Name: Lord of the Fly Fest
ISBN: 9781250230133

Goldy Moldavsky

At Fly Fest, true crime podcaster Rafi Francisco, hoping to score an interview with River Stone, a musician who rose to fame after the mysterious disappearance of his girlfriend, finds herself fighting for her life along with hundreds of other influencers.

Lord of the Fly Fest

New York Times-bestselling author Goldy Moldasky delivers a darkly funny, twisty YA thriller about influencer culture that's Lord of the Flies meets Karen McManus.Rafi Francisco needs a splashy case to put her true crime podcast on the map. She sets her sights on River Stone, the hearthrob musician who rose to stardom after the mysterious disappearance of his girlfriend. Rafi somehow scores a ticket to the exclusive Fly Fest, where River will be the headliner--and her starmaking interview.But when Rafi arrives on the Caribbean island location of Fly Fest with hundreds of other influencers, they quickly discover that the promised dream getaway is more of a nightmare. Soon, Rafi goes from fighting for an interview to fighting for her life as she has to confront beauty gurus-gone-wild and spotty WiFi. And, as she gets closer to River, she discovers that he might be hiding even darker secrets than she suspected.

Lord of the Fly Fest is written for Netflix, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was picked up. I loved that the author thought Fyre Fest, but what if everyone decided to pretend. I guess influencers are good at pretending that everything is fine and that they’re living their best lives while the world falls apart.

And there we have Rafi. She’s the person doing her best to be an intellectual because it’s a podcast, but you also get the sense that Rafi also really wishes did have more influence. She is trying hard to get sponsorships for her podcast while choosing a medium where she can put her thoughts out without putting her face out there. Rafi also plays the sane person on the island; she’s the one who wants to get help ASAP and tries to calm people down. However, when she doesn’t have enough followers to be considered significant, she’s shunted to the side and given plenty of time to think about how River killed his first girlfriend.

As Peggy puts it, Ravi is a little obsessed and knows more about River than his actual fans, and for most of the book, you get the sense that she may just be into him. As the book progresses, you can see Rafi breaking down and doing her best to survive. Towards the end, she also cracks and engages in the same behavior that she looked down on!

I loved all the characters! As I said, this is a Netflix show in the making! Everything is slightly ridiculously over the top and a caricature of what we think influencers are like in person. River’s real story was so ridiculous! I loved the two guys who wanted to sue Banana Republic! I also really loved Greer, Sierra, and Jack and how Sierra was the sanest one of the lot of them. Goldy Moldvasky’s inclusion of Hella Badid was also one of the things that made me love the book!

At one point I literally put the book down and cast people as characters. Of course, Hella Badid will be played by Bella Hadid in my production!

Basically, if you like pop culture, you’ll like this book!

Seher Mohsin

Lord of the Fly Fest is written for Netflix, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was picked up. I loved that the author thought Fyre Fest, but what if everyone decided to pretend. I guess influencers are good at pretending that everything is fine and that they’re living their best lives while the world falls apart.

And there we have Rafi. She’s the person doing her best to be an intellectual because it’s a podcast, but you also get the sense that Rafi also really wishes did have more influence. She is trying hard to get sponsorships for her podcast while choosing a medium where she can put her thoughts out without putting her face out there. Rafi also plays the sane person on the island; she’s the one who wants to get help ASAP and tries to calm people down. However, when she doesn’t have enough followers to be considered significant, she’s shunted to the side and given plenty of time to think about how River killed his first girlfriend.

As Peggy puts it, Ravi is a little obsessed and knows more about River than his actual fans, and for most of the book, you get the sense that she may just be into him. As the book progresses, you can see Rafi breaking down and doing her best to survive. Towards the end, she also cracks and engages in the same behavior that she looked down on!

I loved all the characters! As I said, this is a Netflix show in the making! Everything is slightly ridiculously over the top and a caricature of what we think influencers are like in person. River’s real story was so ridiculous! I loved the two guys who wanted to sue Banana Republic! I also really loved Greer, Sierra, and Jack and how Sierra was the sanest one of the lot of them. Goldy Moldvasky’s inclusion of Hella Badid was also one of the things that made me love the book!

At one point I literally put the book down and cast people as characters. Of course, Hella Badid will be played by Bella Hadid in my production!

Basically, if you like pop culture, you’ll like this book!

Lord of the Fly Fest

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