Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

32 reviews

thenareads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

this book was so... just so good. i read it weeks ago & i still think of it sometimes now. it essentially was very dystopian and apocalyptic, without an actual apocalypse occurring. even though it meant to explore (at least i think?) human behaviours in post-apocalyptic situations, i feel like the book imparted me w more commentary on authoritative figures, government, and rebellion. it really made me think, especially towards the end.

hetty and reese’s breach of quarantine seemed like it was fuelled by justice for byatt, but it actually ended up leading to the downfall of them all. that part especially will never leave me because it worries me that acts of rebellion fuelled by a sense of justice may only worsen what we’re trying to help. it also worries me because, in part, it was fuelled by hetty’s hatred for her teacher, but she realised too late that she only meant to help and headmistress was the one who truly didn’t care. what if, in the chase of justice, we misplace our trust? how much will it cost us?

it was overall very thought-provoking and i could ramble on about everything in this book. my only two critics are that there is absolutely zero diversity. the school is literally all just a bunch of cis, white girls & one asian girl. i think it would’ve been much more interesting if girls of different backgrounds were included—not just race-wise, but class-wise, gender identity-wise, etc etc. this would’ve made for more complex and differing character dynamics & as well as plot progression, but even with all that aside, there’s no good reason why there couldn’t have been more diverse characters. my second critic is particular to the ending, but i think there was too much plot armour at the end, which really stunted the main character’s growth.

for example, when hetty and reese went to reese’s house, reese dying would’ve forced hetty to reflect and determined whether everything was worth it. it would’ve been nice to see if hetty’s fierce determination to get off the island and save byatt would’ve remained if reese died. but reese living was somewhat plausible. what i don’t think should’ve happened at ALL was byatt living at the end. that moment where tension grew between reese and hetty, as they had opposing views on what to do with byatt was such good potential for their character growth & dynamic with each other. but, instead, byatt “came back to life” and squashed all that. from that point onward, i just remember feeling like the ending was suddenly cut short, like the author had planned for this to be a duology, with the second book lingering on their escape, but was suddenly told that wouldn’t be possible. or maybe the author thought to drive the point home of reese and byatt being hetty’s girls, they all needed to see the end. i’m not sure what the reason was, but byatt logically should’ve died.

also! another piece of criticism i just remembered now. i feel like reese’s character was done dirty, especially in some bits. i’m not sure if the author was trying to antagonise reese for their dynamic or hetty is an unreliable narrator, but around the middle to end of the book i started to realise that reese’s earlier actions

(her choking hetty)

made no sense with the characterisation that was being revealed. even though hetty reflected on some of their past interactions, it just felt like the author forgot certain things reese said or did and wrote an almost completely different character for the second to third arc of the book. i obviously preferred her in those parts, but the inconsistency in characterisation really doesn’t make sense to me. i feel like it’s also part of the reason people don’t like reese because, out of the three, i personally believe she had the least fatal flaws and reasonable, realistic reactions to the plot. but that may just be my personal bias. overall, this was a very good book. i would definitely recommend it to a friend (i already have) and i can’t wait to reread it in the far future!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Child abuse, Suicide, Grief, Child death, Death, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Murder, Abandonment, Body horror, Violence, and Torture

Minor: Grief, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

jazminnnnnnn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Vomit

jenny_d's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Child death, Body horror, Vomit, Torture, Murder, Medical trauma, Medical content, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Chronic illness, Blood, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

cosmodeus_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, Murder, Torture, and Violence

its_nix's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Abandonment

lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This novel was the perfect YA blend of "Lord of the Flies" and "Annihilation". This story follows a group of girls who are isolated because they have been exposed to the "tox" and now find themselves mutating in different ways. The government drops off food to them periodically, and they have no other contact with the outside world. When one of the girls goes missing, they start to investigate further why they are mutating as they are, and why no one seems to help them. 
There was quite a bit of graphic body horror in this book, so be warned before embarking on the journey of this book. I really enjoyed seeing the mystery play out, and I was very satisfied with the ending. This was a very strong debut, and I am excited to see more from Rory Power! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Torture, Medical trauma, Gore, and Medical content

Moderate: Murder

lizzyc_16's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.25

Honestly this was 5 stars for me until I got to the end. I really loved the book, but at the end it felt unfinished and kind of anticlimactic.

for example, reese, byatt, and hetty highkey just rode a boat away from all their friends who were being LITERALLY BOMBED and the book fricking ended there -_-

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Blood, Animal death, Body horror, Suicide, Violence, Medical content, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, and Medical trauma

Minor: Cannibalism, Torture, and Vomit

andromeda_1998's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Self harm, Body horror, Grief, Suicide, Violence, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Animal cruelty, Blood, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, and Torture

r__a's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, and Grief

Moderate: Bullying, Torture, Eating disorder, Terminal illness, and Murder

naomidanae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Death, Gun violence, Grief, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Confinement, Medical content, Chronic illness, Gore, and Blood