Reviews

Wilder Girls: Roman by Rory Power

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dowryofbooks's review against another edition

4.0

4/5 stars

All of the not-so-great reviews put me off from picking this up for a while, but I'm SO happy that I did because Rory Power came to impress with her first novel.

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?

Wilder Girls is set in an all-girls boarding school on Raxter Island. (honestly boarding school trope is one of my faves) Raxter Island is under strict quarantine because there's this sickness, that's basically a plague, called the Tox. It started infecting all the wildlife, the teachers, and all of the girls on the island. The Tox does strange things to the body, like breaks bones to the point they are sticking out of the skin. There are girls with two hearts, two spines, and other disfigurements due to the infection. All the girls can do is survive long enough on the island for the CDC to find a cure.

This story mainly follows a group of three friends: Hetty, Byatt, and Reese. Byatt has a flare up of the Tox one day and she's taken to the infirmary. But when Hetty goes to visit her friend, she finds Byatt is missing. The Headmistress and Miss Welch, and the only adults on the island, won't tell Hetty what happened to Byatt. It's all very hush hush. Obviously, something shady is going on and Hetty will go to whatever lengths necessary to save her friend.

My Thoughts ⤵

The writing is SO GOOD. I love the prose. Power makes the gruesome descriptions of the island, and the effects of the Tox sound beautiful in such a vivid way. This story ended up being so much darker and more intense than I was expecting. It's not scary keep-you-up-at-night horror, but more chilling and creepy. It's paced perfectly. It's engaging all the way through. I wasn't able to put it down I got so wrapped up in the story.

I love that this book has strong friendships. I also loved the dynamic between all the girls. I don't wanna talk spoilers, but there's probably a lot that can be discussed about certain choices at the ending, when the stakes got high and they either had to choose to stick together or turn against one another and fend for themselves.

About the romance, I can't get on board with it. Were told Hetty likes Reese. But her actions practically SCREAM she's in love with Byatt. Hetty and Byatt should have gotten the angsty best friends to lovers arc they deserved.

Lastly, I was left wanting when it came to a couple of things. I wanted more of the characters background and their individual stories. What we did get to know of them was just enough to get attached. I'm dying to know and understand them better. The second thing was the ending. I neither love nor hate an open-ended ending, it usually depends on how it's done. In this case I feel like the story was unfinished and there wasn't a sense of closure for the characters. I JUST WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT, OKAY?

Those two things weren't really enough to dock my rating though, because I really had a great time reading this. If you're like me and are hesitant about reading this because of the negative reviews- give it a try! It definitely isn't for everyone but there's so much about this story to love.

read for mammamiathon: a book with at least two points of view