Review: S.T.A.G.S. by M. A. Bennett

S.T.A.G.S.
by M. A. Bennett
Published by Hot Key Books
YA, contemporary, thriller

Nine students. Three bloodsports. One deadly weekend.

It is the autumn term and Greer MacDonald is struggling to settle into the sixth form at the exclusive St. Aidan the Great boarding school, known to its privileged pupils as S.T.A.G.S. Just when she despairs of making friends Greer receives a mysterious invitation with three words embossed upon on it: huntin' shootin' fishin'. When Greer lean that the invitation is to spend the half term weekend at the country manor of Henry de Warlencourt, the most popular and wealthy boy at S.T.A.G.S., she is as surprised as she is flattered.

But when Greer joins the other chosen few at the ancient and sprawling Longcross Hall, she realises that Henry's parents are not at home; the only adults present are a cohort of eerily compliant servants. The students are at the mercy of their capricious host, and, over the next three days, as the three bloodsports - hunting, shooting and fishing - become increasingly dark and twisted, Greer comes to the horrifying realisation that those being hunted are not wild game, but the very misfits Henry has brought with him from school...

I was so excited to read S.T.A.G.S. and I went in knowing nothing but the tag line - that it was nine students participating three bloodsports during one deadly weekend. It's also set in England and posh boarding school, which sounds promising itself. I wanted to love the story and feel for the characters, and to try figure out who the culprit is. However, that's not what happened.

The story is about Greer MacDonald, who wins a scholarship to attend prestigious St. Aidan the Great School. Greer is in for a rude awakening, because no one talks to her and she fails at making any friends. She gets so excited when she receives invitation from the most popular kids at school to attend a weekend full of hunting, shooting and fishing at a manor in the Lake District. Sounds great, right? Well, the problems don't lie with the plot outline. It's the execution: character development is non-existent, there are too many movie references (the author uses them to describe everything, which can be confusing if you haven't seen the movies), and the narrator, Greer, addresses the reader directly multiple times. It's also a confusing mix of modern and "medieval" - the popular kids refuse to use any technology and they are called "medievals" and people who use modern technology are "savage". The lack of character development leaves everyone one dimensional and very arch-typical. 

Main problem that S.T.A.G.S. has is foreshadowing. It's not subtle and there is a lot of it. First chapters tell reader exactly who is the bad guy, foreshadowing it so properly that it ruins any suspense, any mystery. It's all handed in right away, which makes the book a bit pointless. If I already know who the bad guy is, how am I going to feel surprised or betrayed? It just makes Greer feel silly character, because she seems to believe anything that a charming handsome guy says. Personally, I think the story would have been so much better without any foreshadowing - then there would have been suspense, mystery, and possibly surprise. Now it is just a thriller without any suspense or momentum, which makes it a failed thriller and more contemporary YA. It does try to be clean YA as much as it can, while foreshadowing that horrible things will happen soon.

Overall, I am very disappointed. There was plenty of potential and the tag line is intoxicating (Nine students. Three bloodsports. One deadly weekend.) but the book does not live up to it as the execution is messy. Bones of the story are good, but it needed way more fleshing out and editing - and removing all the foreshadowing.

2 of 5 stars

I aim to keep my reviews spoiler free on my blog, but I had so much to say about the ending. I included a spoiler section on the review on Goodreads, which you can access here, if you want to see what I have to say about the ending. Be warned that the spoiler section reveals two crucial things about the ending, so only read it if you have already read the book or want to know how it ends.

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