User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
“We don't get to choose what hurts us”Did somebody say
feminist horror cause there goes my money outta the window as I drool all over this cover.
Also just in: this book is hella gay.
Wilder Girls was one of my most anticipated books of 2019. The premise and cover gave me life and I was ready to experience all the horror and gore that they promised. I got what I wanted. So be warned. This book is violent and gory. Don't take this lightly. It's a ruthless story about an all-girls boarding school set on an island that has been overtaken by a plague called the tox. The island and all of its inhabitants, including the wildlife, have been transformed and countless girls have died at its hands. The ones that survived are left with gruesome (but kind of cool) deformities. A second spine. A scaled hand. Two hearts. Expect lots of death, blood, intestines, and violence. Body horror realness.
The characters are my wildest dreams come true. Unapologetic, unlikeable, determined, passionate, independent, queer, young women with complex characters and emotions. No need to say more. The writing was wild, too. I was immediately drawn into the story because it's often poetic, and just as untamed as the world it creates. There was one thing that I wasn't satisfied with though: the ending. (view spoiler)
[I'm a sucker for open endings that leave you on the brink of an emotional breakdown. But I'm not sure what to make with this one. It leaves too many questions unanswered. It feels like the last one or two chapters were written already but scrapped just before the book went into printing. Now the ending kind of sits there and I don't know what to do with it. (hide spoiler)]The reason I'm only giving four stars is that I felt somewhat detached from the book - for which I can only blame myself. It was the busiest time of the year, with deadlines and exams coming up, so it took my two weeks to finish the book. My reading experience suffered from it. As soon as I have my tbr a little more under control I'll return to Wilder Girls and give it another go. But overall, this book ticked all the boxes.
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Rating: really liked it
sapphic horror is my new favorite genre
this is probably one of my favorite covers of the year and I am so happy to say that the inside is just as amazing. this honestly ended up being a weird combination of everything i love in stories. it is a feminist lord of the flies following 3 friends who are under quarantine at a boarding school. when one of the friends goes missing it becomes a race to find her and figure out what the hell is happening on this island and uncover the secrets being kept from them. this also has a really great f/f relationship that I died over!
as for the horror elements. this isn't "jump scare" horror but more "makes your skin crawl" with some of the creepy elements, which I personally loved. I would say if you liked the movie Annihilation then you will love this!
if you would like to take a look at the content warnings the author has kindly shared them on her website
this was one of the more unique YA books I've read recently and I loved how it didn't shy away from the brutality of what was happening. there was also a cool stylistic choice with the writing that I think worked really well and added to the creepy vibe.
Rating: really liked it
I want it . I got it . I hate it. Like I am so disappointed and frustrated because I expected it to be good but it was nothing like really nothing. I didn't get anything while reading it. The cover is gorgeous and the synopsis is incredibly interesting as fuck ! But the book boring and it's not a retelling of lord of flies like it's advertised I guess it's more like inspired from it!
Plot ✒The story took place in an all girl's boarding school called Raxter situated on a island not far from mainland . The school is put under quarantine by USA navy due to outbreak of tox(view spoiler)
[which is a parasite (hide spoiler)] which mutated the girls and the teachers to the point that some of them died because of that and the others are not allowed to leave the school due to wild animals which are also mutated and only a pack of three girls are allowed to go out to bring food and stuff. Now the follows as to what happens when one of the character Byatt goes missing and her best friend Hetty will do everything to save her??
✒I liked the atmosphere , separation from outer world .
I loved the idea of tox and the
wild stuff but the the idea wasn't
Anywhere exciting or anywhere new for me.
✒Survival was key aspect and I really missed it.There wasn't much focus on it.
✒I loved the idea of body horror in the book like Hetty has an eyelid shut and a kind of flowering is growing behind it and then Byatt has a second spine and Reese has a silver metal claw, it was quite gross and disturbing but that was the point I guess.
✒F-F romance which wasn't the main plot of the book but I think it was selling point for most of the people but it didn't worked for me at all because of the fact that it came out of no where.
Characters The book is more character driven than plot driven but at the same time I didn't connected with any of them.
I believe that if we get into characters head and thoughts and still don't get their personalities then it's a shame.
The characters in this book were flat to the point that , I don't care about them . They made some of the illogical and stupid decisions that idk, I feel like the book overall had no effect on me .
Writing The writing style was one of the off points for me like it was kinda choppy, weird, unique,edgy and erratic but I believe she used it intentionally to reflect the chaotic nature of the island but it didn't worked for me. It was like thoughts upon thoughts like stream of conscious feelings and it was so
boring that it to keep my attention .
Ending (view spoiler)
[I am like so frustrated , the book built up to the point where things were quite interesting , like I was excited for then to go out of the island. But that ending it came out if nowhere , like there were a million loose threads. It was super abrupt and distorted in all aspects like what happened to other girls? What is tox and it's explanation? Where it came from?
I wanted author to go more into like a deep analysis of the tox and where it came from like the scientific aspects I was really looking forward to it but all my hopes and expectations weren't fullfilled or to be precise none of my expectations were fullfilled? (hide spoiler)]For those who haven't read the book , the ending was frustrating and disappointing for me.
The book is kinda polarising like either you will love it or didn't like it, there is no half way between ! And I in general didn't liked it .Like whole time I was reading it I was wishing "Man this is so boring wish I was watching annihilation or fortitude right now" like it gave me same vibes.
Well I would recommend this book to people , because there are many 5 star reviews , you might like it but it didn't work for me..
Rating: really liked it
An interesting premise with a romance that surprised and intrigued me, but unfortunately I couldn't find myself connecting to any of the characters.
Rating: really liked it
3-3.5 STARS"It's like that, with all of us here. Sick, strange, and we don't know why. Things bursting out of us, bits missing and pieces sloughing off, and then we harden and smooth over."I can see why Rory Power's debut novel
Wilder Girls is getting serious buzz; it's not just a pretty cover, as it contains an excellent writing style that wavers between flowery prose and captivating horror. In terms of idea and compulsive page-turning, this book deserves all of the stars, but I did find a few points worth mentioning, in case your expectations are not in the right place, as mine clearly were not. All of my criticisms are purely personal preference, so please do not put too much weight in them and instead, use them to decide whether this might be the right book for you.
Friends, I cannot express how much I love the idea behind this story. The feminist YA dystopian theme is taking the world by storm right now, and it's definitely my favorite genre at the moment. We are being blessed with so many unique, inspiring allegories that my heart can hardly handle it, and the author has clearly put her heart, soul, and bottomless well of love and emotion for all females into this novel. I cannot applaud her highly enough for accomplishing such a feat as clearly and intelligently expressing her message in a way that is available to any reader to comprehend.
Insert standing ovation.The plot is relatively straight forward; we're dropped into the setting of Raxter School for Girls, which is off the coast of Maine, roughly 2 years after the Tox has set in. The Tox is an infection that has swept over every living thing on the island, and therefore all inhabitants of said island are quarantined while the CDC and U.S. Navy are trying to figure out a cure. This "Tox" manifests symptoms in a different way for each person, and the flare ups typically come as the seasons change. Sounds excellent, right? It is, but I think the execution of this story is what hindered my full enjoyment, as I was expecting something entirely different.
While I was expecting a brief intro, followed by some action, sleuthing, and major revelations, what I got was more along the lines of a significant info dump in the first 35% of the novel, followed by repetitive scenes of introspection, and under-developed sapphic plot lines.
Let me explain: I was hoping more for a sense of "showing" rather than "telling" when it came to the explanation and revelations involving the Tox, but what we get is the first third of the book filling us in on what the characters know so far about the disease. It's not necessarily a flaw, but I did feel more like I was reading a really long prologue waiting for the story to begin, rather than being filled in with pieces throughout the story. There are some really great action scenes, terrifying revelations, and creative plot devices used in this story, but they were overshadowed by multiple scenes of teenage bickering, and perhaps this is where I need to state that I am NOT the intended target audience, and this may be the very type of thing that teens enjoy reading these days. Also, and again to my fault, I somehow had gotten the impression that this book would be featuring a prominent lesbian relationship, and there are a few (it is an island full of only females, after all), but this also felt chalked up to untapped potential by focusing mostly on the "we're dating today, 12 hours later we're broken up" instead of building a swoon-worthy romance with relevant conflict.
This sounds mostly negative, and I truly don't mean for it to, because I did overall enjoy this and count anything 3 stars and up as a positive reading experience, but I just needed to take a moment to place all my thoughts here and sort through them over the next few days. Other reviewers have touched on this, so I feel that I should as well, but the ending leaves much to be desired. I'm not sure if this is a setup for a future series, as there are many, MANY major questions left unanswered, but perhaps what I failed to realize in my reading is that, the point isn't about the who/what/when/where/why/hows surrounding the Tox and what comes next, but simply around the allegories to female struggles today. If so, I highly respect and appreciate what Power has done here, and based on her talented, thoughtful, and unique debut, I would be honored to read another book written by her.
**Many thanks to the publisher for providing my review copy via NetGalley.
Rating: really liked it
New week, New BookTube Video - all about the best (and worst) literary apocalypses to live through!
The Written Review 
We don't get to choose what hurts us.
The Raxter School for Girls is on an island and for the past few months, they've been put on
the strictest of quarantines. There's something - a disease? creature? magic? - that's been
infecting the girls and surrounding wildlife.
It’s like that, with all of us here. Sick, strange, and we don’t know why. Things bursting out of us, bits missing and pieces sloughing off, and then we harden and smooth over.
The teachers are dying one-by-one, the critters in the forest have become creatures and the remaining girls? Who knows how long they have left.
Some days it’s fine. Others it nearly breaks me.
Hetty's best friend, Bryatt, goes missing.
Hetty is supposed to assume her friend is dead but quickly learns there's so much more behind it.
Hetty must decide whether to accept her fate or to breach the gates, break the quarantine and brave the world.
Oh man.
I loved it...and then I hated it. This book was 110% 5 stars until the end.
The beginning
hooked me right away. The concept was super unique - the mutations that the girls experienced, the weirdness from the shifting world and the relationships between them were super intriguing and engaging.
The middle really kept that momentum going for me. I was SO into this book. I literally couldn't put it down.
The
imagery was brilliant and the setting was so eerie and creepy-good.
Then we approached the end and it went down (what felt to me like) several very cliche paths that ultimately took away from the quality of the book.
It soured it for me and considering this one seems to be a standalone, I'm frustrated that that will be the final ending.
Ultimately, most of it was stunning...it just didn't hold all the way through.
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Rating: really liked it
Well here's something I never thought I'd never say, this book should have been at least another 100 pages longer.
The premise for this book is really exciting and the cover is fabulous but the execution is sorely lacking.
The story picks up some year+ after a remote school for girls is ravaged with a devastating virus and subsequently quarantined.
Notice how I said "picks up". Very little backstory is ever given about the onset of the virus. How it all started and progressed leading up to the quarantine and beyond. For me, the most compelling part of the story was omitted.
This book features three best friends that have seemingly settled into this horrific existence as much as could be expected, even going so far as finding some appreciation for their newly found strengths and Independence. Again, some history of the events that lead the girls to this point, including a more in-depth storyline as to what brought them to the island in the first place would have been nice.
When one of the girls goes missing after a flare-up in her illness, the other two set on a course to find out what happened to her only to discover that all is not as it seems. Shocker.
The reader is never enlightened as to what the cause of or how this illness started. Why did it only occur on this island? Why does it manifest in such different ways from person to person?
Basically nothing is ever revealed, from the history to the present, making it hard to connect with this story and it's characters.
The abrupt ending is perplexing. Will there be a sequel? More importantly, can we get a prequel? It seems the author forgot to include the entire backstory from this book.
I would be interested in reading a second book because the ending leads you to believe that the next chapter could be a thrilling one. Additionally, the author has a real flair for atmospheric world building and what I did learn of the characters was fascinating.
And who knows, maybe I'll get that history after all.
2.5 Stars rounded up ⭐⭐⭐
*** I received an ARC from Random House in exchange for an honest review. ***
Rating: really liked it
ARC given to me by my amazingly kind friend - McKinlay at McKinlay's Bookshelf!I really enjoyed the atmosphere and characters so much in this, but the ending really kind of ruined it all for me. But I can't wait to see what the author does next!
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Buddy read with McKinlay! ❤
Rating: really liked it
4 damn what did I get myself into…We’re not in Kansas anymore…I’m sure this book takes place in earth, this might be closest highway to hell, say goodbye to your classical contagion, post-apocalyptic , LGBTQ- survival- now or never themes, this is so much mind-blowing and earth shattering stars!
WHAT THE HELL THIS BOOK ABOUT:
Testing your survival skills! CHECK!
Testing your friendship and your loyalty/honesty. CHECK!
Testing yourself how much you’re ready to lose from your humanity to stay alive! DOUBLE CHECK!
If you want some sunshine and rainbow book, just skip this and stick with your rom-coms! This is one of the ugliest, darkest, nerve bending, frustrating project. You have to be sure before taking your few steps to the flaming corners of hell paved with so so bad intentions, because you’re about to get burned by reading this thing. If you are not ready enough to absorb harsh, merciless details, again skip this book! It’s really hard to digest that makes you choked!
So the story starts at an isolated girls’ school located in Maine( If this place gives Stephen King so much inspiration, it might be one of the creepiest and chilling places on earth so the author made a great choice.) I normally not get scared so easily but the Tox’s effects on the girls and the unknown things moving inside them parts ( same theme used by Guillermo del Toro’s last horror movie “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark”. ) got on my nerves, irritated me so much that I want to throw at this book as if my hands are being burned. A few breathing exercise later, I took my book back into my hands and started bleeding and reading. ( Yes, reading this book makes you feel like you’re stabbing too many times by the author’s harsh quirks. At least I have high tolerance pain level.)
Most things I liked is the way of the story telling. It was realistic, valid, raw, harsh but giving the simple facts of truth, direct, capturing. And the other thing is the characters. I liked to see the progression of characters when they encounter with the hardest, shittiest, challenging situations, how they change, evolve, fight against to survive, what can they risk, how to accomplish surviving without losing every piece of their humanities.
The two things bugged me about the book are:
1)It was a little slow-paced and short book for me. I wanted to dive in the story faster with more facts and I needed at least 100 or more pages. I didn’t want it finish so soon.
2)I wanted to learn more about the reason of illness! When did it start? Why each girl reacted differently to the disease? Why it started in only this island? Too many answered questions force the readers request a sequel sooner.
As a summary, I got my angsty, shocking, cheek slapping, shoulder-shaking- nail-biter, mind-numbing story that I deserved! But I need more! The readers need to a sequel or another longer book from same genre!
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Rating: really liked it
I didn't love this and I am SO SAD about it. I did enjoy the first half of the book, but the ending was such a let down that it honestly tainted any positive feelings I had for whatever came before it. The biggest womp.
Rating: really liked it
oooh, goodreads choice awards semifinalist for BEST YA FANTASY 2019! what will happen?Some days it’s fine. Others it nearly breaks me. The emptiness of the horizon, and the hunger in my body, and how will we ever survive this if we can’t survive each other? “We’re gonna make it. Tell me we’re gonna make it.”
so much about this book is so good. the synopsis. the premise. the chillsiness it delivers. the characters. the tantalizing dislocation of WHAT IS THIS THAT IS HAPPENING? the dread and unease. the tension. that goddamn cover.
i did not love it unconditionally, but what i did love i loved HARD.
set on an island-isolated girls’ school in maine, the reader is dropped instantly into an atmosphere of extreme and horrific circumstances: what was once a fully-functioning, fully-populated school has been diminished by a mysterious affliction known as the tox, wiping out all but two of the teachers and most of the students, with terrible consequences for the ones who managed to stay alive.
the school is located off the coast of a naval base, who have ordered the island quarantined and promised that the CDC is working on a cure. meanwhile, the navy has been providing supplies by way of boat drop-offs collected by the few girls allowed to travel beyond the walled-off school grounds, but the quantity and quality of the supplies have worsened the longer the situation continues, the packages themselves oddly composed:
Even when there’s no bread, there’s always shampoo, and the girls are all but starving as they cluster together in the school, functioning in a mostly cooperative free-for-all setup, awaiting the next outbreak.
and the outbreaks are intense.
They cycle in seasons, each one worse than before until we can’t bear it anymore, and, if the girls survive, they are left each time with a different physical reminder of their ordeal: glowing hair, silver scales, or with more monstrously disfiguring body horror manifestations; bones protruding through the skin, eyes fused shut, with “something” growing underneath…
It’s like that, with all of us here. Sick, strange, and we don’t know why. Things bursting out of us, bits missing and pieces sloughing off, and then we harden and smooth over.the patterned timing of the flare-ups, the age of the victims, the ceremonial rite-of-passage way they acknowledge a girl’s first episode gives it a very OUR CHANGING BODIES vibe, and girls know all too well the bloody body-horror transformations of puberty even without something like the tox, but this goes beyond allegory, the girls keep on dying, and it’s unclear whether the root cause is illness, toxin, biological agent, etc, but it’s one that has also affected the local wildlife, causing forest-dwellers like foxen, bears, and bobcats to be a little bigger, more aggressive and more desperately hungry, as misshapen as the humans.
There used to be horses, four of them, but early in the first season, we noticed how the Tox was starting to get inside them like it got inside us, how it was pushing their bones through their skin, how it was stretching their bodies until they screamed. So we led them out to the water and shot them.so far, it is everything i love and all the best parts of Lord of the Flies,
The Village, Pure: survival in a dangerous landscape, mysterious and terrifying illness, giant freaking animals, teen girls with guns and shifting loyalties and EXOSKELETONS and important decisions to make about trust and love and loyalty and how and when to play your cards and all of the seeeeeekrits that go with the us v. them situation of limited resources and even-more-limited information and not knowing what’s really going on ‘out there.’
i love the characters, the switching POVs, the escalating tensions and the bold authorial moves. but then that ending. that’s no way to say good-bye. i assume it’s a case of where they’re interested in a follow-up book but want to see how this debut sells before committing to a follow-up, but i’m not in love with where the book cuts off. the final scene works as a final scene and an appropriate ending-
mood, but there’s too much left unresolved
before that sunlit-water-for-credits-to-roll-over ambiguous optimism. i was expecting a standalone book, and this feels unfinished. i loved it until then, but unfortunately, that’s how books work: the last thing you read-feel is what looms largest in your mind, and for me, it was a quiet disappointment. everything else, though, thumbs up!
now gimmie a second book!
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that ending...... review to come.
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I DON'T KNOW IF YOU UNDERSTAND HOW BADLY I WANT THIS
come to my blog!
Rating: really liked it
This sounds so freaking weird and awesome. 😮
Also, cover. Not gonna lie.
Rating: really liked it
Imagine how this cover would look in a hardcover copy...literally chills
Rating: really liked it
Perfect. Queer. Flawless. Weird. And not for everyone lol.
Reading vlog: https://youtu.be/r2Wc68tLiZk
Rating: really liked it
another debut feminist dystopia, another underwhelmed jessica. seems pretty on brand for me at the moment, unfortunately.
and this is probably going to be the worst review ive ever written because i cant even put into words why this didnt quite work for me. it wasnt a horrible reading experience - i was focused and finished it - so im gonna chalk it up to me not being in the right mood for this, because i cant really find anything super negative about it. i just didnt experience the emotions i think i was supposed to for this kind of story.
i think this was probably a
‘wrong book at the wrong time’ kind of situation for me. i need to learn, that when this happens, to set the book aside and come back to it, rather than push though and give it a mediocre rating/review. not really fair.
regardless, im happy to see that this is getting so much hype and praise from others!
↠ 3 stars
