Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - Raparigas Selvagens

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Raparigas Selvagens by Rory Power

24 reviews

its_nix's review

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adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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andromeda_1998's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Wilder Girls by Rory Power was one of those books I bought for the stunning cover design. I have to admit that I’m weak for pretty books…. 😅. I didn’t let me down but I believe this story would have been better as a duology. Why do you ask? Well, I will tell you:

Characters
Hetty; Im not sure about my opinion about her. She is a bit typical main character but I didn’t really mind reading about her. She is a teenager, makes mistakes that a girl her age would make and she can do things without thinking them through.

Byatt; she seems nice, she’s a good friend and an interesting character to read about. I’m not sure if I like the writingstyle that Rory Power decided to use for her but I’m okay with it.

Reece: Well she is the typical bitchy character with trauma. Who reacts a curtain way to protect herself.

Writing
Rory Power uses two different writingstyles throughout the book and where I liked one, I disliked the other, but from the beginning it was a clear choice. She made that choice for a reason and I do respect that.

Worldbuilding
For me the idea of the setting was good, but I’m not sure if she explains her world enough.

Plot
We start the story a full year after the tox has invaded the island. The tox changes everything it touches. Wildlife became more aggressive and dangerous, and plants that where normal are becoming toxic and even the girls on the island change in ways they don’t understand. Nobody knows why. On island is an only girl school where survivors of the tox still live. Hetty, Reece and Byatt are three of those survivors. When one of Hetty’s friends goes missing she has to find out what happened or face the consequences.

The story has queer elements, is high stakes and the book has its ways to keep you invested in it from the start. It’s fast paced, the ending blows you away and sadly leaves you with questions unanswered.

Why a duology instead of a stand-alone?
The worldbuilding, I felt that there was more to explain about the island and the tox. But while the explanation my be there, it’s done rushed and I believe the story suffers for it. I think it would have been better as a duology. The first book would be the beginning of the tox, we would see the island crumble under a new disease. We could have seen the first months, since it’s clearly important to know about it but Power doesn’t seem to find time to go in depth. The second book would be this one, but with more room for the explanation behind the tox and maybe even a third pov from one of the still remaining grownups on the island. Power would have time to answer most questions and she would still have been able to end the story the she did.

Recommendations: I do like this book, and I think that readers who enjoyed this one would love gone by Micheal Grant.

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nutmegandpumpkin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I definitely bought this for the cover lol. This book was okay. Not amazing but not terrible. It was an enjoyable read.
•
Some quick notes:
- lgbtq+ characters (including the MC)
- weirdly the author uses the word “sliver” so much in the descriptions of the book that it’s almost comical
- some of the characters lack depth. for instance Byatt really just feels like a plot device and feels like she’s only there for other characters rather than being a fully developed character herself (which is weird because she gets a pov). she does get backstory and a personality but something about it feels surface level
- it dragged in some places
- I really wanted it to explore more of the tox and what was happening. it felt like we only got a little taste of explanation and then nothing more
- really cool concept
- very dark and creepy :)

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writingcaia's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book gives me hope for authors writing weird new stories which this one is.
On an island there’s Raxter, a girls boarding school, and there’s also the Tox, a disease culling lives or changing the surviving few strange with mutations, the same happening with the fauna and flora of the island for the last eighteen months they think. In Raxter there’re three friends who along with the others surviving girls and female teachers are quarantined and confined to the school grounds unable to explore the rest of the island, only the boat crew allowed to go out to pick up the supplies sent by the navy base close by.
An opening to the boat crew opens early on in the story and one of the friends, Reese, really wants to get picked out, since she is a native of the island and knows the place, and so is her father who unfortunately disappeared soon after the Tox hit and who she wants to see if he’s still out there, but luck has it it will be one of her friends that gets the chance, Hetty, the one eyed girl, the lead of this tale. However, what she’ll find out there will be more puzzling and disheartening than she could ever have guessed.
Still, they keep on hoping and waiting for a cure, Hetty and Byatt, her beautiful mysterious sister from another mister bff, and even the resigned tough Reese, who stands always slightly apart from the duo. Until the day Byatt goes missing after the usually final flare of the disease comes to her body. Desperate Hetty will do anything to have her friend back and she is able to convince Reese too, easier than she had thought. After all are they friends too, right?
This is a book about fighting to survive, fighting to fit in, fighting to be, but will they make it? Can they overcome their disease, can they survive it, can they ever understand what is happening to them?
This is not an easy story, but I truly liked the diverse cast, albeit 99% female (girl power) and their very different personalities and struggles, and as we follow the three friends we find that not everything is as it seems and that they’re not black or white. Also, the final explanation for it all is so good, but this is not your typical book as I’ve said before, it is YA but really gory and gritty, with a weird plot and setting.
I liked it but it was also maybe a bit too weird for me, and there were things I’d have like to have been dug deeper, still kudos for the originality of plot and the immersive and emotional writing.

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