept hearing about. I received an advance review copy for free and I'm leaving this review voluntarily.

As a huge Love Island fan UK fan, I couldn't wait to read this and I was not disappointed. While it got very dark in spots (not a problem for me) the overall tone was punchy enough to plow through.. I couldn't put it down. I had to know who would survive the compound. A true nightmare reflection of today's political climate and reality television hell, this book is well worth the read.

I could not get into this book and just slogged along for most of it. I love reality tv and this started out like that but for me it just didn’t close the deal.

The Compound by Aisling Rawle emerges the reader in a reality TV show where contestants are expected to perform group tasks to gain not only essentials need to survive on the compound, but also additional items for individual tasks. Set in a dystopian backdrop, where resources for society are scarce, the contestants after electing to leave on their own or are banished, are allowed to take with them the items they have won.

This book explores what individuals are willing to do in order to win the ultimate prize, an indefinite stay on the compound. With increasing stakes, as time goes on, contestants demonstrate how far they are willing to go in order to win. This is a great debut for Aisling Rawle, and I cannot wait to see what comes next from this author.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group - Random House | Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Rating: 4 Stars
Pub Date: Jun 24 2025

#RandomHouse
#The Compound
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#Dystopian
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Nearly everyone I work with has been talking about the latest season of Love Island — who’s kissing whom, who’s coupling and re-coupling, who’s getting dumped. And while I’m not personally keeping tabs on the villa this summer, I’ve been known to waste hours of my life binging Love Is Blind or The Bachelor.

So when I read the description of Aisling Rawle’s debut novel — “Love Island meets Lord of the Flies!” — I was like, “Hold my golden wine goblet.”

The Compound tells the story of Lily, a beautiful young woman who’s one of 20 contestants on a reality TV show. The men and women gather on a compound in the desert and immediately have to couple up to stay in the game. Anyone who’s alone in bed when the sun comes up is immediately banished. They also have to perform tasks to earn communal necessities like food and appliances, and they compete individually for luxury items like designer clothes or jewelry. Hidden cameras catch every angle of the action, and as you might guess, it doesn’t take long for the competition to go from friendly to fierce.

Then it gets weird. And then it gets dark.

Rawle’s writing is gripping and propulsive, and she hints at a dystopian hellscape just beyond the compound’s gates. When unseen producers raise the stakes, we watch Lily and her housemates go from playing the game to fighting for their lives.

With nods to The Hunger Games and even Black Mirror, The Compound offers prime poolside reading. A binge-worthy guilty pleasure.

The Compound by Aisling Rawle is a phenomenal debut!
This was a quick and entertaining read that I finished in a few hours.
A well written story that kept me hooked from the very beginning.
The characters draw you in and keeps you flipping the pages.

The Compound by Aisling Rawle is best described as a cross between Love Island and Lord of the Flies with a bit of The Hunger Games feeling. It seems like a light summer read but has deeper undertones about influencer and performance culture and consumerism. It’s a really interesting examination of our obsession with reality tv and the people who compete or appear on those shows.

Fun, binge-able read about “pretty” people being psychopaths.
It gets a bit annoying after a while but this will be fine to read by the pool or on the beach or on a plane. It will help pass the time.

This book had a really unique premise that was so easy to become immersed in. The story takes place at “the compound” which is the setting of a dark reality show in a vaguely futuristic society. Contestants must choose a partner to couple with, and they complete tasks (which are often designed to entertain viewers at the expense of manipulating the contestants) in order to earn prizes or simply avoid banishment. The show has very few guardrails to protect the contestants, and conflicts often turn sinister. Although she is not always the most likable, I came to love the narrator, Lily, who describes herself as having no real skills or talents. Her self awareness and often cold, detached attitude make her a surprisingly strong contender at the compound.

The book didn’t quite match what I was expecting based on all the buzz around it, and I think that was because the social commentary is really understated- it’s definitely not your typical dystopian novel, but more of a fascinating study of characters. I really look forward to reading more reviews and seeing the discussion around this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the opportunity for the early read!

I was really excited to read this debut novel. The premise of the story was intriguing, and really different. I enjoyed the dystopian, reality TV theme. The author did a really good job with character development. I was really connected to the narrator, Lily. The one drawback for me was that there were so many other characters, it was difficult to keep track, and invest in all of them.
There was tension and drama throughout the story, keeping me engaged. It was difficult to put this one down!
Overall, a really great, interesting read. I look forward to more from this author.

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

I am not really sure how to rate this book. For the first 50% (ish), it read like a reality TV show, which was fun to watch. The second 50%, though got very dark and weird. I don' t mind dark and weird at all, but it was just a little jarring. I know that Rawle is doing some interesting things by making us look at the disgusting nature of consumerism and how it slogs on even while everything else is dying, but it was still jarring. I would say that the book reads as if it were set in the US with the nature and setting of the reality show (I don't know of any deserts in the UK), but there are inconsistencies with the dialogue. Characters often use UK words for things and ways of speaking. If that doesn't bother you, then that's fine - but if it will bother you - be aware that it's there. I decided to suspend my disbelief and believe that, because of climate change, we were in a UK with a desert. This isn't too far fetched, as the world that Rawle paints here is undeniably dark and depressing, and the worst of it is that it's not far in the future from where we are now. I did NOT like Lily, our MC, at all. She was so flat and affectless and only concerned with material things, which I think was the point of her character - I don't think it was a writing flaw of Rawle's - more an unlikable character. By the end, I didn't really care if she won or lost or how it all played out because she felt like she had already lost to me. I don't know if that was the intent, but by the end of the story, I just didn't care anymore because I couldn't bring myself to like any of the characters that were left on the show, and I didn't care who won. I think, as an experiment, this was an interesting work of fiction, and an intriguing lens through which to examine the slow and inevitable collapse of humanity. But I mostly read to hide from the slow and inevitable collapse of humanity, which may ultimately be why I didn't love this one. It was fine, but I didn't LOVE it.

Except for a couple of talent driven reality tv shows and the guilty pleasure of The Amazing Race, I absolutely abhor the genre so The Compound was right up my alley. This dystopian story highlights everything wrong with this programming with the big brother is watching element, the greed for luxury, the encouragement of embarrassment, the cruelty of the cast to each other, and assorted backbiting and set ups of shomances. Personal opinions of reality tv aside, the novel never lost my interest so now the thought occurs to me—-Do I like my reality in literary form?

Reading this felt just like watching a reality show. I felt like part of the audience, observing the characters play out their drama. The story is fast-paced, fun, and incredibly engaging. The concept is fresh and thought-provoking, offering an insightful look into human nature and what we choose to value.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random