It is a dull, overcast morning and I've been tucked away in my study for most of it. I've got Taylor's new album Folklore playing in the background and I'm burning my new favourite Yankee Candle, Misty Mountains, which smells like the Highlands and reminds me of the fresh mountain air up in Scotland. I think I'm going to buy a few more of these candles and stock up for the autumn and winter.
I have been gripped by a book called Foxes, which is the latest release in the STAGS series by M A Bennet. I adore this YA series. It's unlike anything I have ever read before. It's so unique and interesting. Plus it has the best boarding school since Hogwarts - which is a bonus.
STAGS stands for Saint Aiden The Great School, which is an exclusive school for the elite. When the main protagonist, Greer, gets a scholarship there, she is thrilled and excited, but as a working class lass from Manchester, she doesn't really fit in. She makes friends with two other social misfits, Nel who comes from New Money, and Shafeen, an Indian boy.
STAGS is such an old school that the most recent buildings are from the Tudor age. Everything there is very traditional, from the Tudor robes that make up the school uniform, to the beautiful library and the original Elizabethan school theater. Everything modern and technological is frowned upon and named Savage - mobile phones are banned and the Internet isn't available. There are no computers, no i-pads and no Kindles to be seen.
Instead essays are written with ink on vellum, information is found in books and scrolls from the Scriptorium/library, classes are taught by Abbots and letters are sealed in wax and sent in place of texts and emails. It's all so wonderful and old fashioned! The school prefects are called The Medievals and they uphold the school's traditional rules and regulations, but there is more to them than meets the eye.
The STAGS world is a world for the over-privileged and they are none too happy about the new inclusivity of marginalized students like Greer and her pals. The school must be seen to be moving with the times to some extent if it is to survive another few hundred years, but the Medievals have their own way of keeping the newcomers in their place. In this world, we are all Savages.
There are three books in the series so far, STAGS, DOGS and FOXES. They are all page turners and have kept my attention gripped on the story. It's the first series in a long time where I can't wait for the next book to be released and where I am pre-ordering them as soon as possible.
It is a surprising mix of past and present, where the author has managed to weave together seemingly unrelated events and turn them into one cohesive whole. Events such as the recent pandemic and toppling of statues sit side by side with Windrush, an Elizabethan play, country pursuits, the ban on fox hunting and the Gunpowder Plot.
These are quite subversive books, part thriller, part social commentary, taking a stab at the heart of traditionalism, but at the same time, seducing you with that same cultured social class. All I can say is, STAGS draws you into it's world of wax seals, coded messages and intriguing plots.
I have just finished reading FOXES and I am already looking forward to the next book in the series. I hope I don't have to wait too long! It's that good.
Happy Reading Savages
Marie x
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