Published March 22nd 2022 by Titan Books
A chilling Gothic horror novel set at a coed boarding school in Scotland, where a teen girl must not only fight against her monstrous male classmates but the monster growing within her after being cursed.
Every wish granted comes with strings attached. That’s how Catriona Cameron gets a scholarship to Floodbane Academy—an elite boarding school in the Scottish Lowlands she never applied to—where she’ll be one of only six girls to enter the castle’s unwelcoming halls.
As the carnage mounts, Catriona faces the possibility that she is becoming as monstrous as those she hunts. Ultimately, is vengeance worth the loss of her humanity?
Wishes are dangerous. Anyone who has ever read a fairy tale knows this, and yet we keep making them anyway. Ridley leans hard into that particular brand of fae cruelty, and the result is one of the more satisfying YA horrors I've read in a while.
Catriona Cameron arrives at Floodbane Academy, an elite boarding school in the Scottish Lowlands, after such a wish. She is one of only six girls admitted to its halls, and its current students absolutely do not want them there. After a violent attack, those unseen dark fairies grant cruel wishes made flippantly against her. Catriona begins to change. She becomes more attractive, but cursed with an insatiable hunger to devour anyone who preys upon women. The fairies give, and the fairies take, and what they take is your sense of self.
It's a great take on the classic “be careful what you wish for”, and the inclusion of Scottish folklore and the baobhan sith adds an extra layer to the story. There is also a surprising amount of gore, but the violence works especially well alongside the female rage running through the story and the very real inequality these girls are dealing with. The boys are horrible people. They're cruel, entitled, and despicable, so watching them get their comeuppance was extremely satisfying.
However, Insatiable isn't a straightforward revenge fantasy with a gothic academic flair. As the carnage mounts, Catriona confronts the possibility that she is becoming as monstrous as those she hunts. Watching her grapple with wanting the hunger and fearing the hunger, but feeding it anyway, is tense in the best way. Ridley keeps the focus on that dilemma throughout the story. Where does the monster end and the girl begin? And is vengeance worth the loss of her humanity? That's the kind of moral weight that elevates horror from pure pageantry into something that actually sticks with you.
If you like your gothic horror with fae curses, female rage, questionable morality, and a generous helping of bloodshed, this one delivers. I had a great time watching Catriona turn “be careful what you wish for” into a problem for everyone else. Sometimes the best solution to misogyny is a curse, a monster, and a little creative violence.