Small Game

by Blair Braverman

A gripping debut novel about a survival reality show gone wrong that leaves a group of strangers stranded in the northern wilds

 Four strangers and six weeks: this is all that separates Mara from one life-changing payday. She was surprised when reality TV producers came knocking at Primal Instinct—the survival school where she teaches rich clients not to die during a night outdoors—and even more shocked to be cast in their new show, Civilization. Now she just has to live off the land with her fellow survivors for long enough to get the prize money.

Whisked by helicopter to an undisclosed location, Mara meets her teammates: The grizzled outdoorsman. The Eagle Scout. The white-collar professional. And Ashley, the beautiful but inexperienced one who just wants to be famous. Mara’s unusual, rugged childhood has prepared her for the discomforts and hard work ahead. But trusting her fellow survivors? Not part of Mara’s skill set.

When the cast wakes one morning to find something has gone horribly wrong, fear ripples through the group. Are the producers giving them an extra challenge? Or are they wrapped up in something more dangerous? Soon Mara and the others face terrifying decisions as “survival” becomes more than a game.

A provocative exploration of the comforts, rituals, and connections we depend upon, Small Game is a gripping page-turner and a poignant story about finding the courage to build a new life from the ground up.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Audiobook, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Survival, Queer

288 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2022

Reviews

[Melissa (Semi Hiatus Until After the Holidays) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sigh.
This book started off SO well. It reminded me a lot of Stranded, where a group of people are set up to participate in a Survivor-style reality show. I was captivated and eagerly turning pages to find out what would happen. Mara has all of the survival skills necessary to make it for the six weeks to win the prize. Five people and a camera crew are filming in the wilderness. One contestant leaves the first day.

And then we get to halfway through the book and the camera crew vanishes. Where did they go? Is it a test? I was so excited to see what was next as the adventure gets more dangerous.

Then...the ending. Which was a big, huge letdown. No ending. No closure. We have no idea what happened to the camera crew because when Mara goes back to the camp, everything is gone. Fade to black

5 stars for the first 95% of the book. 1 star for the ending. Averaged to 3. I really liked it but hate the end.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

[Nilufer Ozmekik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine a competition: the bleakest, the harshest, the most vicious version of Survivor but the main concept is not only about surviving but also about creating a brand new civilization! A game prepares you the universe Stephen King created at his book; “The Stand”

The show is called Civilization. The contenders’ clothes are fast-fashion prehistoric,canvas tunics and matching shorts, all dyed a dusty brown and sandals made of thin leather.The idea is that they'd found one another in the wilderness, this group of strangers, and over the course of six weeks would be tasked with building a new kind of community, something pure and sustainable and right.They would forgo all comforts, so that viewers didn't have to. They would be one with the forest. They would find a way to live.All those cameras that are positioned on trees keep watching their every move! So they can dare cheating!

Mara, the main character, already get used to live in the wilderness. She was living in a camper with her ex boyfriend in the woods before getting chosen for the show and dumping him. She’s the experienced, mediocre looking competitor : truly opposite of her rival Ashley who joined the game for fame, inexperienced but extremely hot girl contender. And three male contenders are also chosen specifically: The
Eagle Scout Kyle, the white-collar professional James, the old grouch who had a heart of gold: Bullfrog!

Why they decide to be a part of the game? For money! For fame! To prove they can survive in the middle of wilderness! To leave their old lives behind and hide in the wilderness! All of them may be the reason fueling them to finish the mission they’d plan to accomplish!

One of them left early! Four of them stayed behind! And guess what? Production crew vanished into thin air! Did they think none of them survived so they packed their bags, equipments and ran away! But it doesn’t make sense! What if the producers planned something more sinister to boost their ratings!
Buckle up! Get your pop corns and refreshments! This is gonna be highly entertaining wild ride!

It was quick, captivating, action packed read reminded of Kiersten White’s Hide: an action packed survival contest concept without supernatural elements!

Highly recommended to the readers who are true fan of genre!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Ecco for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

[Lex Kent · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.50 Stars. Entertaining and very readable, but not quite the gripping story I was hoping for. I’m a huge survival fan. I used to watch Survivor for years, before it jumped the shark, and then happily found Naked and Afraid and fictional shows like The Wilds. When I heard that the author of this book was a contestant from Naked and Afraid, I knew I had to read this book. I thought there was a lot of good here, and it was clear that Braverman has some mad survival skills, I just don’t know if everything transferred as well into book form for my personal tastes. And I say that as a bit of an outlier since a lot of readers enjoyed this book more than I did.

On the good side, Braverman knowing what goes on behind the scenes of a reality show, and having those good survival skills, allowed her to write a book that felt very realistic. I don’t know if this was done on purpose, but as a reader, I felt more like I was watching these contestants like I was watching them on a TV show and sometimes I would get to have special behind the scenes viewing too. The psychic character distance is not close, so you don’t feel what the characters are feeling, which normally is not very good in a book, but in this case as a voyeur, it worked really well.

The next part is kind of a good and bad part. The bad part is I thought more of the book was less thrilling than I was hoping for. I lost track but I think almost the whole first half is just about people starving, some people building a shelter, others forging, setting traps or fishing. It is all well written, and I think it would be interesting for someone who doesn’t watch Naked and Afraid XL, but it didn’t really do anything for me. Now, while I say that, I want to make clear that I stayed up and finished this book in one night so while I was not wowed, it sure was readable.

Okay one of my bigger issues, and this leads to a TW, is for animal abuse/death. I’m kind of surprised I have not seen this mentioned in other reviews as this was an awful part that goes on for too many pages and it was not about killing animals for food or any kind of survival, it was just abuse plain and simple and I don’t see why it was needed except for shock value, I guess. Braverman had already shown that the character who did it was having problems with their mental health repeatedly, so it wasn’t for that.

I was excited to know that this book had a little sapphic romance thrown into it. If you follow my reviews, you will know that I love anything sapphic, unfortunately, while I loved the added queer rep, the relationship ended up feeing very one-sided. One person seemed to have more genuine feelings while the other seemed to fall into the category of “since you are the last person around, I guess you will do.” I don’t want to give too much away but it is much easier to root for one woman over the other, so it’s hard as a reader to like them as a pair.

There has been a lot of talk about the ending, and it seems like people have issues with two parts. One, I do think the answer is there about what happened. I want to be vague here, but I feel like I might say too much no matter what so The answer is what Ashley said happened near the end when she adds that extra piece of info from the director/owner. It’s so simple and almost a bit dumb, so as a reader it’s hard to believe such a simple answer is how they became stuck. The other complaint is that the book just ends. It has a little summary wrap-up paragraph, but it is disappointing not to really finish. To be honest it felt like Braverman got sick of writing and just wanted the book to end. It’s a shame because the book was on the shorter side so having a few thrilling final chapters could have really ended the book on a strong note and bumped my rating up to 4 stars.

TLDR: I think what it comes down to is if you are a huge survival fan than this book might not be gripping enough to get out of the just okay category. It is very readable and entertaining, but it might be missing that wow factor for you. If you don’t know much about survival or are a new fan to the genre, then this might be the perfect book for you. Braverman knows her survival skills and has done an excellent job showing them off in this book. I would not read this book for the sapphic romance, but it was nice to see some queer rep. The ending is controversial and deserves it, but it makes for an interesting book discussion.

A copy was given to me for an honest review.

[Gloria · Rating 2 out of 5]

When you write a plot-driven book (as opposed to a character exploration book or beautiful language literary book), you need to actually finish the plot. That’s why we’re all here.

[♑︎♑︎♑︎ ♑︎♑︎♑︎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a great deal. I raced through it. It's a terrific survival story that includes an extraordinary level of verisimilitude about edible plants, and fish traps, and how to survive in the wilderness...and it's also the story of human beings who, when faced with the most extreme circumstances imaginable, come together and take care of one another. The people felt so real to me. Usually when there is this much action and plot in a story the characters suffer. Here the internal journies of the characters are as meticulously told as the outward survival story. I'm in awe of Blair Braverman's skill in simultaneously telling both a riveting adventure story as well as this inner story of human faith and resilience. Some books do it all and this is one of them.

[Nina The Wandering Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was entertained throughout most of this book, but by the final page I ended up screaming "WHAT WAS THE REASON?!"

[CaseyTheCanadianLesbrarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this! And just to assert up front because I see a lot of reviews not mentioning it at all: this book is super queer! Also, the ending is great, what are the rest of you talking about?? 

Okay so back to the beginning: Mara grew up with increasingly paranoid survivalist /  doomsday prepper parents and doesn't really know any other way to live as an adult. She's sharing a camper in the woods with her boyfriend when TV producers come to the survival school where she works, recruiting people to participate in a six-week long survival reality TV show. The show's called Civilization, where five people are supposed to be building a society from the ground up while in the woods with pretty much no supplies. Anyone who makes it to the end gets $100 000. 

Mara is chosen, along with an older grumpy hunter with a heart of gold, Bullfrog; a math teacher who quits after three days; an earnest 19-year-old Eagle Scout named Kyle; and another woman about her age with nothing more than car camping experience: Ashley, clearly chosen by the producers for her conventional good looks. These characters are all so richly drawn, so much beyond their archetypes, so flawed and so believable. 

The first half of the book or so is great in its own right. Mara prepares to leave for the show, we learn about her floating numbly through her current existence, and we see the survivors getting to know each other and struggling to come up with a steady food source. This part of the book succeeds as a character study of Mara (including a sort of coming out / falling in love), as an ode to the beauty and harshness of nature, and as a fascinating inside scoop into how these kinds of survival shows work and what they feel like (Blair Braverman should know, she was on Naked and Afraid).

Then the second half flips a switch: one day, the survivors wake up and the crew is gone. A few supplies left behind but otherwise nothing. Shit gets real fast. They can no longer quit any time they want. What was a survival game becomes an actual survival test. Ahhh!!! 

This whole book is immensely readable, a true page-turner if I ever read one. It's so easy to sink into, its story, world, and characters feel effortlessly real, practically and emotionally. Small Game is the kind of book that I could barely put down, but I also hesitated to keep reading, alternately because it was so tense or because I didn't want it to end. 

Read this book! 

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review a copy of this book!

Everyone seems to really have liked this book and I feel so left out, hah. The synopsis for this book was wildly intriguing, but the actual reading experience did not measure up to those initial feelings.
Was this book fast paced? Yes, I read it in less than 2 days. However, I think the pacing of the plot itself was a bit weird? It took until about 50% through the book for anything (other than the MC getting annoyed at the others and her foraging stalks) to even really happen. Until that point it was just the daily not-very-interesting survival tasks of each person, with a little bit of interesting character development thrown in there. The "build up" during the first half of the book was also ultimately just filler because it really doesn't meaningfully play into the scenarios or relationships present in the second half where they're alone actually trying not to die. What was the point of the relationship with Tom? Like the idea of him spurred some mildly interesting commentary but ultimately he didn't really add anything to the survival show or the book. I could sort of see what the author was trying to do with the relationship between the MC and Ashley but it ultimately just really didn't work.
I also wish that the disappearing crew had been explained a little, or maybe I just missed something, because it all just seemed really improbable and I couldn't suspend my belief that any of this could reasonably occur. The ending was also like "then they left the cabin then they found a woman and there was a lawsuit the end". Like, what? I don't know if maybe I just don't understand the artistic merit of this writing style, but the book quite literally just abruptly ended at a point when it was actually getting interesting (Winter is coming, what will they find if they try to reach civilization? What's going on?).
I've seen other reviews mention this author's stellar non-fiction work so maybe I'll check that out, but this book was just really not for me. I don't really know who I would recommend this to because there wasn't enough focus on the show aspect for it to appeal to people who love reality TV; there wasn't enough of a developed mystery for this to appeal to mystery lovers; you might like it if you like thrillers because it seemed like it was supposed to be really thrilling and high stakes even if it didn't really come off that way in the reading experience. If you like talk about survival (people being cold and sleeping on the ground, people collecting shoots and catching fish, people making fire, etc.) you'd probably get a bit of a kick out of this book.

[Rachel the Page-Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been on such a good reading streak lately! This is the third book this week that I’ve devoured in one sitting. I could not put this down once I got started, and I loved it until the last page (literally, but we’ll get to that).

There is a new reality show called “Civilization”, and that’s where the story is set. Five strangers are cast, blindfolded, taken by car and helicopter to a remote, woodsy location, in the hopes of winning $100,000. They aren’t competing against each other (otherwise it’s pretty much “Survivor”), but they are competing to keep together and start a civilization out of nothing in six weeks. Our cast is exactly who you’d see on survival shows. We have:

Mara, our protagonist and a wilderness instructor recruited for the show

Kyle, the young and naïve kid obsessed with Chris McCandless (“Into The Wild”)

Bullfrog, the token older man who stays busy and keeps to himself

James, the bullheaded know-it-all, and

Ashley, the aspiring actress looking for fame

This starts as any show like this does - they all meet, it’s awkward on camera, the crew leaves at night but relies on infrared cameras and personal cameras for footage, personalities come out, they get really hungry - everything sounds normal for a reality show. Until it doesn’t, when one day, the crew doesn’t come back.

Eventually, the group (halfway) realizes they are on their own in the middle of nowhere. After a few days of waiting for someone to come back for them, they set out for help … and that’s when the story went from great to fantastic. This was super creepy, and I loved every second of it (until the last page).

This was five stars for me, UNTIL THE LAST PAGE. I’m reading along, enjoying the story, excited to see what happens in the end and then … a paragraph. A paragraph out of nowhere sums up the ending, leaving me with a million questions. The writing in this was so great, so expressive, and then … that’s it?

Whyyy couldn’t all that info have just been written into the book? It wasn’t totally left up in the air, so why not spend another 50 pages to expound on it? I’m so bummed about that, and the questions I still have, that I’m going with 4.5, rounded down. Make no mistake though, this was a fantastic book, especially if you’re a reality show junkie, and I still recommend it despite the ending - oh I’m sorry, I mean, the PARAGRAPH.

(Thank you to Ecco, Blair Braverman, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book will be out November 1, 2022.)

[Maggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book ended up being very different from what I was expecting. The blurb had me expecting a survival thriller but the first half in particular was so slow with not much happening. The pace picked up about halfway through, but I kept waiting for some mystery or conspiracy to be revealed to explain what was going on. The rushed ending also left unanswered questions.

[SueCanaan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm rounding up to a 4 because I enjoyed this book so much......all the way to the end when the author must have been told to finish it now. Unsatisfying ending which taints the whole journey.

[Major Nelson · Rating 1 out of 5]

WASTED PREMISE ALERT

The description of this book is deceptive. I was expecting a survival thriller and what I got instead was a shitty, half-assed lesbian romance. I feel like I was scammed.

I immediately didn't like the main character right out of the gate so I started this, put it down and didn't pick it back up again until a month later.

The romance was shit. That's really all there is to say about it. SHIT.

Ashley was literally the worst, I wish she would have died instead of Kyle. The bitch did nothing of value but look pretty and boil water.

Lets talk about Ashley sucking ass for a minute.
Ashley abducts a fawn and starves it to death because "she needed something nice", like she's a fucking child.
She bangs production members to get more air time and then later pretends like she was forced into it and she admits that she got with Mara because she thought she was part of the crew.
She killed Kyle because she didn't want to deal with him anymore.
Kills a fawn with no remorse but guilts Mara into going back to camp and saving the fish in the trap. Won't somebody think of the fish! (It didn't even matter, either. LMAO)
Nobody ever called her out for her bullshit.
Seriously, fuck Ashley.

Bullfrog was okay I guess but did he ever reconnect with his daughter? Who knows? Who cares? The author certainly didn't care to give any closure on that. Let's be honest, that was just some half-assed attempt to give him some sort of character but don't let that distract you from the fact that these "characters" are cardboard cutouts.

Tom served no purpose other than to give Mara protein bars and to leave the gun. Which he left because he knew the crew was leaving, right? So why didn't the crew just take the survivors with them then? I'm just not supposed to think about that, I guess.

I envisioned Lenny as Jeff Probst (Survivor host) and that was fun imagining Jeff banging Ashley, that was a visual I didn't need. Thanks, brain.

I felt bad for the bear cub when they skinned its mother right in front of it. At least shoo it away first, damn. I'm sure it came back later to feast on Kyle's remains.

The author just gave the fuck up on the last chapter. It's like she didn't know how to end it and just speedran through to a conclusion because she wanted it to be over. "They find civilization, they probably keep in touch, a lawsuit happens because of whatever. The end." I'm not joking, the ending was summed up in a short paragraph, it was laughably bad.

Finally, the worst part of this book is that the crew disappearing is never explained. Yes you heard that right, the whole premise of the book is never explained. Unless I'm just supposed to accept Ashley's bullshit explanation that the show ran out of money and somebody missed the call to come get them. If that's what happened then that is so fucking stupid, I don't even have words.

What was supposed to be the payoff here? What was the point?

The only positive thing I can say about this book is that it was short. That's it.

[Avery · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay… Where do I start? First, let’s start at what drew me to this book. I was instantly fascinated with the idea of this book because I love survival tv shows and grew up loving the book Hatchet. This book is about a group of people who go onto a survival tv show and it goes epically wrong.
If you like: Naked & Afraid, Hatchet, survival books/movies, fast paced books with short chapters, this is for you. All of that works for me too and I was very much enjoying this book. For the first 50%, I would give this book a 4 or 5 stars.

What lost me is that the book literally did not have an ending… I understand books with ambiguous endings that make you create your own idea of what happened but that absolutely cannot work here. MAJOR plot points were not addressed at all.
Without giving away spoilers, there were also some scenes in this book that were completely unrealistic. I’m sorry but if I’m stranded in the woods for months, the last thing I’m thinking of is starting up a casual sexual relationship with the people I’m stranded with.
I’m so disappointed because this book had SO MUCH POTENTIAL and I literally was loving it but it just feels like the author got tired of writing and didn’t feel like explaining how the characters even got in the situation they were in. Seriously, almost every plot point was left unfinished.
I was ready to rave about this book and tell all my friends to read it. Instead, I’m going to have to advise against reading it because the ending will make you so mad. I have SO MANY QUESTIONS that will go unanswered. I will be thinking about this book in a negative way for a long time.
I’ll definitely give this author another shot, as long as they learn how to flesh out their stories.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good story but I hate when authors leave the solution to the reader to decide! (Spoiler ahead) WTF happened to the camera crew? I couldn’t believe it when story ended, I turned page—no epilogue that explains what happened! Are they dead? Mara should have confronted Lenny and Tim.
I reduced my rating to 2 stars because this non-ending annoyed the hell out of me.

Update 6/15/2024--to see how it should be done, read One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware

[Teah Voss · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was actually disappointed in this book. it was such an interesting idea and has so many possibilities but really didn’t live up to any of them. I found a lot of the characters dull and unlikable. The plot started off interesting and after the crew disappeared I thought for sure it would pick up from here, but it really didn’t. It felt like the author grew bored and rushed to finish it. We never get any reasoning for why the crew disappeared or why they didn’t come back for them. Tom was also a disappointment. He had so much potential and I felt like the author was building something up for him too but yet he also just disappeared. The ending felt rushed and incomplete. Honestly super disappointing.

[B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Blair Braverman writes really good articles and nonfiction. Unfortunately, that talent doesn't translate to her first foray into fiction.

Small Game tells the story of Mara, who is roped into auditioning for a new survival reality television show. When she is picked, she decides what the hell. There's prize money, and that money could maybe get her out of the life she hates.

Why does she hate her life ? We don't know. Braverman doesn't give us much insight into her characters. The book is written in 3rd person limited, focused on Mara, but just barely. We don't get much of her inner thoughts at all. I'm not sure why this choice was made. It really should have been 1st person. Holding every single character at arms length in a narrative that was supposed to be harrowing and intimate was a mistake.

Mara arrives at the show with 4 other contestants: Jake, the normie; Kyle, the boyscout; Bullfrog, the old man survivalist; and Ashley, the fame seeker. Want more insight into these characters ? Too bad, you won't get it.

My biggest complaints are as follows :

- the dialogue is clunky and often doesn't read like people talk.
- all of the characters of unlikeable despite being the barest sketch of themselves.
- Mara herself.

What we know of Mara is an insufferable contradiction. She is meek and pliable externally ; internally she's all "I'm smarter than everyone here and they may think they have my number but I have THEIR number."

You don't, though, Mara. The book opens with her trapped with a boyfriend she tells us she doesn't like, but we don't see that he's a bad guy. She says she can't leave him because of finances, but she has a job and lives off the land. She doesn't have enough money for a bus ticket? Then, in the survivor show, she allows herself to become the pet of one person, and accepts another person to be a pet of her own. She seems to hate humans in general, but then she becomes obsessed with one of them. None of these interpersonal relationships are unpacked, so it just reads as garbled nonsense. Who is Mara? I don't know.

The book was a good idea: survivalist TV show gone amok. But Braverman wasn't able to create a sense of place and person that was believable or interesting or developed. To be clear: I really, really love Braverman's nonfiction, but this book was, unfortunately, a flop.

[Basic B's Guide · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you Harper Audio for the gifted alc. Audiobook narrated by Kristen Sieh (I’m a fan).

2.5 stars

Inspired by the authors own reality show experience on Naked and Afraid, this debut novel is about a survival reality show gone wrong. It reminded me a bit of the show The Wilds on Amazon Prime and the audiobook (thank you @harperaudio ) was fabulously narrated by Kristen Sieh. I went in with pretty high expectations and found the story to fall a bit flat for me and perhaps ended a little too abruptly with unanswered questions. I also expected more action and tense feelings throughout. If you’re interested in more of a how-to survive the wilderness, then perhaps this may work for you.

[Sandra Castro · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Small Game” is a tense, survival-driven thriller that turns reality TV into something far darker and more unsettling than expected. What starts as a competitive wilderness show quickly spirals into a brutal fight for survival when the rules disappear, along with the crew meant to keep everyone safe.

The story follows a group of contestants dropped into the Alaskan wilderness, each carrying their own secrets, ambitions, and limits. When the game abruptly collapses and help never comes, alliances fracture, and desperation takes over. The author excels at showing how quickly civility erodes under hunger, fear, and isolation. The psychological tension between the characters is just as gripping as the physical danger of the environment.

The wilderness itself is a constant threat: cold, unforgiving, and vividly described. The real-life experience with survival shines through in the details, making every decision feel urgent and every mistake costly. The protagonist’s internal struggle adds emotional depth, grounding the story in very human fears and moral dilemmas.

While the pacing slows slightly in the middle as the group dynamics cycle through conflict, the atmosphere remains intense and claustrophobic. The payoff is satisfying, even if not every character arc lands with equal weight.

Overall, “Small Game” is a sharp, immersive survival thriller that asks uncomfortable questions about power, performance, and what people become when the cameras stop rolling.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

UGH.

I am so frustrated with this book. I loved the early parts.

But it starts to drag around the middle and it does not get better from there.

Minor spoilers: It’s hinted in the blurb that there’s some sinister plot happening all around them. That everything is not what it seems. That there will be a mystery to unravel.

We are never given an explanation for why anything happens, which is infuriating. And the mystery is never given enough weight to propel the story forward.

Instead we focus on a romance between the MC and another survivalist.

It’s only saving grace is that it’s quick, and easy to read. If had invested more than two days and a handful of hours reading this I would have been ticked.

Please do not go into this expecting some grand thriller. There’s definitely some disturbing points but it misses the mark by far. It’s more of a literary piece.

[laurel [the suspected bibliophile] · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy shit.

I've followed Blair Braverman on twitter for quite some time, and I love the way she can weave stories in 240 characters a tweet. But the transition from tweets to long-form fiction is vast, and I'm super excited that this nailed it.

I loved Mara. I loved the twist and critique on reality tv, particularly survival shows. It was good, and I'm so happy that the last few paragraphs gave me a glimpse into the future.

[Allison Speakmon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The show is called Civilization. The contestants are tasked with not just surviving but also with creating a new Civilization. The six contestants must forgo all comforts and find a way to live on their own with nothing but the clothes on their back and what the forest can provide. If they can hack it for 6 weeks, they can win $100,000. Mara teaches survival classes for a living and is confident she can survive the 6 weeks but when the crew stops showing up and the cameras go off, the remaining contestants are left far longer than the 6 weeks they expected.

This is a well written debut but for me this wasn't a thriller. This goes back to my compliant about labeling books thrillers just because they have one dramatic event. To me thrillers are page turning suspense reads, and while I guess this one had some suspense, it read more as literary or contemporary fiction to me. The pacing here is much slower, from a purely stylist perspective reminded me more of What Comes After and These Silent Woods. I really enjoyed both of those books and they were in my top 2021 reads. Do these books all have a mystery tied to them? Yes, but they're so much more than the that and labeling them as thrillers really does them a disservice since they don't fit the typical mold of a thriller. Now that I have that rant out of the way…

I really thought I was going to love this book and it started off really strong for me. I'm all for a survival book especially when the descriptions and writing is so incredibly vivid. I was hoping for multiple POVs, especially since it’s all about a reality TV show. I was surprised by the choice to just show Mara’s POV and to be honest she’s the least interesting of all the characters. I feel like we got a ton of information about the actual contestants throughout the books but nothing that helped puzzle together who each of them were. So instead, we really just get Mara’s thoughts and musing throughout the whole story. That could have been fine, but Mara’s character seems to be a bit ‘bleh’, for lack of a better term. Her behaviors and viewpoints could all certainly be crafted from her upbringing, but she lacked emotion and tended to be naïve.

Pacing wise this one is a bit slower and is more an atmospheric read than a plot based one. Which is going to work for lots of readers, but it doesn’t work great for me, since I’m such a plot-based reader. I was constantly waiting for something to happen, that never materialized. That might have been from my assumption this would be more a traditional thriller, than because of the actual story itself. The ending also felt abrupt. Without getting too far into it, I got zero answers to what happened. I know this was a direct choice (and some people love a good open ending) but I just have too many questions left.

For a certain type of reader, this is going to be a great story to get your hands on. For those of us that need more concrete endings, and are plot based readers, this won't be a perfect fit. I will say again though, that the writing was wonderful especially for a debut. I'd definitely give Braverman another shot but this one just didn't fully deliver for me.

Small Game comes out November 1, 2022! Huge thank you to Ecco Press for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.  If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my Instagram @speakingof.books.

[Kim Lockhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title of this novel suggests dual layers of meaning: apex predator vs. disadvantaged prey, as well as the primal vs. the socialized, especially as they relate to that odd modern concept that is reality TV survivor competition.

The author displays an easygoing conversational tone, which is quickly supplanted by the clear gathering of dangerous conflicts. The idea of being in a challenging, yet somewhat controlled environment, is that at least it seems the center will hold, until it doesn't. The author reminds us that cooperation only persists if resources are available to support it. It takes very little stress on the system to unravel the social contract.

It's precisely when it all falls apart that we stop the performance of appearances. Perhaps counterintuitively, it is extreme fear and danger which expose the core of the true self. Even we highly evolved beings discover that one of our most central human truths is our inability to live without hope. We are driven, by biological imperative and psychological need, to try to survive.

This is Blair Braverman's first work of fiction, after receiving acclaim for her nonfiction work in ethnographic journalism. Many thanks to Ecco Books and #NetGalley for an uncorrected proof copy of this novel.

[Stacy40pages · Rating 5 out of 5]

Small Game by Blair Braverman. Thanks to @eccobooks and @netgalley for the gifted Arc ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A survival reality show gone wrong leaves four contestants in the forest to fend for themselves.

I love a good survival book and this one had it all. The characters were all well developed and I enjoyed getting to know them and rooting for them. My only complaint was that I would have liked the ending to unravel a bit more, and there was one piece missing for me. Besides that it was still a five star read.

“Look, im not trying to rebuild society. Im just trying to get out of it.”

Small Game comes out 11/1.

[Lindsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted this to be more than it ended up being. Survival was a main focus of this "game". The writing was beautiful but hard to follow at times.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I enjoyed this, it was a quick page turner with an interesting "mystery" that I did enjoy- until the last page... I don't know how you write a story with a mystery, drop clues throughout it, have the characters speculate on what happened and then just never give any explanation! You just don't get to know. Annoying and really unsatisfying end to an interesting literary "thriller". Thriller and mystery in quotes because while the mystery and thriller aspect of this are light, because of the fact that we just never find out anything, it makes any of those aspects throughout the story fall flat at the end, culminating in nothing.

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a good survival story. This was a good survival story. Braverman, making her fictional debut, has created a thoroughly immersive world – a middle of nowhere set to be televised for the amusement of the reality tv addicts and five people driven to be cast in the show for very different reasons.
Mara, the main protagonist, is there for a fresh start that the prize money would afford her. She’s so very young and yet already tired of her life. A child of survivalist/prepper off-gridder parents turn survival retreat guide for the people with too much money and not enough sense, stuck in a dead-end relationship, no plans, no savings, Mara sees this show as an opportunity to buy a new life.
Her teammates/costars are in it for fame, recognition, opportunity to prove themselves. It’s all about second chances, really.
The show’s premise isn’t a wildly original one, just another spin on the Survivor. The producer is a creep. But it’s moving along…until it comes to a stop. Suddenly, the cameras are gone, and the cast of the show find themselves alone, abandoned, deliberately or on purpose.
Now the real survival begins. Small game - high stakes.
All the drama, all the excitement, all the dangers, all the creativity and the desperation come out in cinematic vividness once the camera stop rolling. Once it is no longer a game.
Exciting, engaging, entertaining…all the Es of good and great reading, this book is a terrific literary adventure in the wilderness. The writing, the pacing, the characters…all done so well, most impressive for a debut. You won’t want to put this book down and coming in at just under 300 pages and being dynamically paced, you won’t really have to, not much anyway. I read it in one sitting with one pause for lunch and enjoyed it very much. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/

[AndiReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listen, this book isn't for the faint of heart... it's definitely dark, but also a thriller page turner.

You know by now I love a vacation gone wrong and maybe you know I am a die-hard survivor fan. There was no way I was turning down the chance to review a book about four strangers cast in a reality show about surviving!

Mara is actually an outdoor teaching professional and is very surprised when the TV producers add her to the cast. When she joins the others, she really doesn't know what to expect of how to act. All she knows is that she desperately needs the prize money.

As she learns more about her fellow contestants, reality shows in general and how to get a long with other people, something goes very, very wrong on set. Can the survivors band together and survive this? If you like vacation gone wrong and reality tv based stories you will love Small Game#Ecco #BlairBraverman #SmallGame #Netgalley

[Karen’s Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Small Game is a quick read about a Survivor-like reality show where 5 blindfolded contestants are dropped off in an unknown location for 6 weeks. The prize money is $100,000.

Mara comes from a prepper family and now teaches at a survival school, so when she’s selected as a contestant, she figures she’ll easily win.

For the first few weeks, the group perform for the cameras and do as the producer asks. And then one day, everything goes horribly wrong.

I read this book in one day and couldn’t read it fast enough. I love survival stories and this one was everything I could have asked for.

This was the author’s debut book and I couldn’t get enough! Can’t wait to see what she does next.

*Thank you so much to Ecco Books and to NetGalley for like the advance eGalley. Pub date is Nov. 1st, 2022.*

[ᒪᗴᗩᕼ · Rating 3 out of 5]

2¾⭐

🔥MOODS🔥
➨ Slow Burn Thriller
➨ Reality TV Survival Show
➨ Written by a former contestant of Naked & Afraid

For me this story felt depressing, even before it turned into an actual survival story…it felt like these people had nothing to go back to, nothing worth surviving for. When it wasn’t feeling bogged down by melancholy it was either painfully boring or overly dramatic. But…the biggest disappointment was the ending. It was super frustrating not getting an answer to the most important question; the one driving the whole story. Or...I totally missed what was driving the whole story.

➨ Narrated by: 🎙️ Kristen Sieh 📣 She was good despite my feelings about the story.

Total Score 5.43/10 | Opening-7 | Characters-6 | Plot-5 | Atmosphere-6.5 | Writing Style-6.5 | Ending-2 | Overall Enjoyment- 5

[Kathrin Passig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ich habe intensiv auf den Erscheinungstermin dieses Buchs gewartet (normalerweise vergesse ich ihn sofort nach der Ankündigung und denke dann erst Jahre später wieder dran, oder nie). Ich habe das E-Book schon Wochen vor dem Termin gekauft (auch das zum ersten Mal) und am Erscheinungstermin im Stundentakt nachgesehen, ob es schon da ist. Man bekommt ein in den USA erscheinendes E-Book in Deutschland um fünf Uhr morgens, wie ich jetzt weiß. Es endet, wie die meisten Bücher, nicht ganz so befriedigend, wie es angefangen hat, gegen Ende kommen mehrere handlungszusammenfassende Stellen. Aber die erste Hälfte war sehr gut und absolut nichts ist so ausgegangen, wie ich es mir beim Lesen auf der Basis von vielen Überlebensbüchern und -filmen vorgestellt hatte. Wie man einen Roman "during a winter dogsled season" schreiben kann, ist mir vollkommen rätselhaft.

Vorabdruck erstes Kapitel: https://www.outsideonline.com/culture...
Interview (mit leichten Spoilern): https://www.autostraddle.com/what-it-...
Blair Braverman über ihre eigene Teilnahme an einer Survivalshow: https://www.outsideonline.com/culture...
Bei Twitter folgen lohnt sich schon allein wegen der großartigen Bildbeschreibungstexte: https://twitter.com/BlairBraverman
Noch viel mehr Schlittenhundefotos bei Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bravermountain
"Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube" war auch ein sehr gutes und ganz anderes Buch: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...