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strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The love story is not the main focus of the book seeing as it is not a romance and it is really barely there at all. Frankly, these girls have other, bigger things to worry about.
This is a horror story with a lot of body horror and murder so just be prepared. An infection has spread through the girls on an island and changes their bodies in terrible ways. It is a little Lord of the Flies esque in the way that have to fight for food and survival, but their bonds with each other are stronger.
I personally thought the ending was very satisfying and ended exactly how it needed too. However it is an ending that leaves interpretation to the reader so if you don’t like that don’t read this book.
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Self harm and Cannibalism
mlovesbooks's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Gore, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail
dennyiii's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
fictionalsarah's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail
alisazhup's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Self harm and Grief
itsdanibee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Terminal illness, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, and Abandonment
Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Suicide, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Murder
wynnie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Gun violence and Medical content
Minor: Self harm, Suicide, Torture, and Vomit
kaz_brekker1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Suicide and Abandonment
Minor: Vomit and Grief
fanboyriot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Honestly, most of what I didn’t like was the ending. We got no answers for anything really, and it left with absolutely no resolution. It just felt like it was dragged out and then it just ended. The switching POV I normally really like just didn’t work for me; they just seemed too close to one another and a few pages in I’d forget which character it even was.
(First Person POV)
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and War
Minor: Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Fire/Fire injury
danaslitlist's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Or so that's what the synopsis says and while it's not entirely misleading it certainly isn't as dark and mysterious as it's made out to be. Wilder Girls plays with a lot of ideas and themes yet fails to tie them together and worse yet, fails to commit to any.
For a story of survival and friendship we don't get either. One of the biggest flaws in the story is the failure to take it's time setting up the stakes for the characters. It sadly falls into the trap of telling and not showing. We are told what the dangers are: mutated and enhanced predators in the woods, a supply of food and rations that is always dwindling until the next shipment, the presence of the illness that can flare up in the girls. But we don't get to experience this firsthand and if we do begin to there is an immediate pivot to something else that shatters any inkling of worry or suspense.
We are told that Hatty, Byatt, and Reese are best friends and are given explanation of why (they've grown up together in this place, they've been together through the Tox) but we don't get to see this happen. We're simply told and expected to bond with them. And this is a big problem when the driving force for Hatty and Reese's characterization and plot is trying to find Byatt. They have no fear of hurting themselves or putting others in danger and without the bond between reader and character it doesn't feel heroic or relatable, it feels selfish and reckless. The characters also don't feel like their own beings and instead they are simply cardboard cutout stereotypes for the science fiction genre. There is a surprising lack of depth to all of them.
The characters are safe from any real danger because you know early on who the author values above the rest. And this is detrimental to the severity of what this story is supposed to be. We are supposed to worry and to wonder who is next, what is going on, is this going to work out? But I never once found myself worried for anyone. I knew who was going to be safe.
And then we move on to the nameless bad guy, big corporate entity that is behind it all which was led to the biggest eyeroll from me. The author couldn't even be bothered to really commit to a villain and instead kind of just lets it fall on the shoulders of a faceless, nameless group of people and also kind blame it all on climate change off handedly (which I didn't catch until I read another review over at ThePigeonCo). The explanation and revelation of what is causing the Tox was generic and also offhandedly explained to the reader as if it was an afterthought and not the backbone to the book.
The kicker is: the author almost had a flawless reveal earlier on. I'll be moving onto so spoilers that showcases the lack of thought the author put into the story:
If you're going to have a reveal of a parasitic tapeworm, you have to make the explanation and follow up interesting.
The chapter when Byatt cuts the worm out of her arm after being gassed would've been the best reveal of the book had the author let it happen later on. By having it happen and then cutting back to Hatty and Reese it was entirely too anticlimactic. I mean, what was the point? The readers don't gain anything from that chapter because the rest of the characters also don't gain anything. It doesn't come up again until they find Byatt at the end. There are no clues or hints to it ever being a parasite and the characters simply don't do anything with the information. The author should've had them all discover the worm at the same time when they were reunited; have had Byatt outside in the snow still alive because of the worm but her trying to remove it.
But the part of the book that had me rolling my eyes was the very convenient "Oh I have my dad's dingy boat" line from Reese. For years they have all worried about not being able to get off the island, not having an escape, but the moment the island is going to be nuked Reese is throwing out this plot hole fix. That to me really highlights that lack of any real thought to how to resolve the events taking place. Neither Reese or Hatty give a second thought to the other girls before leaving, they don't at all linger on the idea that they are leaving their friends behind to die, they just go.
All in all it's very easy to tell this is the authors first book and I think she bit off a bit more then she could chew with it (or her editor just failed to help). The ideas were there, but it lacked in anything else.
Graphic: Death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicide
If you want a book similar but ten times better, check out Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand.