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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
dark
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
i am not the target audience so i probably should not have read this, but I'm glad this novel exists; it covers very important (and some triggering) topics in an unique and magical way
but i think the main thing that turned me off was the romance. like you got this badass group of magical women who roam the earth helping others and are overcoming the horrors of reality, and then the mc is like omg hes so cuteee like bro, idk seems so unnecessary. like the book is so unique and progressive then we have basic ya romance trope
but i think the main thing that turned me off was the romance. like you got this badass group of magical women who roam the earth helping others and are overcoming the horrors of reality, and then the mc is like omg hes so cuteee like bro, idk seems so unnecessary. like the book is so unique and progressive then we have basic ya romance trope
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
this book doesn’t know about show don’t tell. i want to be into it but it’s so over explained and feels like it doesn’t think the reader is smart enough to understand. i wanna know where it’s going but not enough.
I’m not sure what to think of this book. I like the message it has but at the same time I think it missed something. I didn’t necessarily feel a gravitational pull to read this book. I didn’t understand the magic. This all could be because there was a lot of characters and no background on many of them. I need a little more from it. It almost felt like it was trying to hard to be complex and lyrical.
The Wild Ones is a uniquely and beautifully written story about girls helping girls. Except it's actually mostly about a boy who helps a girl, and then girls who help that boy. Honestly, I really enjoyed the reading experience for this book, but I don't think I'll really remember it a year from now. Despite the important topic and prominent messages, the delivery lacked some thoughtfulness and resonance needed to be truly impactful. The concept is great, the writing is lovely, all the potential is there, but the plot, characters, and story format needed more development.
The most noticeable characteristic of this book is the interesting multiple perspectives. There are three POVs: Paheli (the leader of the Wild Ones), a collective perspective of the Wild Ones as a group using "we/us" pronouns, and flashback backstories of the various Wild Ones members in poetic form. These three very different perspectives clearly don't work for every reader (as seen in plenty of other GR reviews) but I found them all very engaging. I do wish the flashback chapters had been longer and developed the Wild Ones characters better, as none of them really stand out apart from Paheli and perhaps Valentina. Seeing more of their stories and how they became Wild Ones would have also helped develop the world and the theme of women helping each other find healing from trauma. Although we're told that helping girls is what the Wild Ones are all about, there are only two small scenes in which we actually see them do this, and both are inconsequential to the plot. Since the Wild Ones characters weren't well developed, the theme of "found family" also suffered; they seemed to function less as a team and more as a gaggle of girls that Paheli dragged all over the world.
Maybe my favorite part of the story was all the traveling. Though it was somewhat repetitive, I really enjoyed the different locales they visited over the course of the book, especially as I hadn't heard of many of them. The locations aren't the stereotypical "exotic" cities that normally appear in Western media; I found myself Googling various places like Chefchaouen, Jiufen, Marmaris, and Nauru. I also appreciated that the bulk of this book is set in the global south (other than a stop in New Orleans) and the majority of characters are WOC from the global south as well. A large chunk of The Wild Ones is dedicated to food appreciation, which was fun but also got quite repetitive after a while (the amount of times they mentioned eating mangoes or baklava...).
While there is queer representation in The Wild Ones, it is fairly minimal. From what I recall, there is one mention that "half" the Wild Ones aren't interested in boys, and there's some slight flirtations between two women side characters. The author has stated that the book contains lesbian, trans, and nonbinary characters, but 1) the word lesbian is not used at all, 2) I think Valentina is supposed to be trans but this is only indicated in her one-sentence backstory chapter ("I was once a king."), and 3) I don't remember any nonbinary representation at all??? For a story that's supposed to be about girls and women, the plot actually hinges on a boy named Taraana and a lot of time is spent on the development of his romance with Paheli. It seems like it would have made much more sense if Taraana had been a girl, and the only reason to make him a boy would be to have a central hetero romance, so... I mean, they were cute, but thematically it would have been better for him to be a her.
There are a couple other little things that bothered me about the Wild Ones as a group. For one, there was a consistent focus on makeup and fashion, especially as being synonymous with battle armor. Multiple scenes of the girls heading into conflict would begin with "we put on our brightest lipsticks and sharpest heels" etc. etc. It's not that big of a deal, and definitely wouldn't have caught my attention if it was just one character, but all eleven girls? Is killer style and fierce makeup a prerequisite to being a Wild One? I wish there'd been more diversity in that way; like at least one or two of the girls who find security and empowerment in defying/ignoring beauty standards instead of weaponizing them. Secondly, I was surprised that once a Wild One decides to leave the group, she apparently forgets everything about her previous life and her time as a Wild One... which seems like backsliding to me. These are girls that have been through terrible trauma, yes, but they've also gained strength and caution and courage through their healing process as a Wild One. What does forgetting all of that accomplish? I can understand some girls choosing to forget their traumatic pasts, but it doesn't seem realistic for it to be the path for every Wild One. Again, more diversity of experience could have helped here. I know part of the point is that the Wild Ones are monolithic (hence the collective "we" perspective) but it could have benefited from some nuance.
Overall, while I've done a lot of nit-picking in this review, I really did like The Wild Ones. The unconventional perspectives were a refreshing change of pace from the typical YA fantasy fare. The writing was lovely and easy to read. The representation and feminist messages are important. I just genuinely believe that the story had so much untapped potential that could have deepened the thematic exploration and made for a more memorably affecting reading experience.
TW: abduction and captivity, mention of torture, suicide, misogyny and overarching theme of violence against women and children throughout including mentions of and allusions to: rape and sexual assault, prostitution, incest, human trafficking, abuse, genital mutilation, forced pregnancy, and murder
⭐2022 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge⭐
15. A book by a Pacific Islander author
The most noticeable characteristic of this book is the interesting multiple perspectives. There are three POVs: Paheli (the leader of the Wild Ones), a collective perspective of the Wild Ones as a group using "we/us" pronouns, and flashback backstories of the various Wild Ones members in poetic form. These three very different perspectives clearly don't work for every reader (as seen in plenty of other GR reviews) but I found them all very engaging. I do wish the flashback chapters had been longer and developed the Wild Ones characters better, as none of them really stand out apart from Paheli and perhaps Valentina. Seeing more of their stories and how they became Wild Ones would have also helped develop the world and the theme of women helping each other find healing from trauma. Although we're told that helping girls is what the Wild Ones are all about, there are only two small scenes in which we actually see them do this, and both are inconsequential to the plot. Since the Wild Ones characters weren't well developed, the theme of "found family" also suffered; they seemed to function less as a team and more as a gaggle of girls that Paheli dragged all over the world.
Maybe my favorite part of the story was all the traveling. Though it was somewhat repetitive, I really enjoyed the different locales they visited over the course of the book, especially as I hadn't heard of many of them. The locations aren't the stereotypical "exotic" cities that normally appear in Western media; I found myself Googling various places like Chefchaouen, Jiufen, Marmaris, and Nauru. I also appreciated that the bulk of this book is set in the global south (other than a stop in New Orleans) and the majority of characters are WOC from the global south as well. A large chunk of The Wild Ones is dedicated to food appreciation, which was fun but also got quite repetitive after a while (the amount of times they mentioned eating mangoes or baklava...).
While there is queer representation in The Wild Ones, it is fairly minimal. From what I recall, there is one mention that "half" the Wild Ones aren't interested in boys, and there's some slight flirtations between two women side characters. The author has stated that the book contains lesbian, trans, and nonbinary characters, but 1) the word lesbian is not used at all, 2) I think Valentina is supposed to be trans but this is only indicated in her one-sentence backstory chapter ("I was once a king."), and 3) I don't remember any nonbinary representation at all??? For a story that's supposed to be about girls and women, the plot actually hinges on a boy named Taraana and a lot of time is spent on the development of his romance with Paheli. It seems like it would have made much more sense if Taraana had been a girl, and the only reason to make him a boy would be to have a central hetero romance, so... I mean, they were cute, but thematically it would have been better for him to be a her.
There are a couple other little things that bothered me about the Wild Ones as a group. For one, there was a consistent focus on makeup and fashion, especially as being synonymous with battle armor. Multiple scenes of the girls heading into conflict would begin with "we put on our brightest lipsticks and sharpest heels" etc. etc. It's not that big of a deal, and definitely wouldn't have caught my attention if it was just one character, but all eleven girls? Is killer style and fierce makeup a prerequisite to being a Wild One? I wish there'd been more diversity in that way; like at least one or two of the girls who find security and empowerment in defying/ignoring beauty standards instead of weaponizing them. Secondly, I was surprised that once a Wild One decides to leave the group, she apparently forgets everything about her previous life and her time as a Wild One... which seems like backsliding to me. These are girls that have been through terrible trauma, yes, but they've also gained strength and caution and courage through their healing process as a Wild One. What does forgetting all of that accomplish? I can understand some girls choosing to forget their traumatic pasts, but it doesn't seem realistic for it to be the path for every Wild One. Again, more diversity of experience could have helped here. I know part of the point is that the Wild Ones are monolithic (hence the collective "we" perspective) but it could have benefited from some nuance.
Overall, while I've done a lot of nit-picking in this review, I really did like The Wild Ones. The unconventional perspectives were a refreshing change of pace from the typical YA fantasy fare. The writing was lovely and easy to read. The representation and feminist messages are important. I just genuinely believe that the story had so much untapped potential that could have deepened the thematic exploration and made for a more memorably affecting reading experience.
TW: abduction and captivity, mention of torture, suicide, misogyny and overarching theme of violence against women and children throughout including mentions of and allusions to: rape and sexual assault, prostitution, incest, human trafficking, abuse, genital mutilation, forced pregnancy, and murder
⭐2022 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge⭐
15. A book by a Pacific Islander author
This was A TREAT. I loved this take on women retaking their bodies, supporting to each other, empowering other women, using your voice, and seeking justice for themselves and women as a whole. The magic was fascinating, and it was truly a spectacle to read.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide
Moderate: Rape
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I struggled to really get immersed in this multi-city fantasy tale. Azad is working on an ambitious scale - a large cast of characters traipsing magically to an equally large set of cities. The cities showcased here far too rarely appear in English-language fiction - Lautoka City, Agra, Byblos for example - as well as the more-common go-tos of Istanbul, New Orleans and Marrakech. The diversity for me was undermined by the sheer volume of cities, just as the large, diverse cast was hard to engage with individually. The plot is slow-moving - not always a bad thing - but felt even slower when divided into tiny chunks interspersed with brief descriptions of a city, and a great deal of group angsting. Overall, it became very exposition heavy - both in describing the food, city and culture of the locations and then often an information dump related to the plot - which for me came at the expense of character exploration or a tense plot. All of which is a long-winded way to say I got bored.
All of that, of course, assesses it against the standards of a lightweight fantasy, which is a little how it is marketed. In reality, The Wild Ones has a foot both in that camp and in something far darker. The book's characters are all marked by trauma - the kind that comes from terrible childhood betrayal/failure by those responsible for keeping you safe. The book is structured as an escapist girl-power-revenge-and-justice fantasy for survivors, but also dabbles in much harder conversations around when violence is justified, how to move on (in this world, the girls are gifted amnesia when they decide they are ready, and get to craft the narrative of memories their trauma is replaced with) and how to balance love and safety. The balance sat uneasily with me for reasons I find hard to pin down. I hope others find more resonance, because so much about the concept here is wonderful.
All of that, of course, assesses it against the standards of a lightweight fantasy, which is a little how it is marketed. In reality, The Wild Ones has a foot both in that camp and in something far darker. The book's characters are all marked by trauma - the kind that comes from terrible childhood betrayal/failure by those responsible for keeping you safe. The book is structured as an escapist girl-power-revenge-and-justice fantasy for survivors, but also dabbles in much harder conversations around when violence is justified, how to move on (in this world, the girls are gifted amnesia when they decide they are ready, and get to craft the narrative of memories their trauma is replaced with) and how to balance love and safety. The balance sat uneasily with me for reasons I find hard to pin down. I hope others find more resonance, because so much about the concept here is wonderful.