Flight of the Fantail

by Steph Matuku

A busload of high school students crashes in bush in a remote part of Aotearoa New Zealand. Only a few of the teenagers survive; they find their phones don’t work, there’s no food, and they’ve only got their wits to keep them alive. There’s also something strange happening here. Why are the teenagers having nosebleeds and behaving erratically, and why is the rescue effort slow to arrive? To make it out, they have to discover what’s really going on and who or what is behind it all.

Genres: Young Adult, Horror, Science Fiction, Mystery, School, Paranormal, Aliens

364 pages, Paperback

Published October 10, 2018

About the author

Hi,

I'm based in New Plymouth, New Zealand, but you can find me on Facebook and Bluesky. Feel free to say hi, I'd love to hear from you!

STEPH

Reviews

[Octavia Cade · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got a free copy of this from the publisher, as I'm reviewing it for Strange Horizons - review out shortly, this is just a quick comment here for my own records.

I'm a huge horror fan, no surprises there. And this book works off one of the classic horror tropes: teens alone in the wilderness, and something is killing them off. Great! (Especially as some of them seem to deserve it.) And it's set in the New Zealand bush, and I always enjoy speculative fiction set in the surroundings I'm familiar with. I don't want to give too much away plot-wise, though I will say it's rather a complicated plot, though very effectively told. Matuku follows a number of storylines, focusing on different kids and the company working against them, and it's all done so seamlessly that there's never any confusion. I love prose like that, where it looks so deceptively simple but there's so much going on underneath, and she's done really well there. There is one aspect of the story I don't find particularly convincing - I don't believe for a single second that DOC and Search and Rescue would be so easily fobbed off searching for those kids, or that media and the general public would go along with it - but let's face it, I'm mostly here for the horror. And there's a lot of creepy fantastic images in this book to make me happy.

I got a strong impression, while reading, that Flight of the Fantail is eminently filmable, and if it's not turned into a movie at some stage I'll be amazed. I'd certainly go watch it!

[Bookrapt (Est. 1983) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in the remote bush of Aotearoa New Zealand, a busload of high school students suffer a major crash before the wreckage floats down a river towards a waterfall. Just a few of the teens survive, but their phones don't work, and some of them start having nosebleeds and behaving erratically. Days pass, and still Search & Rescue haven't arrived. When they witness another survivor shot by 'rescuers' they must figure out what is going on, and why? I didn't know what genre this was when I started reading! At first I thought it was a teen survival story, then things got weird and the body count started rising. The character development is fabulous. This is a wonderful page turner which reminded me of Lord of the Flies (William Golding), Tomorrow When the War Began (John Marsden) and books by New Zealand authors Des Hunt and Lee Murray. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Debbie McCauley (Bookrapt).

[Saskia · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is sooo bad, I can't even finish it. It's like every stereotype and trope the author could think of jammed into bad writing and an even thinner storyline. I can only imagine that the final 75% of the book is AMAZING to warrant the current rating and some of the comments. Ugh.

[Jayne Downes · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story got off to a good start with a group of high school students setting off on a bus trip to a national park when the bus crashes. The chapters were short and the characters and survival aspects were interesting however as it progressed I found it too unbelievable. I'm just not a sci- fi fan.

[Angelique Simonsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read. Had me hooked trying to work out what was real and what was hallucinations. Did find the whole search for the teens a little far fetched with all govt departments stepping down for a corporation... but just thinking about it that happens all the time so shouldn't have been surprised

[Liv H · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book weirded me out way too much. It was graphic, gruesome, disjointed and just plain weird. Disappointing ending too.

[Miss Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am usually very hesitant about horror/thriller novels, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The pacing was very good, the short chapters kept me hooked and I enjoyed all the different perspectives we got to follow throughout the story. I also really vibed with the writing style, especially the dialogue, which felt authentic and appropriate for teenagers.
The twist was of a nature that took out the tension a bit for me, but I would still recommend this read for anyone looking for something not too dark in the horror/thriller category.

[Ava Port · Rating 5 out of 5]

banger 10/10

[Linley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an adventure book that turns sci-fi with quite a few large plot holes. I don't think that will bother the teen readers and I'm keen to get NZ literature into their hands any-which-way. It may appeal to 'Gone' (Michael Grant) type of readers.

Sort of recommended to teens around 14/15. It's gory in many bits, and not for the squeamish.

[Melinda Szymanik · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is horror. I'm not much one for horror but this book slowly won me round and I'm giving it 4.5 stars. The writing is assured and the author skillfully handles a complex plot and multiple viewpoints to create a very fresh, and very NZ grounded tale about a bush crash in the bush. What at first seems like a simple story of survival in rugged terrain with a motley crew of high school students soon turns in to a sci-fi, zombie, horror thriller, with a dash of corporate greed thrown in. Be warned folks, the body count is high and we don't tend to linger despairingly over most of the deaths. The teenage dialogue and interactions felt natural and the descriptions of bush-craft authentic. A most surprising read.

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I devoured this book in 1.5 days. Riveting story telling. It begins with a devastating bus accident and quickly becomes a harrowing tale of survival. High school students, injured and disoriented in thick NZ bush. All is not as it seems and there are forces working against the young survivors, natural and other-worldly. Corporate agendas come to the forefront, ruthless BIG dollar mining with dirty secrets.

I love all the elements of speculative fiction at work in this story. But I am especially enamored with the cast of young people negotiating their impossible circumstances. Devin, Rocky, Eva and Jahmin share an electric narrative (along with some fascinating supporting characters, omg Idelle - I cannot even-) Matuku reveals each character’s fear, insecurity, grief, courage, resourcefulness and resolve with a deft touch. She builds and builds suspense, then breaks the tension with flashes of humor and tenderness before it ramps up again. I love how each character is impacted differently by the accident and the other-worldly forces. Attitudes, beliefs, biases and values are challenged and changed forever. No one will leave the forest the same and some won’t leave at all.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was great, the author did really well with each teen's voice, you could totally tell which perspective each chapter was from. It was an interesting story line, I really didn't guess what was causing everything (I won't include spoilers though, you'll have to read it to find out!). I felt like it ended a bit abruptly, I wanted to find out more of what was happening for each of the main characters.

[Eileen Merriman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book - fast-paced, good use of humour, and so very Kiwi. Also gory - love a bit of gore. The way it ended makes me think a sequel must be on its way... maybe. A Storylines Notable Book 2019 - well deserved.

[Julia Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. My high school students are going to love this book with its short, action-filled chapters and super realistic teen characters and dialogue. There is plenty of death, horror, supernatural bizarreness and extreme survival skills set deep in NZ bush. The first half was unputdownable!

[Austral Scout · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this. Not for the feeble-kneed.

NB: I get why people are comparing this to Lord of the Flies, I do (there’s a premise correlation), but LOTF is a pretty polarising text. If you, like me, fall into the camp of finding said book an utter crudfest, please don’t let such comparisons put you off reading FOTF. One book make me laugh out loud more than once and close it, beaming with satisfaction, the other incited rage and rants. I really. dislike. LOTF. I have edited this review at least 20 times for all your sakes -- I contain multitudes... of anti-Golding essays. You’re welcome.

[Wendy Bamber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I counted this out on publication as being unsuitable for intermediates, but actually this fills a hole for some of my gore-seeking intermediates, with a few minor sexual references being so incidental they don’t really push the bar up. An open mind is needed for this, with teenagers in various states of survival following a deep bush bus crash, zombies, murder and a random spaceship emitting mind-altering radiation. The chapters are short and snappy and told from different points of view from the various characters dotted about the crash site and surrounding area, I never once got lost and had to backtrack. Characters grow with a deeper understanding for each other. Thoroughly enjoyable, suitable for the right type of kid who has perhaps enjoyed The Hunger Games and has an open mind about fantasy.

[Cassandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book I've been looking for. Almost.

A NZ YA novel with a magic system that connects to Māori folklore/mythology.

Patupaierehe being aliens? Mauri powering them? Super cool.

And kiwi teenagers as protagonists just feel so real and refreshing. I mean, I enjoy heaps of American and British books, but it's just not the same, and there's always this remove from the characters. Flight of the Fantail has real, genuine sounding kiwi kids and an interesting (if slightly bemusing) storyline.

[The Bibliognost Bampot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Unique. Engaging. Awful. Clever.
So unusual - a genuine pleasure to read something so different. A real mix of genres and troupes, it was horrifying, creepy, exciting, thrilling and shocking all at once. Only criticism was the end - a careful, detailed, thorough story suddenly just fades away … I get that it is supposed to be ambiguous, that you should take your own meaning from it but maybe I just need things to be tied up neatly.

[Angela Armstrong]

LOST, but with teens in Aotearoa instead of a mixed bag in Hawaii. Gripping and gory, fast and funny; a rip-roaring ride well told.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started off with a hiss and a roar - straight into the action. It roars along at speed and went in a direction I never expected but which added even more of a Kiwi flavour to the story. I am not sure if we have heard the last from these characters as for me the conclusion was a little open ended.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good NZ book. I enjoyed this. Unusual story, great feel of the remote NZ landscape. Nice drop of Maori teachings.

[Laura Currie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for school as a number of teachers taught this text for Year 11 this year, and I needed to see what the hype was all about. From a NZ teacher perspective, I can see the appeal. It is great to have a New Zealand setting that weaves in native flora and fauna, a number of tikanga practices, and concepts in Te Ao Māori. There are also moments that show casual or blatant racism towards Māori which would be good discussion points in class. There are moments that are quite graphic in terms of limbs and blood, there's a little moment of romance (nothing too spicy, it is YA, it is cringe actually). It is sort of like Lord of the Flies in terms of plot, a bus crashes and students are left to fend for themselves before it turns into the Hunger Games and students start dropping like flies. The chapters are short and sweet and it seems the students are enjoying the experience of reading it out loud as a class as each event unravels.

My personal take is that I'm a little underwhelmed. The book felt like it needed another edit as key details were rushed over or resolved very conveniently or quickly. There was every trope under the sun in this novel: we had everything from zombies to spaceships to an enemies to lovers.The ending was pretty disappointing, in my opinion. I don't feel like any answers were truly given, if there was a second book, I would understand.

I would still teach it because I think the students would be hooked on the drama and mystery of it all, but it is not my favourite thing I have ever read.

TW: suicide (very quick).

[Thistle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel a little bad for DNFing this one. I made it almost to the halfway point, but I just didn't believe the plot and wasn't enjoying it. The story followed a bus full of teenagers after it rolled off a mountain and crashed into a river.

It might have stuck with it, other than two things:

One of the teenage girls was a literal psychopath (she watched another of the kids die and wished she could watch it again, then she killed one of the other students), but I didn't buy her as a character; high school is hell, yeah, but a literal psychopath?

The other issue is that the story is set in New Zealand and uses a ton of first-nation words and local slang. Kindle has a feature where you can tap a word to get a definition, and I had to use it multiple times a page (usually I might use it once in a whole book, usually less). Worse, the majority of the time, the word wasn't in the dictionary or Wikipedia. It really took me out of the story.

Reviews say it's a horror story, so I guess it's good I tapped out.

[Miss Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a lot to like in this novel, especially the opening crash and the various throw outs to each survivor's situation. It's nice to read of the various kiwi flora and fauna as the teenagers attempt to survive in the bush and be reunited with their families. The short chapters also make it easy to read. However, there was a moment when I just thought 'Really? Is that the path this story is taking?' I was a little disappointed. By the end, though, it had been "kiwified" to an extent that I could accept, but I wish this had been done earlier. The theme for me would be to take the time to truly get to know people and ignore the outward personas which can be misleading. I loved all the characters and their interactions.

[Cece · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I read this year...no doubt. I fell I love with this book. It is quite a short book to what I normally read so I finished it in half a day. I was engrossed and really connected with the characters. The book is set in New Zealand and has the traditional kiwi charm that any NZ book has. A bus full of high school students crash in the remote bush and only a few of the teens survive. They have no phones or food and only have their wits and strength to survive. There are nosebleeds, hallucinations and really strange behaviour. It doesn't take long for the teenagers to figure out something more sinister is going on and as they try to investigate further the danger only increases...

[Reebeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm older than the intended audience, but wish stories like this existed when I was this age. I read so much in High School, and not only would 'young me' have enjoyed the story, but to read our culture woven throughout would have meant so much. Thank you for writing this! I mean, Smith's Dream was great, but imagine discussing this in fifth form english!

It took me a bit of time to get my head around all of the characters as they were introduced, as chapters can be super short and from multiple perspectives. BUT, again, thats because I'm older and this isn't my regular type of read, so once I got the rhythm it made total sense.

[Penny Poppleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a solid 4.5/5 stars for me. The pacing was good, the teenagers felt like teenagers, and the setting was incredible for the story (and I like wilderness/survival type adventure stories anyway). I liked everything right up until the end, which felt a chapter too short! I needed more of a resolution. I want to know if the changes in the characters remained, or if the effects were only temporary... and I definitely wanted to see Devin blossoming into the confident, awesome person she was capable of being all along. So my only complaint was that I needed more!

[Zoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great plot line. The events that occurred were fascinating, and the plot developed well. I feel as though the ending fell short, as I was expecting more detail as to how they escaped the bush, the public's reaction, and what became of Seddon Corporation. Some parts did feel rushed, as more detail was needed for the reader to get the full picture, for example the patupaiarehe. Chapters were also a bit short for my liking. Reading a novel based in NZ was more personal. Overall, good plot, just fell of towards the end. Three stars.

[Jessica Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fast paced and tense read set in native New Zealand bush and filled with interesting/diverse characters. An easy read as it was written for teenagers, but nonetheless, still gripping. More gruesome than I was expecting with a decent amount of violence and death. I didn’t find the story line predicable at all, but I did end the book searching for a sequel as the plot wasn’t wrapped up enough for me! However, I am definitely a sucker for a happy ending rather than an open one.

[Janaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was totally different to what I thought it was gonna be! Stoked that the popular, hot boy in the book was Māori - was so refreshing and cool to read about Māori spirituality in a book. Also love that this is aimed at teens, a great book for teens to sink their teeth into.

I definitely wanted to know more by the end - but I enjoyed the journey of getting there!