This reminded me of a combination reality show with a Sprinkle of The Hunger Games. It did not seem like it was meant to be a survival game initially but that is definitely what happened. It held my attention but there were definitely some weird points in the plot that left me with questions at the end of the story but I feel like younger readers would connect with the technology and drama of the story.

A pretty crazy read..
I wasn’t really sure what to expect from The Compound, I knew the author compared it to Lord of the Flies and Love Island.
A few chapters in I immediately thought of the television show Big Brother. Seven young men and seven women are dropped into the desert, some directly in the “compound“ where they are watched and streamed to an audience 24/7. They are given challenges and tasks to do to win items needed to survive. At night when they go to bed they must have a partner of the opposite sex with them, whoever wakes up alone is kicked out of the compound.
The Lord of the Flies aspect comes in to play because there are wild animals they have to watch out for and there is the possibility of running out of food and water. There is also the fear of violence between participants, which there are rules against but known to happen.
The Compound takes place in a dystopian era, although it started kind of slow as the participants dwindle down the action picks up. It gets pretty interesting once you learn who the contestants are and what their reason for being there is.

A nihilistic, late-stage capitalism Love island. Pretty entertaining!

Would have liked a bit more world building / background info on the main character,

The Compound by Aisling Rawle pulled me in fast and didn’t let go. From the first few pages, I knew I was in for something tense, eerie, and layered with meaning. It’s the kind of story that makes you feel like you’re standing just outside of something dangerous—watching it unfold, powerless to look away.

At the heart of the book is this insular, high-control community tucked away from the rest of the world. Right away, the setting felt oppressive and off-kilter in the best way—like something’s wrong, even if you can’t quite name it yet. And as the story unravels, that creeping dread only deepens. Rawle does such a good job building tension slowly, making every choice, every silence, every glance feel like it might tip everything over the edge.

What I appreciated most was how The Compound isn’t just a thriller—it’s a study of control, belief, and the quiet resistance that can bloom in the most unlikely places. The main character’s journey felt incredibly real to me: the internal conflict, the self-doubt, the push and pull between loyalty and self-preservation. I found myself rooting for her, even when I wasn’t sure how—or if—she’d make it out.

There’s a stark honesty in how Rawle writes. The story doesn’t flinch away from darkness, but it doesn’t drown in it either. Instead, it focuses on survival in all its forms: emotional, physical, and even spiritual. It’s unsettling, yes, but also deeply human.

By the end, I wasn’t just holding my breath—I was thinking hard about the systems we accept, the ones we’re born into, and what it takes to finally see them clearly.

4 stars- a self proclaimed love island fanatic, i was stoked for this. dystoptian, eerie and a 180 twist of the fan favorite show. thanks netgalley & the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

This book was a page turner! Great for the reality tv-addict who also loves a cryptic twist. It’s like Love Island meets Animal Farm. It leaves you questioning the value we place on material things.

An incredible thriller. I don’t want to give anything away. For a debut book, this is one to read! Really, it is one to read anyways.

Thank you net galley for the opportunity to experience an early read with The Compound

3.5-4 stars. Reality tv is not something I crave but this book kept me hooked!
Genre: Fiction
Descriptors: REALITY TV. Think Love Island with some twists.
Least Favorite Character: Tom, what a douche.
Standalone? Yes
Would I recommend? If you are a reality tv junkie I would absolutely recommend this. It's like binge watching and also hearing what's going on in everyone's head

3.5 stars. This was an enjoyable read exploring the very human themes of selfishness, capitalism, overconsumption, and our obsession with social media/the need to be liked.

I was hoping for a darker and perhaps more violent story (not to say there wasn’t violence) I wouldn’t say the book fell short in that regard, I think I just had different expectations.

I would certainly read another book from this author and enjoyed the way it was written.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Was this groundbreaking? No. Did I absolutely devour it? Yes. This felt like I was binge watching trash TV, which I LOVE.
My only gripe with this was the extremely lackluster ending which didn't come together the way I was hoping. That being said, the twists and turns were extremely fun in this book. Giving Survivor meets the Bachelor.
Thank you NetGalley and Madison Dettlinger for the eARC

First and foremost I received an e-arc from NetGalley.

Now, there was some crazy twists and turns, I was engaged, but the ending was lack luster. I was expecting more or hoping that I would get a better ending.

Think the tv show Survivor meets the real world with a dark twist that falls a bit short.

While it is a page turner that is the equivalent to binging your favorite reality tv show, it doesn’t come together the way I expected it to.

I love reality TV and I don’t care who knows it!!!! I’ll shout it from the mountain tops. (Literally no one telling me it’s not ok to love it). Writing about reality shows—and social media—can often come across as too obviously fabricated. There’s a quality about reality TV, social media, and viral posts that can be hard to replicate when fictionalized. As excited as I was to get an ARC for The Compound, I was worried it would fall into that same trap. I don’t know why I’m building up my thoughts on this book so much lol, but I loved it.

The Compound is marketed as Love Island meets Lord of the Flies. Well, I DNFed the latter LOL, so I can’t really speak to that. I would describe it as Love Island meets the Hunger Games meets a psychological thriller but I can’t think of which one. Am I making you want to read this book or just confused?

The beginning started off slow for me, but once it picked up I couldn’t put it down. You don’t get much backstory by design. The contestants aren’t allowed to talk about their personal lives or really say anything about who they are on any real level. But as the book went on, I either didn’t mind this or it just worked so well to build the creepy and uncomfortable atmosphere. The same can be said about the main character. She’s not the most complex or interesting, but that somehow makes her more interesting by the end? All she cares about is not going home. She’s one of those reality TV contestants that makes it as far as she does because she’s very much middle of the road. I’m having a hard time putting into words what I mean, but I’ll just end by saying it’s a yes for me dawg.

A reality TV show told entirely from one contestant's perspective. Lily woke up here but doesn’t actually know where here is. The women just wake up in The Compound and are waiting for the arrival of the men so the show can begin. The rules of the game really aren’t that hard. Rewards are earned by completing both personal and group challenges. The contestants vote who will leave when the producers say someone must depart. The competition begins with nine men and 10 women. The first rule is that everyone must sleep in a bed with an opposite sex member of the group. So, we know that someone will be gone by morning…
Lily was at times a frustrating character. She isn’t very smart or at least that is what she wants everyone to believe. She is here to win and the more prizes that she can collect, the better. As the contestant pool dwindles, the tension increases, and it becomes a question of who will do what to win. The pace mirrors the desert that surrounds them. Sometimes it’s so hot it barely moves and other times the chill of the night has everyone frantically plotting how they can win.
It’s a few days since I finished reading this book and I’m still not entirely sure how I felt about it. It is definitely a look at what we value, or what things we value, and what we are willing to do to get them. I’m not going to give any of the story away, but some people seem to realize the superficial nature of a competition like this sooner than others. There was a moment when I thought Lily had grown as a person, but I’m not quite sure if it was enough.

This is for the lit-fic it girls.

This is like some weird black mirror love island where contestants have to pair up in order to not get eliminated. While doing tasks to be able to get supplies to live comfortably in this compound in the middle of the desert. This was such a unique and eerie story, i couldn’t stop reading. The writing was so eloquent and I feel like it fit the tone of it to the main character so well. Not knowing personal things from the characters made it feel a little superficial feeling and made it hard to believe they actually had feelings for each other. But I still loved the girls friendship and I could actually feel the chemistry between Sam and Lily. Even when things were fine, there was this eerie feeling of when would things turn for the worse and someone would snap. It was creepy not knowing how far the producers of the show would go to make them do tasks and I was always expecting something horrible to happen. I do think the ending was a little underwhelming after everything they went through to get to the end. Still enjoyed it a lot and it was super interesting to read about all these people and how far they would go to get the things that they wanted.



Thanks to Madison Dettlinger and NetGalley for sending me the arc.

As an avid watcher of reality tv and dating competition shows, The Compound was right up my alley. It was a super thoughtful and read engaging read with commentary on the exploitative, dark nature of these entertainment shows. It had a flair of dystopia which I would have liked to read more of, particularly more on life outside the compound itself. I was also expecting there to be a bit of a thriller aspect to it in terms of higher stakes, but overall a very interesting read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the arc!

3.5 stars

The Compound was an utterly addicting read, I devoured it in a few sittings. Despite an anti-hero protagonist who, I would imagine, most readers probably cannot relate to, I was so thoroughly entertained by the characterization in this book. Rawle impressively builds out 19 contestants for the Compound show, whose numbers dwindle, allowing for further exploration as they survive the challenges. I genuinely felt giddy reading about a certain slow-build romance finally come to fruition, a testament to how well written their journeys in the compound were. At times, the themes were a bit obvious- materialism = bad, we need to save the environment, but no one wants to do anything. As a result, the tone was quite "doomer", but that was relatable at least. The reality show setting was juicy and thrilling, the critique of late stage capitalism grim and realistic. Without a doubt, this is one of my favorite books I've read so far this year- I think it'll still be in my top 5 by the end.

This is quite an adventure. I am the reader who has no frame of reference having never read/watched
The Hunger Games or any television shows in this genre.
It is still quite entertaining to see how these young people are manipulated by both the television
program and the other ‘contestants’ in this experience. The guiding force is cooperation and greed
and in equal ,parts. I think this will have a huge cult audience, and I recommend it to everyone.
My thanks to Random House via NetGalley for the download copy of this book for review purposes.

I'm pretty liberal with my stars so maybe in reality this was actually a 3.5 but I really, really liked it! It moved fast and made sense the whole time- I was never confused like I am sometimes with books with multiple characters.
I noticed that this book actually caused a physical reaction in me; my heart was racing! That usually doesn't happen to me! It was fun! If you like the reality show The Bachelor but always feel let down by the lack of action (bloody action) and suspense then you would love this book! :) Minimal language and no graphic or uncomfortable spice!

What a fun concept! Throw a group of people into a desert compound and film them 24/7, something is bound to go badly! I liked the tension and suspense that this story created in me and I felt it was similar to a Black Mirror episode. If you expect a high-intensity, action story, you won't get it with this but the simmering tension really did it for me.

Fun for lovers of reality shows! I really enjoyed reading this book. The main character was super unlikable and I was actually hoping for her demise, but it was a fun read!