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Unnatural Selection
Sixty kidnapped orphans. Deadly tests. Not everyone will survive.
Nineteen-year-old Nic Mariano has been trying (a little unsuccessfully) to keep his life from jumping off the tracks. After getting fired, he signs up for a research study to make some money. When he turns up for the interview, he is knocked out and wakes up in a strange facility with 59 other kidnapped orphans.
Their captors—a mysterious billionaire couple—force them to complete dangerous tests which push them to their limits. Tests filled with deadly robotic creatures, blood and desperation.
As the orphans’ numbers begin to dwindle, danger lurks not only in the vicious tests but also in the other orphans as well. They might not be able to survive without getting blood on their hands. If they can even walk away with their lives.
The Maze Runner meets Whisper in this fast-paced Australian YA sci-fi filled with action, friendship and slow-burn queer romance.
Nineteen-year-old Nic Mariano has been trying (a little unsuccessfully) to keep his life from jumping off the tracks. After getting fired, he signs up for a research study to make some money. When he turns up for the interview, he is knocked out and wakes up in a strange facility with 59 other kidnapped orphans.
Their captors—a mysterious billionaire couple—force them to complete dangerous tests which push them to their limits. Tests filled with deadly robotic creatures, blood and desperation.
As the orphans’ numbers begin to dwindle, danger lurks not only in the vicious tests but also in the other orphans as well. They might not be able to survive without getting blood on their hands. If they can even walk away with their lives.
The Maze Runner meets Whisper in this fast-paced Australian YA sci-fi filled with action, friendship and slow-burn queer romance.
- GenresScience Fiction
228 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 12, 2025
1 person want to read
About the author
Rhiannon Bird
15 books1 followerRhiannon Bird is an Australian author who writes primarily science fiction and fantasy, while sometimes dabbling in romance and poetry. She has a passion and love for storytelling in all its forms. She has been publishing short stories since 2019, and writing for much longer. Her debut novel is coming out in October 2025. Currently, while she is writing, she is also getting her PhD in insect ecology. When she isn't writing she can be found going on hikes, playing board games and talking in the middle of movies. You can find out more on her website: rhiannonbird.com
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 30, 2025
An Australian YA survival story clearly inspired by Maze Runner and Squid Games where a group of abducted orphan teenagers are thrown in a perverse survival series of tests by a sadistic billionaire couple.
While the book could use some better editing and pacing, you will root for Nic and his friend group until the last page.
The potential for a deeper story was left untapped, actual rating 3.5 rounded up to 4 because it was a pleasant read despite the flaws.
Thank you BookSirens for the ARC!
While the book could use some better editing and pacing, you will root for Nic and his friend group until the last page.
The potential for a deeper story was left untapped, actual rating 3.5 rounded up to 4 because it was a pleasant read despite the flaws.
Thank you BookSirens for the ARC!
November 18, 2025
Squid game meets maze runner and make it queer.
I thoroughly enjoyed this one. The stand out point for me was the characters. None of them were perfect people and it made you relate to the characters going through something unbelievable. I especially loved the relationships our main character had with humans robots alike.
Personally, I would have liked to see more depth in certain scenes and more back ground to each character as we get a lot of moments where info is dumped on us and it took me out of the story. This was especially jarring after big plot points. I typically struggle when the motivations for bad guys feel like 'they are rich so of course they went this route' and I wish we could have seen more of the motivations/scale of our antagonists in the real world. This may have then made the end less rushed or shown the repercussions of the characters actions. This is just my opinion though as I am greedy for as much plot as possible.
Saying this, I really liked the premise. I felt the trials the characters faced were confusing and well written; each one more so than the last. It has been awhile since I have cried at a book and carried on reading without a break and I attest this to the writing style and engaging story.
For those looking for a good survival, tournament style with a hint of romance (no smut which works in the stories favour) then this is the book for you.
I look forward to seeing what this author brings out next.
4* from me
I thoroughly enjoyed this one. The stand out point for me was the characters. None of them were perfect people and it made you relate to the characters going through something unbelievable. I especially loved the relationships our main character had with humans robots alike.
Personally, I would have liked to see more depth in certain scenes and more back ground to each character as we get a lot of moments where info is dumped on us and it took me out of the story. This was especially jarring after big plot points. I typically struggle when the motivations for bad guys feel like 'they are rich so of course they went this route' and I wish we could have seen more of the motivations/scale of our antagonists in the real world. This may have then made the end less rushed or shown the repercussions of the characters actions. This is just my opinion though as I am greedy for as much plot as possible.
Saying this, I really liked the premise. I felt the trials the characters faced were confusing and well written; each one more so than the last. It has been awhile since I have cried at a book and carried on reading without a break and I attest this to the writing style and engaging story.
For those looking for a good survival, tournament style with a hint of romance (no smut which works in the stories favour) then this is the book for you.
I look forward to seeing what this author brings out next.
4* from me
October 13, 2025
WOW, that’s all I’ve got. I was lucky enough to read an uncorrected proof and it was amazing, I didn’t want to put it down.
That was awesome, I loved this book. Certain points had me bawling my eyes out like crazy, I’m not okay right now 😭
I did not see the twist at the end coming. The way Rhiannon wraps this story up was just so good, we saw some old characters come back and the ones we love sticking together through it all. Doc is the sweetest little robot, I loved him being part of their little family at the end. Lances last comment to Nic was absolutely gold!
That was awesome, I loved this book. Certain points had me bawling my eyes out like crazy, I’m not okay right now 😭
I did not see the twist at the end coming. The way Rhiannon wraps this story up was just so good, we saw some old characters come back and the ones we love sticking together through it all. Doc is the sweetest little robot, I loved him being part of their little family at the end. Lances last comment to Nic was absolutely gold!
December 2, 2025
Unnatural Selection is a nostalgic throwback to the early 2010s era of YA sci-fi. It reminded me of The Maze Runner and Maximum Ride; kids being subject to experiments at the hands of twisted scientists with selfish goals.
The story follows around sixty orphans who are taken by a famous billionaire couple and held hostage in a creepy laboratory compound where they're subject to a Hunger Games/Dangan Ronpa style death game where they must form alliances, discover why they're here, and find a way to survive at all costs. But will they be the same people once they've done things they never imagined to stay alive?
With a short pagecount and a fast-paced plot, this book flies by and is definitely one to pick up if you're looking for new authors and indie authors to discover, as well as looking for some nostalgic YA with a gay male hero and a sweet, chaste relationship that felt like a breath of fresh air amid all the murder and death and horror.
Lots of twists and turns throughout kept this interesting with the trials themselves and the things the insane things the villains put these kids through being genuinely fascinating. I was always keen to see what the next trial arena would be and didn't get disappointed once.
At times the main villain felt cartoonish, he was pure evil for the sake of being evil, and even given his actual motive at the end, it's hilarious that his approach to it was to be a gloating psychopath the entire time. I will admit I was WRONG about his motive. I won't spoil what they're actually up to, but I will say my guess was that they were preparing the kids for space travel, getting them ready to settle a dangerous new planet, but boy howdy was I wrong. These freaks had plans I did not see coming.
Meanwhile the cast of characters is cute and easy to root for. We see the basic breakdown of half the kids wanting to use teamwork vs half being very 'every man for himself' and the divide was used to amp up tension.
We got a little Lord of The Flies/Divergent Dauntless initiation there at the end of the book as the bonds and fractures between them all were put to the test.
As the numbers dwindled down to the last survivors I genuinely felt so protective of these kids as well as full of dread towards what was coming. My favorite did not make it in the end, but I won't say who that was. The book didn't pull the punch there. Ouch.
Ultimately the romance between Nic and Lance, the bond between their group of friends (Monica, Dawn, Niall, even Glenn, sometimes but not really, and Celeste) was enough to get me invested in their fate. The older kids being more protective of the others, particularly Nic and Dawn taking care of the others like big siblings, was really cute and also mined for tragedy, because obviously how can they fully protect these kids in such an awful situation?
I picked it up because of that cover and was not disappointed with the fun sci-fi mystery adventure I got. It's nostalgic for a bygone era of YA I think people still long for as well, and on top of that offers a soft/chaste/clean gay teen romance, which I think is pretty important - a lot of books marketed as 'clean' try to include LGBT people in the list of 'dirty' stuff they leave out/censor, which as you can imagine does a lot of damage to the psyche and self-esteem of gay teens, whose existence shouldn't be treated as inappropriate, let alone 'dirty' and it's nice to see age-appropriate books like this a teacher would be able to recommend to a gay student in middle school or high school without a second thought as to whether it's age appropriate .
My main problem with this novel is that the final act FLIES by. It's a fast book in general but the pacing is insane in the climax and we get like 80 pages worth of material crammed into like 35 pages, which I felt could've just been expanded on. Certain plot beats didn't hit as hard as they could because I wasn't given time to linger on them.
At its worst this book has a few character moments, especially with the villains, that feel kind of cliche. At its best it's pretty harrowing stuff and veers into horror territory sometimes the way these YA 'let's throw kids in a death trap' books always do.
Unnatural Selection has got charm, personality, and a few fun, crazy twists and turns. This is one to give a try if you feel a hole in your life where early 2010s YA dystopia used to go.
Thank you to BookSirens for providing me a review copy.
The story follows around sixty orphans who are taken by a famous billionaire couple and held hostage in a creepy laboratory compound where they're subject to a Hunger Games/Dangan Ronpa style death game where they must form alliances, discover why they're here, and find a way to survive at all costs. But will they be the same people once they've done things they never imagined to stay alive?
With a short pagecount and a fast-paced plot, this book flies by and is definitely one to pick up if you're looking for new authors and indie authors to discover, as well as looking for some nostalgic YA with a gay male hero and a sweet, chaste relationship that felt like a breath of fresh air amid all the murder and death and horror.
Lots of twists and turns throughout kept this interesting with the trials themselves and the things the insane things the villains put these kids through being genuinely fascinating. I was always keen to see what the next trial arena would be and didn't get disappointed once.
At times the main villain felt cartoonish, he was pure evil for the sake of being evil, and even given his actual motive at the end, it's hilarious that his approach to it was to be a gloating psychopath the entire time. I will admit I was WRONG about his motive. I won't spoil what they're actually up to, but I will say my guess was that they were preparing the kids for space travel, getting them ready to settle a dangerous new planet, but boy howdy was I wrong. These freaks had plans I did not see coming.
Meanwhile the cast of characters is cute and easy to root for. We see the basic breakdown of half the kids wanting to use teamwork vs half being very 'every man for himself' and the divide was used to amp up tension.
We got a little Lord of The Flies/Divergent Dauntless initiation there at the end of the book as the bonds and fractures between them all were put to the test.
As the numbers dwindled down to the last survivors I genuinely felt so protective of these kids as well as full of dread towards what was coming. My favorite did not make it in the end, but I won't say who that was. The book didn't pull the punch there. Ouch.
Ultimately the romance between Nic and Lance, the bond between their group of friends (Monica, Dawn, Niall, even Glenn, sometimes but not really, and Celeste) was enough to get me invested in their fate. The older kids being more protective of the others, particularly Nic and Dawn taking care of the others like big siblings, was really cute and also mined for tragedy, because obviously how can they fully protect these kids in such an awful situation?
I picked it up because of that cover and was not disappointed with the fun sci-fi mystery adventure I got. It's nostalgic for a bygone era of YA I think people still long for as well, and on top of that offers a soft/chaste/clean gay teen romance, which I think is pretty important - a lot of books marketed as 'clean' try to include LGBT people in the list of 'dirty' stuff they leave out/censor, which as you can imagine does a lot of damage to the psyche and self-esteem of gay teens, whose existence shouldn't be treated as inappropriate, let alone 'dirty' and it's nice to see age-appropriate books like this a teacher would be able to recommend to a gay student in middle school or high school without a second thought as to whether it's age appropriate .
My main problem with this novel is that the final act FLIES by. It's a fast book in general but the pacing is insane in the climax and we get like 80 pages worth of material crammed into like 35 pages, which I felt could've just been expanded on. Certain plot beats didn't hit as hard as they could because I wasn't given time to linger on them.
At its worst this book has a few character moments, especially with the villains, that feel kind of cliche. At its best it's pretty harrowing stuff and veers into horror territory sometimes the way these YA 'let's throw kids in a death trap' books always do.
Unnatural Selection has got charm, personality, and a few fun, crazy twists and turns. This is one to give a try if you feel a hole in your life where early 2010s YA dystopia used to go.
Thank you to BookSirens for providing me a review copy.
December 28, 2025
Rhiannon Bird's sci-fi thriller Unnatural Selection follows Nic (Dominic) Mariano, a troubled 19-year-old orphan struggling to survive. Nic joins an oddly lucrative research project after losing his job and being evicted. The tale explores class exploitation, autonomy, and scientific ethics, merging suspense with character-driven tension as they learn why they were chosen and what survival will cost them. Rhiannon Bird writes a haunting, personal narrative about survival, choice, and social value. Nic is a compelling, sympathetic protagonist, and the ensemble cast gives the bleak setting warmth and urgency. The pacing and claustrophobic atmosphere create an unsettling, morally questionable setting that lingers long after the last page. Character-driven speculative fiction readers will love Unnatural Selection, which is dark but not dreary and thought-provoking without losing momentum or going over the top.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews