Swarm is a sci-fi horror novel by Jennifer D. Lyle that follows a teenage girl named Shur dealing with anxiety, her brothers, and her friends as they are forced to take shelter in their home from giant killer butterflies. 

The novel begins in class, when Shur and her classmates notice one of the mutant butterflies outside. A few moments later, an emergency alert is sent out to stay inside.

Students are moved to the hallway, but Shur and her brother, Keene, along with their two other friends, leave the school to drive home as well as pick up their younger brother along the way. The group finds out the butterflies are not harmless on their way home when one attacks their car’s windshield wipers. The butterflies are revealed to have teeth, claws, and to be aggressive.

They barricade themselves in their home and continue fighting off threats throughout the novel.

While the concept has a lot of potential, the execution lacked depth.

There are moments where the characters are in danger, but they make jokes, and it makes the situation seem less dire. There are also parts where it’s difficult to understand what is happening, and the story feels rushed.

The novel does a decent job of portraying Shur’s anxiety in the apocalyptic situation, but it does not feel realistic. It becomes repetitive and predictable, making the novel lose its scare factor, which it didn’t have much of anyway.

At the end, readers are still left with unanswered questions. 

Overall, the concept of the story is cool, but the novel was disappointing.