diff --git a/src/esbuild_plugins/build_routes.ts b/src/esbuild_plugins/build_routes.ts
index 901f9fb..854f24e 100644
--- a/src/esbuild_plugins/build_routes.ts
+++ b/src/esbuild_plugins/build_routes.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import type { Plugin } from "esbuild";
+import type { OutputFile, Plugin } from "esbuild";
 import { dirname } from "@std/path/dirname";
 import { ensureDir } from "@std/fs/ensure-dir";
 import { get_route_html } from "./get_route_html.ts";
@@ -9,6 +9,48 @@ interface SSROutput {
 	css?: { code: string };
 }
 
+const FAILURE_FLAG = "<!--mononykus:failed-->";
+
+/** safely render Svelte components */
+async function render(
+	{ text }: OutputFile,
+): Promise<{ html: string; css: string; head: string }> {
+	try {
+		const module = await import(
+			"data:application/javascript," + encodeURIComponent(text)
+		) as {
+			default: {
+				render(): SSROutput;
+			};
+		};
+
+		const { html, css: raw_css, head: raw_head } = module.default.render();
+
+		const css = raw_css?.code ?? "";
+
+		// remove any duplicate module imports (in cases where a page uses an island more than once)
+		const modules = new Set();
+		const head = raw_head.replace(
+			/<script[\s\S]*?<\/script>/g,
+			(module) => {
+				if (modules.has(module)) {
+					return "";
+				}
+				modules.add(module);
+				return module;
+			},
+		);
+
+		return { html, css, head };
+	} catch (error) {
+		return {
+			html: `${FAILURE_FLAG}<h1>ERROR</h1><pre>${String(error)}</pre>`,
+			head: "",
+			css: "",
+		};
+	}
+}
+
 export const build_routes: Plugin = {
 	name: "mononykus/build-routes",
 	setup(build) {
@@ -17,51 +59,32 @@ export const build_routes: Plugin = {
 
 			const routes = result.outputFiles ?? [];
 
-			await Promise.allSettled(routes.map(async (route) => {
-				const module = await import(
-					"data:application/javascript," + encodeURIComponent(route.text)
-				) as {
-					default: {
-						render(): SSROutput;
-					};
-				};
-
-				const { html, css: _css, head } = module.default.render();
-
-				// remove any duplicate module imports (in cases where a page uses an island more than once)
-				const modules = new Set();
-				const deduped_head = head.replace(
-					/<script[\s\S]*?<\/script>/g,
-					(module) => {
-						if (modules.has(module)) {
-							return "";
-						}
-						modules.add(module);
-						return module;
-					},
-				);
-
-				const css = _css?.code ?? "";
-
+			const results = await Promise.all(routes.map(async (route) => {
 				const dist_path = route.path.replace(".js", ".html");
 				await ensureDir(dirname(dist_path));
 
+				const template = await render(route);
+
 				await Deno.writeTextFile(
 					dist_path,
-					await get_route_html({ html, css, head: deduped_head }),
+					await get_route_html(template),
 				);
-			})).then((results) => {
-				const { length } = results.filter(({ status }) =>
-					status === "rejected"
-				);
-				if (length > 0) console.log(`Failed to build ${length} routes.`);
-			});
+
+				return template.html.startsWith(FAILURE_FLAG) ? dist_path : undefined;
+			}));
 
 			console.log(
 				`Built ${routes.length} routes in ${
 					Math.ceil(performance.now() - start)
 				}ms`,
 			);
+
+			const failures = results.filter((result) => !!result);
+			if (failures.length > 0) {
+				console.warn(
+					["–––", "Failed to build some routes:", ...failures].join("\n"),
+				);
+			}
 		});
 	},
 };