Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

65 reviews

jbellomy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I loved this A LOT until the last quarter. I didn't have a problem with the open ending, but I felt like it was building to a big reveal that never really came. By the end, I felt like I'd missed something. Maybe that was the part of the point? Who can say. Apparently not me.

Power's prose is so good (it's like, moist. It's so vivid that it's moist. I apologize if you're reading this and you hate that word, but that's the only way I can think to describe it) and the vibes were fantastic though. I'm gonna read whatever she writes now.
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raoulalexander's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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rexreads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

unsatisfying ending
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acorn7a97d's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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athenajpeg's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

As someone whose seen a good deal of gory movies and violent scenes in books, this one scratched a very different itch for me. Every shocking moment hit a different emotional beat, and the stakes were tangibly present. Content warnings abound here for... just about any sort of bodily harm you can think of, so keep that in mind if you check it out. 
What struck me most throughout was the tone, which is distant and straight to the point, but in a way that makes overwhelmingly clear how adjusted the characters are to their cruel world and its dwindling hopes. Dystopia is the new ordinary, and the characters are confined to their living space by fear of the mysterious toxin that kills and disfigues all it touches...
I'm glad I read it before coronavirus hit. Might be a different experience to re-read today.
Also doubles as the book that made me realize I'm a sucker for cheesy romance tropes if its sapphic. This subplot isn't center stage, but its nice to have queer characters that aren't defined by a relationship.

Edit: I have to say after revisiting this book, it doesn't really hold up. The characters were much more flat and frustrating than I remembered, falling into the same flaws over and over in ways they didn't grow through. Also, lots of notes taken directly from Annihilation with less substance. The concept is still really neat but theres just better horror stories and better queer romances than this has to offer.
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