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    The Laws of the Skies
    The Laws of the Skies
    The Laws of the Skies
    Audiobook4 hours

    The Laws of the Skies

    Written by Gregoire Courtois

    Narrated by Daniel Matmor

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Winnie-the-Pooh meets The Blair Witch Project in this very grown-up tale of a camping trip gone horribly awry.

    Twelve six-year-olds and their three adult chaperones head into the woods on a camping trip. None of them make it out alive. The Laws of the Skies tells the harrowing story of those days in the woods, of illness and accidents, and a murderous child.

    Part fairy tale, part horror film, this macabre fable takes us through the minds of all the members of this doomed party, murderers and murdered alike.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherECW Press
    Release dateFeb 15, 2022
    ISBN9781770567016
    The Laws of the Skies
    Author

    Gregoire Courtois

    Grégoire Courtois lives and works in Burgundy, where he runs the independent bookstore Obliques, which he bought in 2011. A novelist and playwright, he has published three novels with Le Quartanier: Révolution (2011), Suréquipée (2015), and Les lois du ciel (2016). In 2013 he founded Caractères, an international book festival in Auxerre, which he continues to run. 

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    Reviews for The Laws of the Skies

    3.5/5

    232 ratings20 reviews

    What our readers think

    Readers find this title to be a twisted and engaging horror story. The narration style is matter-of-fact and draws readers in, although some find it unnecessarily brutal. The book is described as dark, violent, and gory, not suitable for those who are sensitive to scenes of harm to children. However, it is praised for its exquisite writing, perfect narration, and suspenseful plot. Overall, it is a rough and visceral read that leaves a lasting impact.

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Amazing novel! The last chapter will have you squirming and wishing it over already. A rough, bleak, visceral read. Not a book you should read if you are struggle with scenes where children are physically, emotionally or psychologically harmed. Not sure it belongs in the "dark humor" category though as it's a lot more literary and heavy than that genre tag would suggest.

      3 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      It's twisted and graphic. A pretty decent horror story, reads at a good pace without unnecessary excess.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Absolutely disturbing!
      I’m lost for any other words.

      Except, definitely give it a listen.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      A camping trip goes horribly wrong in this book. It is extremely violent, brutal, and gory. Not for the faint of heart when it comes to gore and violence. This book was well done and the narrator did a great job.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Dark but brightly engaging, this novel barely gives you a moment of respite from its horrors. It’s also tenderly human at times, and breaks the fourth wall intermittently to draw you in even further. It’s simply outstanding. (Also, the choice of narrator was impeccable. His reading was absolute perfection!)

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Seriously well done for it's size. This was so interestingly well done by the narrator, he was telling the story instead of playing a roll. Suspenseful and tragic with great visual depictions, I was sadened and appalled but loving the matterafact narration so much that I found myself thinking, does the author have no boundaries? Great stuff!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Whew! Exquisitely written, perfectly narrated, and brutal from the get-go till the end.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 1/5

      I did not enjoy this book. As someone who works with children, I can confidently say that 6-year-old children do not speak/think this way. One example that stood out to me is:
      "Océane is a little girl, but she is a little girl who can hunt trolls and, more importantly, who is not scared, who is so strong, confident, and so pretty too, has been so pretty for so long. Why, for so long, has she not understood that I, Nathan, like her and want to hold her in my arms and kiss her and most of all, yes, most of all, I want her to want nothing more than to be near me, for me to be near her, for her to talk to me and want me to talk to her too."
      Yeah, totally sounds like a small child.
      Another issue was that it would jump between perspectives with no indication that it was someone else until it mentioned someone they were with or were thinking about, which could arguably be a stylistic choice, but it didn't work because the characters did not in any way have distinct voices, which is especially problematic when IT'S FLIP FLOPPING BETWEEN ADULTS AND SMALL CHILDREN.
      If this wasn't the first book of the year for me, I would have DNFd it. Looking back, I'm not sure what's worse - DNF or 1⭐. Either way, I'm starting the year on a bad note. I guess I can only go up from here.


    • 1/5
      Long winded waffle! Avoid at all costs. Definitely not recommended
    • 3/5
      Bleak and unrealistic, it's like watching (listening to) a fatal car wreck unfold. Fourteen or so times. I give it 3 stars because though at least twice I said to myself, 'There's no real point to this story. Why am I even listening?', morbid curiosity brought me through to the end. It's written well enough, so if you're into final destination for 6 year olds, give this story a go.
    • 2/5
      This story started out and continues as if it is a series of academic exercises in descriptive prose. I hoped it would come together as a “story” but if you chose to read or listen you to will be disappointed.
    • 5/5
      Think: Final Destination but with children and a dense forest
    • 5/5
      Where do I start? I'm not sure. They all died. I've read some dark, fucked up shit in my time. Thing others puked over. Had nightmares about. That didn't phase me one bit. However this shook me a little, and to be a 100% truthful. I'm not sure if it was in the ways they died. Or the story the teacher told them before it all fell apart. The poor little mouse....
    • 5/5
      Great descriptive writing for such a short book. Narration was superb. Be forewarned; disturbing material. Unfortunately, in this day, not hard to imagine.
    • 4/5
      Well that was brutal. My mind can not grasp the image of 6 year olds accomplishing this but otherwise it is quite a twisted story
    • 3/5
      Children in large groups, scary right off the bat, am I right?
      I have no idea where the 'dark humour ' that Everand classified this story as, comes into it.
      This story was tense and disconcerting all the way through, and the last act has me seriously thinking that there is actually something wrong with the writer. And it's the last act that dropped my rating down a full star.
    • 5/5
      Omg!!! This book is insane!! Talk about a creepy ass monster child! Wow! Couldn’t walk away from this one !! Amazing read!! Bravo!!
    • 5/5
      Amaizing, amaizing, amaizing, amaizing, amaizing, amaizing,amaizing, amaizing, amaizing, amaizing ,

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      I think I missed the point in some way. Maybe it was a cultural thing, but the story seemed unnecessarily brutal. I think the underlying theme was the fragility of life or something similar, but it came across as an excuse to explore violence and gore. The author spent an entire chapter describing a boar eating a child alive from the child’s perspective. While the language used was precise and intelligent, the story itself was not.
      I’d be pissed if I had paid for this book.

      3 people found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Essentially Final Destination but with kids! I find it a bit illogical that all these very unfortunate events would befall a group of 15 people so NONE of them survived in a matter of like, a 10-hour timespan…..that being said, all the deaths themselves, individually, were things I could see happening in this situation.

      I can’t believe people leaving reviews are saying the deaths are “boring” ? After reading, I can understand where they’re coming from but….the fact that they’re dying is enough! ?Yes, it’s descriptive enough and yes, it’s horrible enough!

      I obviously read this out of morbid curiosity and I can’t say I enjoyed it, but it had its moments.

      I agree with many other reviews that say some of the 6-year-old thoughts don’t seem like they’re that of a 6-year-old….especially Enzo ? And the pov changes mid sentence and mid paragraph were wild! Had me doubling back and figuring out how to switch my brain gears! That was an odd choice from the author for sure.

      I did like some of the writing other than that. I liked the way things were described and the super creepy story the teacher told them in the first part! That was almost sadder than the main plot tbh ? but the majority was difficult for me to follow easily and took me out of the creep!

      The ending was as satisfying as it gets for me, but also illogical…I’ll keep this spoiler-free so I wont say why, but that also kind of took me out of it bc I was like ???

      Recommended to those who will read things that everyone says not to bc it’s too gross/disturbing and who like a quick read!

      1 person found this helpful