The Trial is a really interesting take on Lord of the Flies with a modern, feminist twist. After a group of wealthy high schoolers crash on an island and have to fend for themselves, their main concern is getting rescued. But when it seems like someone is out to get them; they start pointing fingers at each other and have to explore what happened the night before they all got on the plane. This books takes a deep look at sexism between teenagers and the issues they face everyday. Exactly what we’d expect from the founder of Everyday Sexism, this is a strong story with a much deeper message that would be great for teenagers dealing with this stuff themselves to read. An enjoyable story with high stakes and a lot of tension.

The Trial draws inspiration from Lord of the Flies albeit from a female perspective. A plane crash leaves seven teens stranded on an island. Things go from bad to worse when a secret from a party the night before comes to light. What happens when it becomes clear the group can't trust each other? And someone is looking to get justice. If you enjoy YA thrillers, this is a great one to check out. Highly recommended!

The Trial is an intriguing and thought provoking read, that weaves a very clever story, constantly making you think and try and work out what happens next.

Trigger warning for sexual assault.

‘The Trial’ is set up in the usual ‘Lord of the Flies’ homage, where a group of teens are washed up on a desert island following a plane crash. Although this YA novel felt a little different from the beginning, which made me want to read past the initial premise of a group of privileged kids with zero survival skills attempting to navigate their current situation.
I really enjoyed the pacing and the slow rise of tensions that Bates builds up in her writing. Although the roles of cheerleader and jock characters felt a little stereotypical at times, it didn’t take away from the mystery that leads you through as a reader but more importantly it never detracted from the real point of the story, which is revealed at the end.
I love that the YA genre allows for conversations to be had that are difficult and often uncomfortable to approach but Bates handles this really well. The use of the desert island and the lack of rules felt like the perfect setting for this concept of justice being served after something previously happened at a party. The ‘accidents’ and punishments that occur to the teens as the story progresses adds to the thriller genre of this book but also adds to the conversation as to who is to blame and what actions, or lack of, led to their involvement that night.
Personally for me, this book breaks down the issues surrounding consent, toxic relationships and also the social hierarchies that are so prevalent in teenage life. It really was a brilliantly crafted novel that should have a real world impact for its readers.

A group of teens stranded on an Island, the race is now on for survival.
A plane crashed and the teens have been deserted on an Island, you may thinks its random but they have all survived after going to a party, but something has happened.
The teens soon start to realise the popularity status is going to get you nowhere!!
Really enjoyed reading this book, nice and easy reading with a fast paced plot.

I'm a huge fan of Laura Bates and enjoyed many of her books however sadly I had to DNF this one at 40%.

It was very slow paced and even listening to the audiobook at the same time as reading I just couldn't engage with the book.

This wouldn't put me off her books as I think this one is just not for me.

I absolutely loved Laura Bates' book The Burning and was really eager to read her latest release The Trial. Best described as a feminist Lord of the Flies that discusses sexual assault, once again Bates has brought a contentious issue and placed it in the hands of young adults. I have said this of other writers such as Holly Bourne and like Bourne Bates's strength lies in her ability to trust her reader and not patronise them. She gives them hard hitting topics and asks the reader to go on a journey with her.

With the added element of the drama of a plane crash, you begin to feel as untethered as the characters when strange things start happening on the island. It is only with each chapter that you read that you being to piece together this mystery of the island that runs parallel to the main drama.

Another top notch read by Laura Bates.

The Trial by Laura Bates is available now.

For more information regarding Laura Bates (@EverydaySexism) please visit www.everydaysexism.com.

For more information regarding Simon and Schuster UK Childrens (@SimonBooks) please visit www.simonandschuster.com.

A solid read, which will serve its purpose if it gets just one person to think about the way they treat others. Once again, Laura Bates brings her social commentary to a story that you find yourself drawn into.
Seven teens survive a planet crash as they are travelling back from a baseball tournament. They are, initially, excited by the break from routine but it doesn’t take long for the gaps and issues between them to bubble up.
Very different personalities; each thinks they know the other but their time on the island soon shows they don’t know as much as they think.
Strange events start to take place and some of these events are serious in their potential for harm. A sense of mistrust soon develops and all we know is that it has something to do with a party that was held before the night of their crash. Who is behind this? Can they find out what is going on before someone is seriously hurt?
We learn fairly early on that the tension is real, and that it links to their life before the island. Of course we want to know exactly what led to this point, though it felt quite obvious fairly early on what we’d focus on.
The crash came from now where but as a means to an end it works well. The group don’t seem to know each other very well, and it definitely felt as if the latter part of the story was rushed.
This is a book that you feel you ought to recommend though, and I’m grateful to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read the book before publication.

Follows a group of teenagers stranded on a deserted island following a plane crash, we learn more about their characters and relationships to each other and the fall out from a sexual assault on one of their party.

The ending feels much weaker than the very strong start, and subsequent following them strategise and argue over how best to survive. Feels sometimes like an elaborate conceit to get all these characters together and reflecting on various issues but overall this works pretty well, although once they set up their own ‘courtroom’ to judge each other it gets a bit daft. Overall though it’s a strong story and also works well as a vehicle to highlight very crucial and pertinent issues of consent, toxic relationships and the horrors of high school social hierarchies and systems.

Laura Bates, the founder of Everyday Sexism, writes with an incisive understanding of the prejudices and assumptions rife in our society, and this story of seven teens stranded on a desert island is a searing example of that. After a plane crash on their return from a basketball tour, seven students - cheerleaders and basketball players from the same school - are forced to discover how to survive with no assistance. In the course of their trials for survival, secrets and lies from their past will come back to haunt them, as someone on the island is seeking justice.
This book felt, as I started reading it, a lot like Beauty Queens by Libba Bray. The dynamics were slightly different, as Beauty Queens had only female stranded islanders, but the opening beats struck me as very similar. It also reminded me of The I-Land, a Netflix limited series that I watched a year or two ago, where a group of strangers wake up on a deserted island. The Trial, however, stays much more focused on the students and their dynamics than either of those two other media - there's no wider conspiracy here causing the crash or redemption stories going on. It's just a freak accident and seven students who need to learn how to survive.
There were really interesting and well-thought-out examples of ingrained sexism and automatic assumptions throughout the book, which didn't detract from the story, but added to it, and it knitted together well to form a cohesive narrative which explores many aspects of the inherent discrimination that seeps through our society. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and only felt that the ending was quite abrupt - but perhaps that, too, was a deliberate choice, as the reader is left with the feeling that the students' lives won't wrap up as neatly as the book itself does.
Overall, a very enjoyable read, with spot-on observations and an overarching message that resonates deeply with me.

I was excited to start The Trial as it sounded like a great read and different from what I usually read but I was disappointed as I didn't enjoy it much at all. The story follows seven teenagers who are in a plane crash and end up stranded on an island with each other trying to survive but a secret is being kept from them.

I wanted to like this book but I didn't really enjoy the writing style and I found the book very slow and uneventful. When something interesting did happen in the book I also didn't really care at all as I don't feel we ever really got to know the characters. It would have been nice to know more about them so that they were understood a bit better and to help work out who's who.

The topic on sexual abuse is done well but it comes far too late in the book in my opinion. I feel it would have been better earlier where it could have been less rushed and more understood. The ending was better than the rest of the book but I'm still not sure it's the most believable ending. Despite this I did find the book ended very abruptly and it would have been nice to have read more about a rescue attempt from the island.

This is an ok book but I wouldn't rush to read another book from this author anytime soon.

A challenging read at times, this book is reminiscent of Lord of the Flies. A group of cheerleaders are left stranded on an island and targeted one by one. The plot flows well but the island element does not seem to add much to the plot other than to isolate the characters together

A book with an incredible, impactful message. I had a bit of trouble getting into it, but since it was Laura Bates, I stuck with it. The last few chapters, phew! Amazing! I’m only taking away the one star because I’m not convinced about the setting and the way things played out. But, heck, this is SUCH an important book.

(Review copy from NetGalley)

The Trial is a book with a hell of a bite. This is a vivid, vicarious thrill ride that delves into important societal issues in a way that is so pertinent and leaves an impression on you.

I was blown away by that impactful opening, with the plane accident leading to the traumatic crash. This is a book that never relents with Bates constantly driving forward. The tension and suspense are constantly built up and the atmosphere hums with hidden dangers and fears to yet unfold. Therefore, I absolutely just flew through the pages of this thought-provoking story.

Also, it really helps that these characters are so three-dimensional and nuanced. I liked being in Harley’s headspace; she was this academic, driven and wanting to succeed figure that is also wrestling with her place in the social sphere. Both on the team and on the island, she feels like an outsider looking in but her hidden skills and intelligence serve her well. That stands for all the characters in that they all contain hidden depths. For some of them, these are surprisingly positive attributes hidden behind a facade of mean behaviour, but for others, it’s a disgustingly vile cesspool of hatred and violence.

On this note, I have been a big fan of Bates’ work both on and off page for a while now. Therefore, I thoroughly enjoyed the feminist threads of this story. Bates isn’t afraid to get dark, primarily by delving into the topic of rape culture. She creates this hostile, claustrophobic atmosphere of manipulation and awful behaviour. It makes you almost feel complicit as a reader, mimicking the ultimate reasoning behind that title for the story.

The Trial is a compelling mix of a heart-pounding mystery, sharp social commentary and survival against the odds.

For someone who is incredibly scared of planes, I have a very worrying interest in plane crash survival stories. So, when I saw The Trial whilst browsing my local bookshop, I immediately purchased a copy.

The Trial tells the story of seven cheerleaders and basketball players who survive a plane crash on their way home from a competition. They end up stranded on a remote desert island where they must try and survive whilst awaiting their rescue.

I enjoyed seeing the characters use their newfound survival skills throughout the book. It was incredibly interesting to see what they picked up and how they used skills each other already had for their best interests. It was thrilling to see the characters build shelters, find safe water and food.

The characters in this book are all wildly different but somehow very similar. Before the plane crash, a lot of them were distant acquaintances and after, we get to see how they navigate life a where they are together 24/7. I enjoyed our narrator Hayley. At points she felt like she was looking over the island and reporting to us what was happening, but I enjoyed this as it gave an overview of everything that was going on. All the other characters have their own unique quirks that I will let you find out by reading!

The mystery in this book keeps you guessing until the end. When the fast-paced narrative is combined with a very cinematic atmosphere, I struggled to put this book down. It had me gasping at certain parts and it absorbed me right into the story.

Alongside the issues that the characters face whilst trying to survive, the author also brings in topics that she is well known for discussing. This book discusses sexual consent, assault, rape, toxic masculinity, privilege, misogyny, gender identity, class and equality. These topics are incredibly important to discuss and especially in YA books.

The way this book explores the topic of rape is excellent. It clearly shows the reader that anything that is non-consensual is rape. It also explores how girls are often told that they’re the ones at fault and the arguments surrounding this. It brings to light the discussion that we are often told as women, that we should not pursue justice because of the person’s career and reputation are more important. Also, that no one will believe us anyway. It is by talking about these things that we can hope for change, so I really appreciate Laura Bates bring this up for discussion in this book.

Overall, this is a thrilling, thoroughly entertaining and thought-provoking book that I would highly recommend. I will certainly be reading more books by Laura Bates in the future too!

The Trial is a young adult contemporary thriller with substantial Lord of the Flies vibes where a group of semi-obnoxious teenagers must try to survive in the depths of the jungle after a series of unfortunate events. But as well as the survival of the entirety of the group, there are personal battles raging and being fought, too, stemming from a truly harrowing set of perfectly aligned circumstances. Travelling via private plane, the story follows three basketball players and four cheerleaders from a high school sports centre as they attend basketball playoffs with the girls being there to support and encourage the guys to win. But the last day of the tournament has just passed, and the two teams are on their way back to their school when they decide to throw a raucous party on board to celebrate their freedom. Unfortunately, the plane ends up experiencing problems mid-air causing it to crash and land on a remote, seemingly uninhabited exotic island.

With supplies onboard looking starkly finite and already running out, the group realises they have zero survival skills to keep them alive until those back home discover they did not land back safely. Main character and amateur sleuth Hayley is massively regretting applying to be a cheerleader as her only reason for doing so was to boost her chances of being accepted at an Ivy League University by showing her interest in extra-curricular activities. Now, their lives have been reduced to the mundane, repetitive tasks of finding the basic elements: food, water, warmth and shelter, but little do they realise, the nightmare is only just beginning... spending so much time alone together, tempers fray and anger rises, but they have no one else to rely on but each other. Who will survive this hell on Earth and make it home to their family alive? This is a compelling and heart-pounding thriller with the isolated setting really making it a cracker of a book. The thought that the place could be harbouring a merciless killer and someone who delights in wreaking havoc at a time of such hardship is horrifying, and the tension and nail-biting twists throughout only add to the sheer terror you feel for them all as a reader.

It keeps you guessing until the end, and the fast-paced narrative combined with the idea of a group of casual acquaintances who have to depend on and trust each other implicitly and a cinematic yet oppressive atmosphere, and I struggled to put it down. The Trial really puts the word trial into trials and tribulations as the adversity of both the collective and individual members of those stranded reaches fever pitch, and an unsettling, sinister energy begins to overtake everything. It is an absorbing and, at times, nail-biting thriller with a mystery at its centre over who among them is out to hurry along their peers' demise and who it is that will try anything to attempt to bring it about. As well as the issues they face in relation to survival, Bates touches on topics she's known for exploring in her nonfiction, namely sexual consent, assault, rape, privilege, toxic masculinity, misogyny, class, gender identity and equality which I feel are important subjects to introduce in YA books, and she does so in a subtle, non-preachy manner. A thrilling and thoroughly entertaining read. Highly recommended.

As you'd expect from a feminist campaigner, this is another book that dismantles the sexist, misogynistic behaviour that permeates our culture. It tackles a lot of tough topics, but they're things that need to be talked about.

The book is a modern retelling of Lord of the Flies, with a few references, but also digging into violence against women. The horror of survival comes first in the book, then segues into the horror of someone starting to attack the others, as the hints about what happened at the party come out.

There's a quote on the back of the book, saying that the author's fiction debut needs to be read by girls. No, these sorts of books need to be read by <em>everyone</em>. There's no point just talking to girls about these things - we already know the danger and we already spend our lives dealing with them. But we shouldn't have to. It's the culture and the men and boys who have to change, and so they need to be talked to about these issues, made to read things like this too.

This book explores rape - clearly showing that it's ANYTHING that's non-consensual.

I liked that the book both showed the boys trying to dodge the issue, claiming their behaviour was OK - or that a girl being raped was actually an offense against them, as they were the boyfriend and so they should be cared for too, or that she gave "the signs" but then changed her mind, so it wasn't rape it was her being "loose". These are really common reactions and to see them decimated was really good.

Plus, the book also explores how girls are told that they're the ones at fault, and the arguments about whether it was rape or not included them saying no. Because we have been told all of that - that the victim is to blame. Been told that there's no point pursuing justice because the guy's career and reputation is more important and that no one will believe us anyway. It's only in talking about these things that there is hope of change.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Bates has written a novel that explores issues of consent, feminism and violence against women in a way that should be engaging to young people - hopefully young men. The Lord of the Flies backdrop allows Bates to create the atmosphere of a mystery or detective novel, and while a little cliché at times, the narrative is engaging and the conclusion makes sense. Hopefully some young men will pick this up and learn the lessons within.

I've had a few days to digest this book and I've come to the conclusion that it has a really impactful message but getting there...is quite hard. I do like that the book made survival a main focus point, as it should be, but it did become quite repetitive and characters took ages to do anything meaningful. I think half the book was spent just detailing how they try to survive and the characters themselves suffered for it. I don't feel like I really got to know any of them, even the main character, and while I didn't figure it out completely, it's quite easy to guess who's behind everything.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

I am a huge fan of Laura Bates and her work on the Everyday Sexism project. As soon as I saw she had written for young adults, I jumped at the chance to see how her ideals translate to the page for a teenage audience. In 'The Trial', a plane crash sees several basketball players and members of the cheerleading squad stranded on a desert island. So far, so 'Lord of the Flies'. We see them adapt to survive whilst also navigating issues of gender, class and sexual politics.

There are certainly interesting elements to this story. The mysterious happenings (Is there a stranger on the island or a traitor within the group?) had me gripped as I was trying to work out the secret of the island. However, this took about half the book to get to - there are only so many descriptions of picking fruit and traversing the dense trees I can cope with before I need some action to happen. The final plot twist, whilst making some pertinent comments on life as a contemporary teenager, did not gel brilliantly with the bulk of the story and felt like an add on right near the end.

Overall, I enjoyed Bates' writing style and found elements of the plot intriguing. The pacing, particularly at the start, could have been better with a more memorable way of making the twist ending stick the landing. Overall, 3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher who provided an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.