REVIEW! The Island by M.A. Bennett

I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC for The Island by M.A. Bennett. This review will contain spoilers

I actually have this author's other book S.T.A.G.S but haven't got round to reading it yet, but after reading this book I'm definitely bumping S.T.A.G.S higher up on my TBR.

My Rating: ★★★★ (and a half)

So the blurb for this book (taken from Goodreads) is:
Link is a fish out of water. Newly arrived from America, he is finding it hard to settle into the venerable and prestigious Osney School. Who knew there could be so many strange traditions to understand? And what kind of school ranks its students by how fast they can run round the school quad - however ancient that quad may be? When Link runs the slowest time in years, he immediately becomes the butt of every school joke. And some students are determined to make his life more miserable than others . . . 

When a school summer trip is offered, Link can think of nothing worse than spending voluntary time with his worst tormentors. But when his parents say he can only leave Osney School - forever - if he goes on the trip, Link decides to endure it for the ultimate prize. But this particular trip will require a very special sort of endurance. The saying goes 'No man is an island' - but what if on that island is a group of teenagers, none of whom particularly like each other? When oppressive heat, hunger and thirst start to bite, everyone's true colours will be revealed. Let the battle commence . . .

I really felt for Link throughout this book, the bullying he had to endure for three years at Osney is horrible, but unfortunately this is something that happens to so many kids. As much as a school might say "we do not tolerate bullying and take this very seriously" it's not often taken seriously, which I've learnt from my own experiences. 

So on the Island Ralph and Flora actually started to grow on me, I begun to dislike Gil more, and with Seb I felt that he was getting off lightly and didn't deserve for Link to be as nice as he was - I don't think I would have been as rational as Link if I were in his shoes. I think the best character development was definitely Link, he went from being this shy, bullied kid to the bully and then Flora gave him the wake up call he needed and they finally managed to work together as a team.

I don't want to give too much away but the plot twist near the end was my favourite part. Thinking back on it now I'm shocked with myself for not seeing it sooner but I'm quite glad I didn't because the story had me gripped until the end.

I'm not sure what else I can say without spoilers, but I was lucky enough to meet the author at YALC over the weekend and got to tell her in person how much I loved this book.