STAGS: Nine students. Three blood sports. One deadly weekend.

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I think Greer gets more and more confused. At the beginning of STAGS, even though she is an outsider, she has quite a strong sense of self. She thinks she's got it all figured out. But as time goes on she feels simultaneously attracted and repelled by the lifestyle of the STAGS, just as she is simultaneously attracted and repelled by Henry. As her feelings strengthen towards Shafeen, far from weakening towards Henry, they strengthen towards him, too. However, she soon realises that what the medievals have in mind is far more sinister than she could have ever imagined.

And speaking of the characters, I didn’t like any single one of them. Let’s start with the villains. They are not written in a way that makes them fascinating or interesting. They do all of these things that are evil but for what reasons, where’s the motivation that can convince me that these should be really considered great villains. For me, it was so ridiculous and weird and didn’t feel that well thought out. Oh, come on now. . . occiput? Lambdoid? It's hard enough for poets to find people who will read their poetry; they don't need to make them run for their dictionaries, too.I was really looking forward to this book. I'd waited until I had nothing pressing to do and could just curl up and enjoy it without any distractions. I was so hopeful. Rich kids being hunted, what could be better than that, huh? Memories of a miscarriage they'd had, memories of a summer rental home, and then, years later--coming across him at an art opening in "Runni The Medievals run the school. They hang around in the quad at break times, and bully other students during lessons. At the centre of the group is Henry de Wallencourt. Greer thinks he’s different from the other Medievals. It’s never Henry who bullies, and he’s so good looking. Greer receives an invite to the de Wallencourt country estate for the autumn break. It’s tradition – every year a group of students are invited to take part in blood sports and social events.

Greer herself seemed easily swayed by a pretty face in spite of the mountain of evidence revealed to her here. Yet another thing to add to my paranoia: the book just randomly ends. Sure, there's a big climactic scene, but then a bunch of stuff happens after it until the book just ends practically in the middle of a conversation. There are constant references to movies, which spoke to the film nerd in me, and Greer is a likeable lead to follow as she battles between wanting to be part of the Medievals and survive their savage behaviour. Even when she knows that she’s next on their hit list, she still yearns for their approval. It’s a perfect representation of how young adults look for endorsement from their peers to gain a sense of self-worth. I am obsessed with this series, OBSESSED. I literally devoured this book in no time at all. Somehow, I loved it even more than the first book - and I loved the first book. Reading this at midnight was probably a bad idea though it did spook me a little bit, I'll be honest. This is a subtle YA dark academia dream and I am living vicariously through it.Instead of ruining five young lives - and condemning their characters as wholly evil when they may now improve without the malign influence of their ringleader. Let's start with the fact that it ruins films all the way through. Whenever the main character sees something she has to relate it to a movie. Okay, this is sort of character building, I guess. But not only does she talk about the movie, she spoils the ending. Literally every time, with loads of films! It's not fair! I just don't understand why Nel, Shafeen, and Greer would watch Henry die and be like "well, I KNOW he was an awful guy who murdered loads of people in cold blood and tried to murder literally all of us but he's dead now, let's give him a break and not tell the world he's a murderer." Like it's taking not speaking ill of the dead to a whole new level. This was in itself an interesting premise: Primarily a YA book Stags is an Elite boarding school steeped in tradition and elitism.

Another issue I had with this book was that it was really crazy and pretty ridiculous. You really have to suspend your disbelief reading this book. Living myself beside the hauntingly beautiful counties of Northumberland and Cumberland, I could really relate to the areas the school and Hall were located, the descriptions were truly spot on! I also particularly enjoyed the little references Greer made relating to movies incorporating film scenes where that situation was occurring, and the fact it was written in the first person means we get to hear Greer's doubts and feelings first hand. Later on in the book, she loses brain function every time Shafeen looks at her because OMG HE LIKES HERI could've reread 13 Minutes or Little Monsters or We Were Liars and i would had a very good time but instead i chose this book and it ended up being one brutal exhausting and totally disappointing reading experience that bored the feelings out of me.