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A review by elliemaiblogs
Cruel Castle by Bryony Pearce
5.0
After being stunned and amazed at how savage Savage Island actually was, I had to get stuck into Cruel Castle straight away. I loved every minute of this brutal YA horror and although I was sceptical of how I would like Grady’s POV after the last book, I actually enjoyed this one more!
I was pulled into this escape room style sequel straight away and loved how it differed from the Hunger Games-style island approach in the first one. Grady and the other characters who have earned a place on Gold’s internship have to navigate through Stowerling Keep, Gold’s castle in Scotland. Only to find out if they escape the castle will they receive a promotion in the company. And it’s not going to be as easy as a team-building exercise like they thought.
I loved how each room had a different puzzle to solve in order to move on and escape. There is plenty of violence and tricky traps to keep the reader engaged. Pearce really doesn’t hold back with her descriptions of the gory game that plays out and as someone who doesn’t mind gore, I did squirm quite a bit! However, it’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed a book with this much bloodshed.
I’m such a big fan of multiple POVs so I was thrilled to find that Cruel Castle was told from a few different perspectives. It was very interesting to see how Lizzie and Ben’s characters developed from the first book, it was easy to see how much the ‘Iron Teen Tragedy’ affected them. Although I’m not the biggest fan of Grady, I loved being able to see into his mind and his way of thinking during everything going on.
Cruel Castle is the perfect twisty and gory sequel that you could ask for after Savage Island. I’ve tried not to include a lot of spoilers just so you can go away and read Savage Island first and get absorbed by the brilliantly thought out game as well as enjoying a little (a lot) of bloodshed! So if you have a strong stomach and have a love for horror, this is definitely the series you are wanting to read.
Rating 4.5/5
I was pulled into this escape room style sequel straight away and loved how it differed from the Hunger Games-style island approach in the first one. Grady and the other characters who have earned a place on Gold’s internship have to navigate through Stowerling Keep, Gold’s castle in Scotland. Only to find out if they escape the castle will they receive a promotion in the company. And it’s not going to be as easy as a team-building exercise like they thought.
I loved how each room had a different puzzle to solve in order to move on and escape. There is plenty of violence and tricky traps to keep the reader engaged. Pearce really doesn’t hold back with her descriptions of the gory game that plays out and as someone who doesn’t mind gore, I did squirm quite a bit! However, it’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed a book with this much bloodshed.
I’m such a big fan of multiple POVs so I was thrilled to find that Cruel Castle was told from a few different perspectives. It was very interesting to see how Lizzie and Ben’s characters developed from the first book, it was easy to see how much the ‘Iron Teen Tragedy’ affected them. Although I’m not the biggest fan of Grady, I loved being able to see into his mind and his way of thinking during everything going on.
Cruel Castle is the perfect twisty and gory sequel that you could ask for after Savage Island. I’ve tried not to include a lot of spoilers just so you can go away and read Savage Island first and get absorbed by the brilliantly thought out game as well as enjoying a little (a lot) of bloodshed! So if you have a strong stomach and have a love for horror, this is definitely the series you are wanting to read.
Rating 4.5/5