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The Laws of the Skies
Twelve six-year-olds and their three adult chaperones head into the woods on a camping trip. None of them make it out alive.
The Laws of the Skies follows the terrified children as they scatter into the night to escape danger, dressed only in their pajamas. They face their darkest childhood fears and new imaginary threats, like trolls masquerading as boulders and child-eating tree trunks.
A harrowing story of those days in the woods, of illness, poisoning, and accidents; of a love triangle among tots; a pint-sized hero; and a child on a murderous rampage that comes to a grisly end. Part fairy tale, part horror story, this macabre fable takes us through the minds of all the members of this doomed party, murderers and murdered alike.
The Laws of the Skies follows the terrified children as they scatter into the night to escape danger, dressed only in their pajamas. They face their darkest childhood fears and new imaginary threats, like trolls masquerading as boulders and child-eating tree trunks.
A harrowing story of those days in the woods, of illness, poisoning, and accidents; of a love triangle among tots; a pint-sized hero; and a child on a murderous rampage that comes to a grisly end. Part fairy tale, part horror story, this macabre fable takes us through the minds of all the members of this doomed party, murderers and murdered alike.
148 pages, Paperback
First published October 11, 2016
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20.4k people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,694 reviews
August 17, 2019
The bus pulled away along the village road, and the parents' long shadows shrunk behind the condensation-covered windows.
And there you have it.
The children were on their way.
They would never return.
you know* from the get-go that everyone in this book dies: twelve six-year-old children and their three adult chaperones bloodying up the french forest on the worst camping trip/darkest fairytale ever.
and it’s one of the best books i’ve read in a long time. not (just) because i’m a monster, but for the balls of its plot combined with the quality of its writing. i thought i knew what i was getting into; i figured it would be the same kind of fun as , but this book is more than satirical pulp horror—damn good writing and metafictional flourishes elevate it well out of the class of pulpy gore. which is an unfortunate phrasing, but also very apt.
it’s a short book, so things start going bad immediately, and they do not let up, with descriptions at once lurid and matter-of-fact. there’s an early scene in which we’re not, at first, sure what we’re looking at, but once it becomes clear, it becomes…real clear. and icky. and that’s before anyone even dies.
overall, the death scenes are dispassionate in tone. after the first one, which is splattery and vivid and goes on for an almost comically long time, the writing around the deaths grows cooler, more casual. the novel broadens into a more psychological-anthropological-cerebral kind of take than i expected, and there’s an effective displacement technique that comes from shifting perspectives—the story will sometimes switch POVs mid-paragraph, sometimes several times, which is less confusing than it sounds, and it gives this marvelous
still, there are so many ways a body can break.
you know what also breaks? the literary fourth wall!!!
Somewhere, far away, Yasmine and Emma were sobbing, too, as were Nathan, and Océane, and Louis, and in the dark forest, in the little perimeter that represented one one-hundredth of the entire wooded area, if you cocked an ear, you could hear a tearful symphony of ‘Mommy!� rise above the treetops, whether spoken or simply thought so hard that it had resonated in the sap-filled hearts of the broad, deciduous trees and the towering evergreens. The cries of the children calling for their mothers had filled the space and made everything tremble, tremors that reached the most obtuse of sensibilities, moving anyone who could detect the vibration, that is, anyone other than you, dear reader, who have the privilege and the curse of grasping the unbearable birds-eye view of a forest, plunged into the darkness of one inconsequential night, from which rise the cries for help of children left to their own devices, and children who have died, or who will die, and whose salvation you can do nothing for. That is your lot, and that is theirs, tragic roles that each will have to play as best they can, until the last page.
it shifts into second person a few more times with one very special occurrence towards the end which shows some stellar authorial decision-making, and made me love the book so so much. although, i knew it was love as soon as i read the story that gives the novel its name. a book that has creepy children AND horrible birds? this is my kind of horror.
* i mean, you know if you have read the book’s first page** or the book’s synopsis. if not…spoiler alert?
** or page 7 because that is the page where the words start.
*
BOUGHT. READ. REVIEW TO COME.
***
Tous apprennent, dans la douleur, les lois du ciel.
bwah ha haaaaaaa!
want intensely. want like a BEAST!
March 10, 2019
Consider this entire review a Disclaimer:
I'm not giving anything away that isn't in the description when I ask this...
Have you ever read a book where every character dies?
EVERY. SINGLE. CHARACTER. DIES.
Twelve 6 year old classmates and their three chaperones, all dead.
And they die in the worst imaginable ways. This story is dark and disturbing beyond compare. Gory graphic scenes of the death of children...
AND I FUCKING LOVED IT!!!
From start to finish I was captivated by the unfathomable darkness of this little story (only 148 pages on my tablet).
If you're into graphic horror novels then buckle up buttercups, this book is for you.
Aside from the subject matter, Grégoire Courtois is a great writer. It makes the story all the more disturbing because it's written wonderfully.
I would and will read anything this man publishes. Any writer that isn't afraid to take an unflinching high dive off the deep end of an unthinkable cliff is my favorite type and Courtois is a master.
Dammit I don't even know what to read next because anything else is going to be a disappointment.
My one and only critique is that a number of the children are characterized much older than the age of six therefore some suspension of disbelief is required and for that reason alone I had to knock this one down a star.
I received an ARC from Coach House Books in exchange for an honest review.
I'm not giving anything away that isn't in the description when I ask this...
Have you ever read a book where every character dies?
EVERY. SINGLE. CHARACTER. DIES.
Twelve 6 year old classmates and their three chaperones, all dead.
And they die in the worst imaginable ways. This story is dark and disturbing beyond compare. Gory graphic scenes of the death of children...
AND I FUCKING LOVED IT!!!
From start to finish I was captivated by the unfathomable darkness of this little story (only 148 pages on my tablet).
If you're into graphic horror novels then buckle up buttercups, this book is for you.
Aside from the subject matter, Grégoire Courtois is a great writer. It makes the story all the more disturbing because it's written wonderfully.
I would and will read anything this man publishes. Any writer that isn't afraid to take an unflinching high dive off the deep end of an unthinkable cliff is my favorite type and Courtois is a master.
Dammit I don't even know what to read next because anything else is going to be a disappointment.
My one and only critique is that a number of the children are characterized much older than the age of six therefore some suspension of disbelief is required and for that reason alone I had to knock this one down a star.
I received an ARC from Coach House Books in exchange for an honest review.
June 6, 2019
This might be the dumbest book I have ever read, and I mean that on many different levels. If it was meant as entertainment, it was anything but. If it was supposed to be some sort of social commentary, I didn't see it. And if I was to care about what was going on just because most of the characters were six years old, I didn't. There was absolutely no build up or character development for anybody and things just all of a sudden started happening in terms of everyone dying. At different times during the story the author seemed to try to wax philosophical about the meaning of friendships, life in general, and people's intrinsic motivations to be who they are and it was so embarrassing as to be laughable, because it is all supposed to be thoughts of six year olds. Six year olds don't talk like that, six year olds don't act like that, and six year olds sure as hell don't ponder life's questions with that kind of internal dialogue. At no point did I picture any of them to be the ages they were written as and it kept me completely out of the story. I was also expecting to be shocked and I wanted a good horror story, maybe I'm a jaded reader but like that old Jane's Addiction album when it came to reading this: Nothing's Shocking. IMO the author was trying too hard on multiple fronts and face-planted laughingly so on all of them. This was a waste of money and I only finished it because for one it was short and two it was like watching a comedian bomb on stage and I wanted to see how bad things could get. My rating is a fart noise followed by thumbs down!
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March 2, 2023I just realized my ŷ review isn’t showing anymore for some reason- here are the spoilers for the story in case you’re wanting them.
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The story is about a group of first graders on a field trip in the woods. Throughout the course of the book, our antagonist Enzo (a child himself) kills off the adult chaperone and most of the other children on the trip. In the end, Enzo gets tied up by another child, and over the course of 8 pages, slowly gets eaten alive by a wild boar. It’s graphic, and bleak, and made me feel like garbage.
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The story is about a group of first graders on a field trip in the woods. Throughout the course of the book, our antagonist Enzo (a child himself) kills off the adult chaperone and most of the other children on the trip. In the end, Enzo gets tied up by another child, and over the course of 8 pages, slowly gets eaten alive by a wild boar. It’s graphic, and bleak, and made me feel like garbage.
October 1, 2020
Jesus that was dark. Is France okay?
April 10, 2019
Holy hell! This book about 6 year old children on a camping trip gone wrong is absolutely brutal.
Twelve students and three chaperones enter the woods for a camping trip and none of them come out alive. That's not a spoiler, that is in the book synopsis. So I knew this wasn't going to be all rainbows and lollipops but this guy took it so far deeper and darker than I was expecting. It was nearly relentless.
"The cries of the children calling for their mothers had filled the space and made everything tremble, tremors that reached the most obtuse of sensibilities, moving anyone who could detect the vibration, that is, anyone other than you, dear reader, who have the privilege and the curse of grasping the unbearable birds-eye view of a forest, plunged into the darkness of one inconsequential night, from which the cries for help of children who have died, or who will die, and whose salvation you can do nothing for. That is your lot, and that is theirs, tragic roles that each will have to play out as best they can, until the last page."
Has a quote ever been more fitting? From that quote alone you can see what a terrific writer Grégoire Courtois is but, be warned, he doesn't give two shits about anyone's feelings. Triggers are everywhere! Ooooo, and that last scene was disgustingly descriptive.
My only issue with this grim tale was that the 6 year old children didn't read like 6 year old children at all. As the reader we reside within the heads and thoughts of the children through out the book and these kids have a far better and more expanded vocabulary than me which took me out of the story a bit because I couldn't actually imagine these children which kept me rather detached. This is a quick read (maybe 160 pages) if you've got the stomach for it! Recommend to weirdo's only. 4 stars!
Thank you to Edelweiss and Coach House Books for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Twelve students and three chaperones enter the woods for a camping trip and none of them come out alive. That's not a spoiler, that is in the book synopsis. So I knew this wasn't going to be all rainbows and lollipops but this guy took it so far deeper and darker than I was expecting. It was nearly relentless.
"The cries of the children calling for their mothers had filled the space and made everything tremble, tremors that reached the most obtuse of sensibilities, moving anyone who could detect the vibration, that is, anyone other than you, dear reader, who have the privilege and the curse of grasping the unbearable birds-eye view of a forest, plunged into the darkness of one inconsequential night, from which the cries for help of children who have died, or who will die, and whose salvation you can do nothing for. That is your lot, and that is theirs, tragic roles that each will have to play out as best they can, until the last page."
Has a quote ever been more fitting? From that quote alone you can see what a terrific writer Grégoire Courtois is but, be warned, he doesn't give two shits about anyone's feelings. Triggers are everywhere! Ooooo, and that last scene was disgustingly descriptive.
My only issue with this grim tale was that the 6 year old children didn't read like 6 year old children at all. As the reader we reside within the heads and thoughts of the children through out the book and these kids have a far better and more expanded vocabulary than me which took me out of the story a bit because I couldn't actually imagine these children which kept me rather detached. This is a quick read (maybe 160 pages) if you've got the stomach for it! Recommend to weirdo's only. 4 stars!
Thank you to Edelweiss and Coach House Books for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.
December 6, 2023
⭐️4.5
If Lord of the Flies met The Troop.
I loved this. It's short, punchy, and disgustingly enthralling.
This revolves around 2 horror tropes - 1. human depravity and 2. bad luck x 10000.
You might think that a book clocking in at 148 pages couldn't get under your skin but I'm here to tell you that this DID THAT for me. I already want to re-read it. I'm still thinking about it.
I'm convinced that novellas were conceptualized for horror. No other genre does it better.
I might just buy this for my shelves. What a weird and freaky and exciting read.
If Lord of the Flies met The Troop.
I loved this. It's short, punchy, and disgustingly enthralling.
This revolves around 2 horror tropes - 1. human depravity and 2. bad luck x 10000.
You might think that a book clocking in at 148 pages couldn't get under your skin but I'm here to tell you that this DID THAT for me. I already want to re-read it. I'm still thinking about it.
I'm convinced that novellas were conceptualized for horror. No other genre does it better.
I might just buy this for my shelves. What a weird and freaky and exciting read.
December 23, 2021
Christmas is almost upon us, with "O Holy Night" and sugarplums and turkeys and goodwill toward men, and here I am, reading this ridiculous, gory book. What, seriously, is that all about??? Something to explore in my next therapy session, to be sure.
This novel by French author Grégoire Courtois is horror more than anything else, and it didn't really work for me, so I'm trying to figure out if I just don't like horror (I hated this bloodbath, but loved this freak show), or if it's all just kinda silly.
So, this is a class camping trip gone very wrong. The first page tells us that the dozen six-year-olds and three adult chaperones all die. Basically, this short book chronicles each and every death. It's all just a romp in the woods with people being afraid and/or lost, and then dying. Many a cracked skull is to be found in these pages, half the carton of skulls here making a nice little omelette.
I had several problems with this book. First, I didn't believe for a moment that six year olds think or talk this way, let alone behave this way. Due to the zero character development, it's just a list of names trudging toward their already prescribed fate. MEH. I wish I could at least praise the writing, which is occasionally cheeky and breaks the fourth wall almost as though some French sadist is reading this to us as a bedtime story, and pauses to acknowledge the torture he is inflicting. More often than not, however, I was irritated by endless run-on sentences.
Actually, that's not entirely true. There was one scene I did admire, in which all the children, scattered in the forest, deep in fear, raise a collective, primal call for their mothers. This I did believe, this chilled me to the bone.
I'm still trying to figure it out. Maybe I missed the tone of the book, and thus, the point. Is it tongue in cheek? Is it saying something larger? The comparisons to Lord of the Flies elude me. Just because there are kids running around and dying (with a wild boar in the background) really doesn't merit the connection to Golding's classic, except to say it's clumsily derivative.
At the end of the day, though, it's probably more my problem, not the book's. I love lit that explores dark places, but this was too camp (ha!) for me. Too gratuitous, too unearned. It probably means I'm not into the genre, rather than that the author didn't succeed at his goal.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to decorate some gingerbread men with "It's A Wonderful Life" playing in the background! Joy to the World!
2.5 stars
This novel by French author Grégoire Courtois is horror more than anything else, and it didn't really work for me, so I'm trying to figure out if I just don't like horror (I hated this bloodbath, but loved this freak show), or if it's all just kinda silly.
So, this is a class camping trip gone very wrong. The first page tells us that the dozen six-year-olds and three adult chaperones all die. Basically, this short book chronicles each and every death. It's all just a romp in the woods with people being afraid and/or lost, and then dying. Many a cracked skull is to be found in these pages, half the carton of skulls here making a nice little omelette.
I had several problems with this book. First, I didn't believe for a moment that six year olds think or talk this way, let alone behave this way. Due to the zero character development, it's just a list of names trudging toward their already prescribed fate. MEH. I wish I could at least praise the writing, which is occasionally cheeky and breaks the fourth wall almost as though some French sadist is reading this to us as a bedtime story, and pauses to acknowledge the torture he is inflicting. More often than not, however, I was irritated by endless run-on sentences.
Actually, that's not entirely true. There was one scene I did admire, in which all the children, scattered in the forest, deep in fear, raise a collective, primal call for their mothers. This I did believe, this chilled me to the bone.
I'm still trying to figure it out. Maybe I missed the tone of the book, and thus, the point. Is it tongue in cheek? Is it saying something larger? The comparisons to Lord of the Flies elude me. Just because there are kids running around and dying (with a wild boar in the background) really doesn't merit the connection to Golding's classic, except to say it's clumsily derivative.
At the end of the day, though, it's probably more my problem, not the book's. I love lit that explores dark places, but this was too camp (ha!) for me. Too gratuitous, too unearned. It probably means I'm not into the genre, rather than that the author didn't succeed at his goal.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to decorate some gingerbread men with "It's A Wonderful Life" playing in the background! Joy to the World!
2.5 stars
March 18, 2023
I loved everything about The Laws of the Skies. It's a survival horror novella about a class of children who go camping, and it's bleak in the exact way I wanted.
The story felt like a children's tale, and the narrator read it as such, but this tale has lots of death.
Even the children's story in the story is dark. 5 stars for the pure enjoyment.
The story felt like a children's tale, and the narrator read it as such, but this tale has lots of death.
Even the children's story in the story is dark. 5 stars for the pure enjoyment.
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April 29, 2022Maybe the most unprepared I have ever been going in blind to a book. Completely unexpected. A chaperoned field trip out in the woods and everything goes horribly, terribly wrong. But wrong is an understatement and I’m being tight lipped in order to preserve all the discoveries for future readers.
Admittedly, some scenes were almost too much for me. They made me noticeably sick; extremely uncomfortable but I suffered through it. Not going to say why! But I will say, one of the most memorable, despicable, hated characters in a story ever.
Highly recommend if you can handle it :)
Admittedly, some scenes were almost too much for me. They made me noticeably sick; extremely uncomfortable but I suffered through it. Not going to say why! But I will say, one of the most memorable, despicable, hated characters in a story ever.
Highly recommend if you can handle it :)
January 11, 2023
The Laws of The Skies, a dark/horror book, was a solid 5 stars.
What should be a happy and fun-filled time, as 12 children and 3 adults embark on camping trip- things quickly turn horribly wrong and everyone is in the fight for their lives.
This book definitely isn’t for the faint of heart. The Laws of the Skies is a dark and disturbing book; a book that allows little hope or miracles for the 12 children and 3 adults on this trip. A fast paced and entertaining book that I would highly recommend to fans of horror and darker theme novels. It’s brutal, so be warned.
What should be a happy and fun-filled time, as 12 children and 3 adults embark on camping trip- things quickly turn horribly wrong and everyone is in the fight for their lives.
This book definitely isn’t for the faint of heart. The Laws of the Skies is a dark and disturbing book; a book that allows little hope or miracles for the 12 children and 3 adults on this trip. A fast paced and entertaining book that I would highly recommend to fans of horror and darker theme novels. It’s brutal, so be warned.
July 2, 2019
Who knew 140 pages would be so hard to get through? The 5-year-old characters often sound like they’re 30, and the author moves from POV to POV between each paragraph (sometimes even in the middle of a paragraph!). All the great reviews got my psyched for this, but it just didn’t do it for me.
February 23, 2020
A lovely little tale about a class of six-year-olds on their first overnight camping trip. Things don't go quite as expected. This very short novel is relentless, ruthless, and unbelievably cruel to both the reader and the characters alike. It gripped me, and it horrified me, and you should read it, not just because it gleefully stomps on every convention of story-telling, but also because it does so in such a clever, literary, and playfully metafictional way. Great fun. In its execution it reminds me of Michael Haneke's film Funny Games.
September 11, 2022
"The cries of the children calling for their mothers had filled the space and made everything tremble, tremors that reached the most obtuse of sensibilities, moving anyone who could detect the vibration, that is, anyone other than you, dear reader, who have the privilege and the curse of grasping the unbearable birds-eye view of a forest, plunged into the darkness of one inconsequential night, from which rise the cries for help of children left to their own devices, and children who have died, or who will die, and whose salvation you can do nothing for."
Good god, this was dark! Shout out to the friend who recommended this book to me on Instagram! THE LAWS OF THE SKIES was so difficult to get through--difficult because it's hard for me, as I'm sure it's hard for anyone, to read about terrible things happening to children.
What I gathered from this very quick, very horrifying story is that sometimes life is brutal. Bad things happen, the weak and defenseless are stamped out, happy endings are not always reality, the woods are not filled with fairies and sprites that will lead a lost wanderer home. Instead nature is harsh and cares nothing for fearful tears. This is a book that will hold it's readers hostage as they are forced to witness horror without any ability to jump into it's pages and come to the rescue. The last 20 pages or so were probably the roughest parts for me to get through.
All of that being said, this book was very good. a quick, survival-horror novella where things take a turn for the worse, and then they're even worse, and then you realize there's no hope for anyone, and then it ends. Highly recommend for readers who enjoyed William Golding's Lord of the Flies or Nick Cutter's The Troop.
Good god, this was dark! Shout out to the friend who recommended this book to me on Instagram! THE LAWS OF THE SKIES was so difficult to get through--difficult because it's hard for me, as I'm sure it's hard for anyone, to read about terrible things happening to children.
What I gathered from this very quick, very horrifying story is that sometimes life is brutal. Bad things happen, the weak and defenseless are stamped out, happy endings are not always reality, the woods are not filled with fairies and sprites that will lead a lost wanderer home. Instead nature is harsh and cares nothing for fearful tears. This is a book that will hold it's readers hostage as they are forced to witness horror without any ability to jump into it's pages and come to the rescue. The last 20 pages or so were probably the roughest parts for me to get through.
All of that being said, this book was very good. a quick, survival-horror novella where things take a turn for the worse, and then they're even worse, and then you realize there's no hope for anyone, and then it ends. Highly recommend for readers who enjoyed William Golding's Lord of the Flies or Nick Cutter's The Troop.
November 7, 2023
2.5 stars. The premise of this held so much promise, but the execution was poor. No 6 year old I know talks or thinks like this, and the constant switching around from POV to POV was very jarring. Felt like the author just wanted to SHOCK for the sake of it. I did like the general story but the writing style really threw me off.
November 17, 2021
If you can suspend your disbelief enough to believe that a 6 year old could kill two adults and numerous other 6 year olds then this book is for you.
April 27, 2019
I suppose I'm spoiled for truly wicked horror after reading so much Hunter Shea over the last few years, so when I grabbed this on Netgalley, loving the sound of it from the blurb, I thought I was going to be really terrified.
I mean, let's face it... the premise is sick as hell.
The text lives up to the promise, too, but expect it to be more in line with a B-Movie horrorshow that doesn't spare the kids. At all.
Think about the original Halloween meets Kindergartener Survival. Or, rather, first grade. :)
Is it sick? Quite. Does it scratch all those sensational penny dreadful urges in me? Quite.
A very nice change of pace. Mind you, only the sickest readers need to hunt for this little gem. :) This is not for you old farts who sip lemonade on the porch. This is a battle royale with ultimate stakes among six-year-olds. Gird your loins.
I mean, let's face it... the premise is sick as hell.
The text lives up to the promise, too, but expect it to be more in line with a B-Movie horrorshow that doesn't spare the kids. At all.
Think about the original Halloween meets Kindergartener Survival. Or, rather, first grade. :)
Is it sick? Quite. Does it scratch all those sensational penny dreadful urges in me? Quite.
A very nice change of pace. Mind you, only the sickest readers need to hunt for this little gem. :) This is not for you old farts who sip lemonade on the porch. This is a battle royale with ultimate stakes among six-year-olds. Gird your loins.
April 27, 2019
Thank you Netgalley for providing an ARC of this truly traumatizing story.
Well, not really traumatizing to me but I'm sure many people will be traumatized after reading about this camping trip gone wrong of a French school class.
The first graders are accompanied by their teacher and two mothers. When one mother gets sick, the other takes her back to a place where she is picked up. The healthy mother wants to go back to the children but her plans are somewhat thwarted by her own stupidity.
The sick mother doesn't fare any better thanks to the stupidity of the guy picking her up (who, coincidentally is the husband of the other mother - so those two fit well together).
Meanwhile, the children are having dinner and getting a really weird bedtime story from their supposedly oh so pacifist teacher. In fact, the story is so bad that all hell breaks loose and the dying begins.
It's no secret and therefore no spoiler that this is a splatter story. Young children are dying and horribly - and all I can say is that it was pretty great. *lol*
BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!
Well, not really traumatizing to me but I'm sure many people will be traumatized after reading about this camping trip gone wrong of a French school class.
The first graders are accompanied by their teacher and two mothers. When one mother gets sick, the other takes her back to a place where she is picked up. The healthy mother wants to go back to the children but her plans are somewhat thwarted by her own stupidity.
The sick mother doesn't fare any better thanks to the stupidity of the guy picking her up (who, coincidentally is the husband of the other mother - so those two fit well together).
Meanwhile, the children are having dinner and getting a really weird bedtime story from their supposedly oh so pacifist teacher. In fact, the story is so bad that all hell breaks loose and the dying begins.
It's no secret and therefore no spoiler that this is a splatter story. Young children are dying and horribly - and all I can say is that it was pretty great. *lol*
BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!
January 26, 2022
A haunting story that turns disturbing awfully quickly, The Laws of the Skies is about human nature and survival. While the general premise has a lot of potential, I was a little disappointed by the simplicity of it all. One of the children is clearly quite unstable, but it was the choices that the other children made that makes the story truly unputdownable. Honestly, the book reminded me quite a bit of Lord of the Flies, though it’s more disturbing and less realistic.
POPSUGAR Reading Challenge 2022: This book fulfills the "A book you know nothing about " category.
POPSUGAR Reading Challenge 2022: This book fulfills the "A book you know nothing about " category.
January 17, 2025
If you look up the word “bleak� in the dictionary, there will be a picture of this book! 3 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️!
June 17, 2019
Kind of like that scene from Arrested Development where the Warden puts on his movie script as a play with 1st graders.
May 7, 2019
Oh my word! I'm not sure what I just read or how I should rate this!
The Laws of the Skies is definitely outside of my usual comfort zone. Based on the blurb ("Twelve six-year-olds and their three adult chaperones head into the woods on a camping trip. None of them make it out alive."), I was not expecting this to be a light read. But I maybe underestimated just how dark things could get.
Although this is well-written and quite a short read, it took me several weeks to complete this one because I just couldn't read much of it in any one sitting. For those of you who appreciate darker fare, this should be a very quick and enjoyable read for you. (Tim R., you'll likely think this is a light read :p)
3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for this one.
Thank you to NetGalley and Coach House Books for providing me with a DRC of this book.
The Laws of the Skies is definitely outside of my usual comfort zone. Based on the blurb ("Twelve six-year-olds and their three adult chaperones head into the woods on a camping trip. None of them make it out alive."), I was not expecting this to be a light read. But I maybe underestimated just how dark things could get.
Although this is well-written and quite a short read, it took me several weeks to complete this one because I just couldn't read much of it in any one sitting. For those of you who appreciate darker fare, this should be a very quick and enjoyable read for you. (Tim R., you'll likely think this is a light read :p)
3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for this one.
Thank you to NetGalley and Coach House Books for providing me with a DRC of this book.
July 15, 2019
This novel, intended possibly as a latter-day, more grotesque Lord of the Flies, is unfortunately poorly written . badly conceived, and almost unreadable. I don't know what the intended audience is, I can't tell what the purpose of some of the asides are, and I can't figure out why anyone published this as it is. I thought perhaps it was the translation that is bad, but I read a few passages of the original French online, and it's terrible too. Don't bother with this one.
September 12, 2023
"There's no point in talking to some people, you have to smack them, it's the only thing they understand."
Well.... shit, that was dark, bleak and utterly fucked up! Goes to prove that a book does not need to be large to pack one hell of a punch.
Well.... shit, that was dark, bleak and utterly fucked up! Goes to prove that a book does not need to be large to pack one hell of a punch.
September 1, 2022
Beginning was promising but progressively lost any shock value or interest.
April 18, 2025
“The children were on their way.
They would never return.�
If this featured an older group of children, it would be so crazy and intense and horrifying.
Instead, I just kind of had to laugh at the idea of a 6 year old on a killing spree. A lot of this kids seemed to have way more developed inner monologues and ideas than is warranted for kids that age. It just felt like a long winded joke.
They would never return.�
If this featured an older group of children, it would be so crazy and intense and horrifying.
Instead, I just kind of had to laugh at the idea of a 6 year old on a killing spree. A lot of this kids seemed to have way more developed inner monologues and ideas than is warranted for kids that age. It just felt like a long winded joke.
July 12, 2024
"When no decision can be made, we go along with the decisions of those we trust, and if there is no one to trust, we follow the ones we love."
Twelve six year olds and three adults embark on what is supposed to be a fun, relaxing camping trip. As the story progresses and more and more characters are introduced; one of the adults falls ill and has to make her way back home.
Leaving her son in the care of two other trusted adults. However, when one of those adults becomes lost, and the other dead, all hell breaks loose for these tiny souls.
This book was good and extremely dark, despite most of the main characters being children. It was gory, grotesque, violent, harsh but man was it beautifully written. The scenes were well depicted and as a reader I was able to easily visualize everything.
The author's brilliant use of omniscient narration really took this book to whole other level of terror. Witnessing these children and adults fall victim to human evil and even the harshness of nature was nothing short of horrific.
Though it was stated early on that there would be no happy ending. Nothing could've prepared for that second last chapter. The way the author goes into detail, horrifically describing what I think is the worst way to die...bravo.
If you're looking for a book that is filled with all things macabre, yet short but also beautifully written. Then look no further. This is the book for you.
Twelve six year olds and three adults embark on what is supposed to be a fun, relaxing camping trip. As the story progresses and more and more characters are introduced; one of the adults falls ill and has to make her way back home.
Leaving her son in the care of two other trusted adults. However, when one of those adults becomes lost, and the other dead, all hell breaks loose for these tiny souls.
This book was good and extremely dark, despite most of the main characters being children. It was gory, grotesque, violent, harsh but man was it beautifully written. The scenes were well depicted and as a reader I was able to easily visualize everything.
The author's brilliant use of omniscient narration really took this book to whole other level of terror. Witnessing these children and adults fall victim to human evil and even the harshness of nature was nothing short of horrific.
Though it was stated early on that there would be no happy ending. Nothing could've prepared for that second last chapter. The way the author goes into detail, horrifically describing what I think is the worst way to die...bravo.
If you're looking for a book that is filled with all things macabre, yet short but also beautifully written. Then look no further. This is the book for you.
September 19, 2023
remember charlie and the chocolate factory where something happened to each kid and they were dropping like flies? this is like if each kid died a gruesome, tragic death. There was no shock value since you know beforehand that every single character dies. The only surprising thing is how far the author was willing to go to achieve a really gruesome, traumatizing, and unfortunately page turning reading experience.
For a bunch of SIX (6) y/o, they were incredibly advanced..in more ways than one. There was lots of philosophical inner monologue for one. I don't remember being six, but I sure as hell know I wasn't thinking about the meaning of life and friendships at that age. There was also this weird three-way relationship between this trio where they were 'in love' with each other. What does a six year old know about romantic love? Having a crush is one thing, but to this extent?
And let's not forget the little psychopath himself, enzo, who is basically sid from toy story on steroids. HOW is a six year old capable of murder?! He's a child. A fucked up child but still a child. Murder would be putting it nicely for what he did. I've never been more traumatized in my life and that was only chapter 1. His death was...let's just say I never understood the phrase so horrific you could cry until now. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to throw up or cry, or do both. But yeah, this was fucked up with a capital F and I would never recommend it. Instead try therapy cause I might need some.
For a bunch of SIX (6) y/o, they were incredibly advanced..in more ways than one. There was lots of philosophical inner monologue for one. I don't remember being six, but I sure as hell know I wasn't thinking about the meaning of life and friendships at that age. There was also this weird three-way relationship between this trio where they were 'in love' with each other. What does a six year old know about romantic love? Having a crush is one thing, but to this extent?
And let's not forget the little psychopath himself, enzo, who is basically sid from toy story on steroids. HOW is a six year old capable of murder?! He's a child. A fucked up child but still a child. Murder would be putting it nicely for what he did. I've never been more traumatized in my life and that was only chapter 1. His death was...let's just say I never understood the phrase so horrific you could cry until now. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to throw up or cry, or do both. But yeah, this was fucked up with a capital F and I would never recommend it. Instead try therapy cause I might need some.
June 11, 2023
Twelve six-year-olds and their three adult chaperones head into the woods on a camping trip. None of them make it out alive.
Although the premise of the novella was intriguing, I found it to be one of the worst books I have read recently.
Despite it being marketed as a bleak and disturbing tale, similar to books such as Lord of the Flies and The Troop, it fell flat in multiple aspects.
The book relies on the shock factor of featuring children in disturbing situations, but this alone does not make for a compelling story. The 6-year-old characters are portrayed a lot older, engaging in deep philosophical thoughts while wandering through the woods. There is absolutely no distinction in maturity between the children and the adult characters making them all seem very unrealistic.
The writing was also quite difficult to follow as the point of view constantly keeps switching, oftentimes in the middle of a paragraph.
And what were meant to be disturbing scenes instead came across as over-the-top and ridiculous, reminiscent of a Final Destination movie where characters keep dying in the most ridiculous ways. But unlike Final Destination, there was nothing entertaining about this book.
I generally don’t like giving out 1-star ratings but, unfortunately, I could not find any redeeming qualities about this book.
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