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The Laws of the Skies

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The Laws of the Skies

By: Gregoire Courtois, Rhonda Mullins - translator
Narrated by: Daniel Matmor
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About this listen

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 of 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.

©2016; 2019 Le Quartanier and Gregoire Courtois; English translation copyright Rhonda Mullins (P)2022 Coach House Books Horror Scary Magic Camping

Critic reviews

“The Law of the Skies is not an easy book to digest, and I’m sure it won’t be to everyone’s tastes, but I found it exhilarating to read a novel that’s this unflinching, this nihilistic, and also this deeply profound.” (Locus Magazine)

“That is what Courtois aims to do - shock and destabilize - and that is what he does in this slim novel about a children’s camping trip gone horribly wrong.” (New York Times, Summer Reads)

“Unflinching in its savagery, the nightmarish poetry of this modern Lord of the Flies is undeniable.” (Publishers Weekly)

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what seems on surface to be a grusome fleshy tale hides deep phylosophical thoughts underneath. I'll have to get a physical copy to be able to anotate all my thoughts and findings. I liked it far more than similar story od Troop by Nick Cutter which I had to DNFed.

excellent piece of phylosophical fiction

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I struggled to finish, after having this recommended to me so much. I’m a big fan of gore-fests when they heavily discuss the human part of it, the survival and pain and suffering and how these characters persevere through it (or not). This book was just… boring? I guess? It felt needless with certain deaths. Anti climatic with others, and though descriptive with how tragic it all was, I felt no connection at all to anyone in this book. I couldn’t care that they were children and that startles me. My absolute least favourite troupe is ‘psychopathic child’. I think it’s often used as a massive cop out for actual complex characters and threats. Psychopathic child is undefeatable, somehow ten steps ahead, everyone has always been scared of them, they don’t have an ounce or redeemable-ness in them, they are the big bad but a CHILD!!! That concept always fell flat to me, and this book used it in such a big way I just couldn’t. I don’t think the content was too graphic or disturbing. I just am left wondering who would’ve got something meaningful from this book. Who would’ve left going ‘that was incredibly profound’ as that’s what the author seemed to want to get across… this book put me off reading for a while to be honest

I don’t know who this book is for

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Didn’t enjoy this at all despite all the hype on tik Tok it was quite uninteresting

Bland

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