Lord of the Fly Fest

by Goldy Moldavsky

One of Us Is Lying meets Lord of the Flies meets Fyre Fest in this wickedly addictive and funny YA thriller.

Rafi Francisco needs something really special 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 lands herself a ticket to the exclusive Fly Fest, where River will be the headliner.

But when Rafi arrives on the Caribbean island location of Fly Fest with hundreds of other influencers and (very minor) celebrities, they quickly discover that the dream trip is more of a nightmare. And it’s not just confronting beauty gurus-gone-wild and spotty WiFi. Soon, Rafi goes from fighting for an interview to fighting for her life. And, as she gets closer to River, she discovers that he might be hiding even darker secrets than she suspected . . .

Genres: Young Adult, Horror, Mystery, Thriller, Retellings, Audiobook, Fiction

325 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 30, 2022

About the author

Goldy Moldavsky was born in Lima, Peru, and grew up in Brooklyn, where she still lives. Her novels include the New York Times bestseller, KILL THE BOY BAND, the Publishers Weekly bestseller, THE MARY SHELLEY CLUB, and the upcoming OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS, and BUBBLEGUM SHOES. You can find her on X and Instagram @goldywrites.

Reviews

[Izzy]

to the two people who already rated this 2 stars who hurt you

[Stay Fetters · Rating 2 out of 5]

"I just know now that the truth is everything. You just have to be careful how you wield it."

This book trapped me. I saw the cover and decided to read it before I even knew what it was about. The cover called to me like a devil lurking in the woods trying to capture my soul. I couldn't resist that sweet sound. After it clutched onto me, it dropped me down into the dark depths. I was done for. Hell is here and it's this book!

Finally, after deciding to read page one I truly learned what this was about and my eyes rolled themselves. I didn't even have to do it. But I decided to try this one anyway. I felt duped by a dark and beautiful cover. Yet again I've been tricked, dear readers!

Instantly, this gave off Solstice vibes and I wasn't having it. I should have stopped when I got those vibes but that little person whispering in my ear told me to read more. I did and what a mistake.

Every single character was terrible and they were all so rude and nasty. That was even before they all found out that they have been stranded on an island with no 5-star shelter and no gourmet meals from top chefs. The story was just as nauseating. I finally had enough and skimmed the last forty percent. *yawn*

Lord of the Fly Fest was disappointing and not worth my time. Step away from the amazing cover and run!

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is touted as a YA thriller. It has a great cover depicting Rafi, the main character, in her distinctive pink sweater. A sense of the bizarre, as well as a sense of humor, are helpful in reading this. Is it about the shallow world of social media and influencers? Maybe. Is it a comic romp to brighten your day! Hmmmm. Relax and enjoy!

My thanks to Fierce Roads Publishing of Macmillan Publishing Group who listed this book on a Goodreads Giveaway, which was how I received my copy. Also, Henry Hilt and Company.

[Cortney - Bookworm & Vine · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone who is thinking about reading this book, know that it is a satire about how ridiculous our obsession is with social media and influencers.

That being said, I personally loved it. A combination of the disaster of Fyre Festival and Lord of the Flies, yes please!

I read this book in a day and enjoyed every minute of it. This isn't going to be a book for everyone, but those who can appreciate it for what it is will love it.

And can we take a second of silence for that stunning cover 🤩🤩🤩

4.25 stars

[Leo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this book premise overall wasn't for me. Sounded intruiging but I just didn't get invested enough. Maybe if I had read this some years ago when I was very heavily interested and intruiged by influencers and famous people, I'd might have enjoyed it more.

[Jessica Kruse · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a combination of the real-life failure that was Fyre Festival and the classic tale Lord of the Flies. It sounded like an interesting premise but was so on the nose with its references to modern social media/influencer culture it made me cringe. For example, the “world’s most popular supermodel” is named Hella Badid. Hella. Badid. Is this book a huge satirical take that went completely over my head?? I usually live for satire and sarcastic humor so if it IS supposed to be satirical, it did NOT work for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for the ARC for review.

[Chelsea | thrillerbookbabe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to Goldy Moldavsky and Henry Holt for this book that comes out TOMORROW. I loved The Mary Shelly Club so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one. This book is about Rafi, an aspiring podcaster who spent all her money on Fly Fest to get close to River, a musician whose girlfriend disappeared and was never seen from again. Rafi wants to do a podcast on River and thinks catching him at a festival will work because his guard will be down. When Rafi and hundreds of other influencers arrive at Fly Fest, they find an abandoned island with no internet, no accommodations, and no locally sourced, gluten free, vegan acai bowls. Soon Rafi goes from thinking about her podcast to figuring out how to survive, especially after the influencers start to go missing.

Thoughts: Think Fyre Fest mixed with the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie and with a hint of YA mystery. This book was a HOT MESS. I could tell from the cover and description that it would be a fun play on Fyre Festival, and it was both ironic and mocking. I love the author’s tone and the way she writes in parody. This whole book was a mockery of influencer culture and holds a mirror up to those who consume it.

I wish the book would have had less repetitive comments about who is pretty and who isn’t, and instead focused more on having a clear plot. It changed directions so many times that I stopped caring, and put too much effort into being snarky that the actual plot was lost. It is very different from The Mary Shelley Club, and I actually felt that the book had no point or substance. Billed as a satirical version of Lord of the Flies, I think this book has a very specific audience and that unfortunately wasn’t me. 2- stars.

[Erin Entrada Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am such a huge fan of Goldy. Her books are so weirdly twisted and hilarious and I’m here for it. I loved this satire on Fyre Festival. The best thing about this book isn’t the mystery, but the cast. I loved Rafi in all her imperfect glory.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 Stars

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.

Satire is supposed to be funny. Good satire will be funny on the surface, dark and disturbing underneath. If this book was meant to be satire, it drastically failed that initiative. It felt like somebody watched a TikTok and extrapolated from there. These characters aren't real, and they don't touch on anything real. They're the worst sort of caricatures. Satire deals in caricature, sure, but they also have to feel like real characters--you have to recognize them, understand them. These characters, every single one of them, was over-the-top and ridiculous (in a bad way).

Also, the murder plot that is supposedly the hook? It doesn't have any sort of payoff.

But the concept is pretty solid. This book wasn't a total loss. My full review will be available at Gateway Reviews on August 19, 2022.

[Lexi · Rating 2 out of 5]

You know when A book is rated SUPER LOW on Goodreads, but it has a cool cover and idea, so you are like, "I'm going in objectively." Look. Sometimes this is just wrong. Sometimes all of the reviews are correct.

Lord of the Fly Fest is a retelling of Lord of the Flies mashed with the events of the Fye Festival and is meant to be a comedy-horror parody of influencer and Gen Z culture. A generational parody can be fantastic if well done but can go absolutely off the wall. In a year when Bodies Bodies Bodies showed how intelligently you can parody modern youth culture, Lord of the Fly Fest comes off as out of touch and mean-spirited. The characters are all flat and overly stereotypical. They are not likable, not interesting.

I am giving this book 2 stars (1.5 in reality) because the audiobook narrator slayed and kept me engaged for about 40% of the book. She does a great job with the voices and narration style.

[Matthew · Rating 1 out of 5]

Words cannot describe how awful this book cannot believe this is the same author who wrote The Last Girl To Die.

Nothing happens in this book, the characters are terrible, the plot is non existent and it relies on other peoples work.

There is a character clearly named after Bella Hadid called Bella Hadid which is terrible working and the way she’s portrayed I wouldn’t be surprised if she sued.

It’s that bad that I will never read another book by this author it did not have on redeeming things if I could give it 0 stars I would

[Katie T · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounding up.

This was actually seriously really funny. Inspired by the real disaster that was Fyre Festival. A great commentary about how we're all idiots but hey, it's ALL of us.

[Brittanica Bold · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Publishing Group for the opportunity to read this book for free. My opinions expressed below are honest and voluntary.

I was definitely lured by the cover on this one, along with the idea that this was probably going to be filled with satire and sarcasm and all the other s- words I love so much. Upon being accepted for this ARC, I did what anybody who likes to spoil themselves does and read the reviews on Goodreads for those who were granted the ARC and reviewed since I requested…it wasn’t great. Now, I’ve been in the minority opinion before, both positively and negatively; I’m perfectly comfortable living in my own little world. But this is not one of those times.

What I liked about the book:
1. I enjoyed the podcast scripts interlaced with the normal paragraph structures. I also enjoyed how Rafi’s personality was definitely heighted on her podcast compared to how she was normally. This is super relatable to me, given I was a radio DJ in college. I was the shy, quiet girl in all my classes, but a loud, salacious radio personality on-air and working events as a DJ.

2. The first 40% of this book was actually ok for me. It was over-the-top ridiculous in making fun of influencer and follower culture, and it was pretty hilarious. From reading reviews ahead of time, I went into this not taking it too seriously, and I think that definitely worked to my benefit.

What could have been better:
1. This book was too long and changed “missions” too much. When the main point of the book was abandoned at around the half-way mark, I quickly lost interest. This was further exacerbated by it changing points a few more times. First, dude’s a killer, then he’s not a killer like she thought but he’s still a killer, then no one wants to go home but we’re going to just let the killer thing rest since there’s a Wi-Fi problem, then he’s a killer again. I hardcore skimmed the last 20% of this book because I refused to quit that far in.

It was all very confusing and begged the question, “What is the point and why should I care?” At the end of the day, there wasn’t one and I didn’t.


2. This book reminds me of why I’ve never had any desire to go to Burning Man.

3. So much of this book is about looks, which is supposed to be the overall satirical message, but since when are bangs controversial??? Our narrator mentions this, but I have never heard of this in my life! I’ve been rocking bangs for years and have never come across this before.


While I didn't enjoy this book all that much, I have heard other books by this author are fabulous!

[gabs ⛤ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really really wanted horror and i really really didn’t want satire 😭😭😭😭

[Ta || bookishbluehead · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t even know where to begin. This is the first book I read this year where I really strongly felt about dnfing. I only decided against it, because I got an arc from Netgalley. But this book was just so bad.

I hated the characters, all of them. I don’t know if it was meant to be funny how shallow and stupid the influencers were depicted. Maybe it’s meant to be a parody? If so, it didn’t do a good job of that either. I didn’t think it was funny, it was just so annoying all the time. And Rafi I hated the most. She was SO stupid! At times I wanted to bash her head in with a bat. All the talk about her podcast and being so overly clever and solving the ‘murder’ of the girlfriend of a popular musician. I’m actually wondering how anyone can believe that this dumb dumb is bright enough to produce a podcast, let alone one where she tries to solve a crime.

It’s advertised as a “funny YA thriller”. There was not one second I thought it was thrilling to read this garbage. I wasn’t scared for the characters or their situation. Everything was just so over the top ridiculous.

I always try to at least say something positive about a book, so here it goes: The cover looks beautiful and the band O-Town is mentioned more than once. (If you don’t know them, they were a boy band in the early 2000s).

[Sarah {The Clever Reader} · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Their makeup did not make them beautiful anymore. Rafi knew now that it made them savages.”

Wow. Now this was a crazy ride for a YA Thriller. Rafi finds herself stranded on an island with a slew of social media influencers. With a microphone and podcast gear in hand she quickly realizes she wasn’t the only one to have been lured to the island under false pretenses. At first she panics and tries to find any way of getting the outside world to learn about what is really happening on the Caribbean island but then decides to take a step back and work on getting an interview of a lifetime with no one other than famous musician River Stone.

This was a deep dive into the ways social media can influence people and how attached society gets to seeing those “likes” and “follows”. I thought the concept for this YA thriller was relevant and it will definitely make you think. If you’re looking for a unique YA Thriller than I recommend this one!

[Sara (A Gingerly Review) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't realize how much I missed Goldy's writing until I started this. I absolutely adore her writing style and cannot get enough of it. The subtle snark and punches thrown were just amazing and I basically lived for this story. I was captivated the entire time. I am a life-long member of the Moldavsky fan club. Now off to buy me a Fly Fest tshirt to wear with pride.

[Siobhan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun mash up of the Fyre Fest debacle and Lord of the Flies. As with most parodies, I think familiarity with both inspirations is required to appreciate it.
The satirical look at influencers was fun too.
Only downside was I didn't like the MC very much! She thought she was better than everyone throughout but she was just as annoying.

[Katie Rankine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could have been amazing!! A cross between Lord of the flies and fyre fest. I feel so let down. Was just a bit dull and nothing really actually happens

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

Lord of the Fly Fest puts a modern spin on Lord of the Flies, filling the island with social media influencers who have flocked together to party at a festival a la Fyre Fest.

Up front, if you don’t like Lord of the Flies, you won’t like this book. It does ultimately boil down to a Lord of the Flies retelling with the occasional satirical bent. It is sprinkled with modernity, including WiFi, an absolute dud of a festival, ample mentions of TikTok followers and Instagram lives, and the True Crime podcast that drives the thriller-murder-mystery plot. I did find that the book was often incredibly on-the-nose — down to three notable characters being Jack, Peggy, and Rafi, as opposed to Jack, Piggy, and Ralph — but when viewed as a twisted modern retelling, I think there’s something fun and interesting here for Lord of the Flies fans.

Goody Moldavsky’s writing is solid, but I did wrestle with my rating for this book because these characters are just plain annoying. I ended up going for four stars instead of three simply because the characters in Lord of the Flies were also incredibly annoying, and so I do think that’s an inescapable, or even essential, aspect of this people-stranded-on-an-island-doing-stupid-things story.

So yeah, overall I did have a good time, especially because I am a fan of Lord of the Flies, but I’m not sure that this book will be everyone’s cup of tea. If you are in the market for Lord of the Flies retellings, though, this is a fantastic option

[Rowan's Bookshelf (Carleigh) · Rating 1 out of 5]

A MAJOR disappointment. An annoying main character runs around an uninteresting island with other terrible people for her annoying reasons. There's no lord of the flies here except that they make their own annoying #FortheGram society. Idk where this trend of making influencers incredibly stupid came from, but this should hopefully kill it.

All the "satire" is way too on the nose. There's literally a main character named Hella Badid. And they do not let you forget about her, it's Terrible. It boils down to "if you care about Instagram you're vapid and stupid." Which can be true, but EVERYONE in this book is dumb as a rock. The main character is only slightly better but still so selfish and annoying and so wrapped up in her own motives it's impossible to like her. IDC if that's the point, it's not enjoyable to read and it's not saying anything special.


Mean spirited and boring and misleading. I hope it forget about it

[Alex | | findingmontauk1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cover of this book is so riveting and totally pulled me towards reading it. And I love the drama of the fraudulent Fyre Fest meets Lord of the Flies, so the title all works for me, too. And with character names like Rafi, Peggy, Jack, etc... you already know you're in for a good time and will look forward to finding Easter eggs and pointing out homages/references. I had a fun time with the book, but I think I wanted a little more... depth? It was a fast-paced read and I enjoyed the format, but a lot of things felt very surface-level. There was just a lot of vapid vanity and self-indulgent, self-obsessed whining (I mean, I get it. The characters are meant to be insufferable. And I think the satire is supposed to be so intentionally on the nose, too. Again, I am fine with all that in theory.) that it got a little old after a while. Every few chapters we get a reprieve as the format changes to a Podcast narrative about a murder we are trying to unravel as the story proceeds. The story fell off a little for me about the 30% mark and did not pick back up to its original pacing until about 80%. Fun enough, but not my entire cup of tea.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, this was an absolutely wild ride.
Firstly, loved the premise, and now I need to watch that Fire Festival documentary people have told me about.
Secondly, how dare this main character be so relatable to me (but then taken to an extreme that I don't think I would go to at my age)?!

Seriously, this was ridiculous, which is what made it fun, and so much more enjoyable that the book by Golding it was partially inspired by.

Now let me go be in my feels about how much I'm not the target "look" for the platform I have been posting on for years and how much I always wonder if that is holding me back from reaching a larger audience.

I talked about this book in this BookTube wrap up.

[Aly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a modern take on Lord of the Flies, but with more humor and silliness. Rafi is one of the only non-influencers or C list celebrities on the island and is constantly baffled by the ridiculousness of the others. They don't seem concerned about being abandoned on the island and are more interested in making money, filming content, and pretending to have a good time.

Rafi gives the average person point of view. She tries to reason with people and tell them things are dangerous or a bad idea, but sometimes she gets sucked into the fake glamour. She's also making a podcast on a singer who's stranded with her because she thinks he murdered his ex girlfriend.

I had fun watching Rafi figure out what was up with River, where one of the influencers disappeared to, and how they were going to get off the island. I wish this had gone a bit darker, but it was entertaining for sure.

[Beka]

I came for a YA Horror/Mystery with dashes of satire, got mostly satire and NOT A SINGLE DEAD BODY. If my expectations had been different, perhaps I would have enjoyed it more.

I was also very uncomfortable with the obvious—and sometimes, it felt, very unfair—critiques of real influencers/supermodels. Does the author have something against Bella Hadid? It just felt really icky.

I think you could critique influencer culture quite well without making pointed remarks about other (real) women’s bodies, lifestyles, etc.

Also this needed another round of proofreading (which I’m being harsh about because this is traditionally published. Indies get crapped on for far less, so it annoys me when I see numerous editing errors in books with far larger teams behind them.)

[Tee · Rating 3 out of 5]

So disappointed. I loved "The Mary Shelley Club" and absolutely adored "Kill the Boy Band" by this author, so my expectations were high. Unfortunately, within the first few chapters I could tell "Lord of the Fly Fest" won't hit the same.

Just like "Kill the Boy Band", it was quite bizarre, treading a thin line between entertaining satire and absolute ridiculous nonsense, but it was too much. More annoying than enjoyable.

I wanted to love it, but 3 stars is all it gets.

[Aiden Merchant · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise and cover both caught my eye for this YA novel. Before we proceed, let's take a look at the provided synopsis:

"To get her true crime podcast on the map, Rafi Francisco needs a splashy case. Her plan? Land an interview with Fly Fest headliner River Stone, who rose to stardom after his girlfriend's mysterious disappearance—and expose him as the killer she's sure he is. But Fly Fest, the dreamy Caribbean getaway they were promised turns out to be a nightmare. Soon, Rafi is fighting for her life against power-hungry beauty gurus and spotty WiFi. And, as she gets closer to River, she discovers that his secrets might have even bigger consequences than she suspected."

Unfortunately, I think my age has something to do with my disinterest in this story as the chapters passed me by. The characters really irked me. They were insufferable drama queens and robots, and I get that was part of the point -- surrounding our MC with unlikeable "influencers", which are people definitely have trouble connecting with and understanding -- but I still hated the constant interactions with these people from the very first time. I also didn't feel very interested in the MC, though she had her promising traits. The idea of the podcast was one of my draws to this book. But alas, the characters and all the "vibes" and "influencer" content made me unhappy in my reading.

[Quill&Queer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so stupid, and so brilliant, I loved every page of it. This is obviously based on the failed Fyre Festival, and a lot of the influencers resemble real people too. I felt that Goldy managed to steer the story away from annoying territory by making the story self aware, and incredibly funny.

In the chaos is Rafi, a small podcaster looking to solve the mystery of a pop star's missing girlfriend. She sees an opportunity to make everyone stay so she can investigate, and things slowly start going insane from there. Hella Badid becomes a mysterious goddess like entity, people make make up out of literal poop and two people start a business selling bananas.

If you don't take this story seriously, it's so much fun. I was along for the ride right from the beginning and really enjoyed the twists and turns the story took - and there's non binary rep! - as Rafi realises her mistake and tries to get them off the island. The ending descends into sheer chaos, before wrapping up really well.

[Nazanin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yup Goldy Moldavsly has done it once again!!!!!!!!! I absolutely love reading her books her plots are EVERYTHING!!!!!!! The whole plot being about influences about how they live and act had me laughing throughout it. I highly highlyyyyyyyyy recommend checking out her books!

and also I highly recommend listening to the audiobook because they did an amazing job on it!

[anouk♡ semi-hiatus · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is VERY inspired by Fyre Fest.

I honestly bought this book purely for the cover, because it is really pretty! And even though I did like it, but I was hoping for a little more.
Also.. naming a ‘famous super model’ Hella Badid? That's a bit much lol