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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
4/5 stars, this was beautifully written and really impactful, not to mention that gorgeous cover
One of the biggest things that I will remember about this book was how wonderfully written it was, it felt as if Rupi Kaur had written a full-length book and put a magic spin on it for fun. I love her writing as a poet and to find a book that felt like her writing was wonderful! This isn't just a magic story though, this is an echo of the voices of so many women of color being silenced for decades. This tells so many of the stories of ordinary women with different ethnic backgrounds, who experienced horrible things that they did not deserve.
I am not really sure what I expected going into this book, I was hooked by the cover and knew it was a story about women of color so I decided to read it. Before reading it I had never heard of it or read the synopsis, and this book was really satisfying. Despite the number of trigger warnings and the hard story that it weaves for the reader, it was wonderful and full of life. The plot was honestly slow going but in a really nice way, it let you feel like you were a part of 'The Wild Ones' and connect to their pain and happiness in a really interesting way. I wish it had just been a little faster, but I don't mind too much as I still really liked it.
The setting is beautiful but also complicated, the girls travel between the real world and the "Between" a place that only they can go. Because of the stars in their palms they are able to go here, and be safe, as long as the keeper of the between wills it (who they do not know). The Between has doors to all corners of the world and is basically a magic pathway. I wish we had spent a little more time here but honestly seeing them travel all around the world was magical too. I love exploring so much of the world in my books, and reading from extremely diverse places, so that was really lovely.
While Paheli is the main character and the one who started The Wild Ones it doesn't feel like this story has a particular main character. It switched between Paheli's individual point of view which still involved the girls and a collective perspective from all the girls in the Wild Ones. It was really unique as I haven't read books with this sort of perspective in a long time. All of the women were so wonderful and I really love them, however, I do feel like because of the nature of the story I wasn't really able to connect with any of them individually. They all brought something unique to the story though and had different pasts that were discussed a bit.
Overall, I am really happy I chose to pick this up. It was sad but heartwarming and the style of writing was unlike anything I have read in quite a while. This should definitely be tried for those who are fans of Rupi Kaur and enjoy their stories wonderfully magically and diverse.
[TW: child trafficking, rape (implied and mentioned), suicide (on-page), forced pregnancy, genital mutilation (mentioned), murder of a child, torture, drowning]
One of the biggest things that I will remember about this book was how wonderfully written it was, it felt as if Rupi Kaur had written a full-length book and put a magic spin on it for fun. I love her writing as a poet and to find a book that felt like her writing was wonderful! This isn't just a magic story though, this is an echo of the voices of so many women of color being silenced for decades. This tells so many of the stories of ordinary women with different ethnic backgrounds, who experienced horrible things that they did not deserve.
I am not really sure what I expected going into this book, I was hooked by the cover and knew it was a story about women of color so I decided to read it. Before reading it I had never heard of it or read the synopsis, and this book was really satisfying. Despite the number of trigger warnings and the hard story that it weaves for the reader, it was wonderful and full of life. The plot was honestly slow going but in a really nice way, it let you feel like you were a part of 'The Wild Ones' and connect to their pain and happiness in a really interesting way. I wish it had just been a little faster, but I don't mind too much as I still really liked it.
The setting is beautiful but also complicated, the girls travel between the real world and the "Between" a place that only they can go. Because of the stars in their palms they are able to go here, and be safe, as long as the keeper of the between wills it (who they do not know). The Between has doors to all corners of the world and is basically a magic pathway. I wish we had spent a little more time here but honestly seeing them travel all around the world was magical too. I love exploring so much of the world in my books, and reading from extremely diverse places, so that was really lovely.
While Paheli is the main character and the one who started The Wild Ones it doesn't feel like this story has a particular main character. It switched between Paheli's individual point of view which still involved the girls and a collective perspective from all the girls in the Wild Ones. It was really unique as I haven't read books with this sort of perspective in a long time. All of the women were so wonderful and I really love them, however, I do feel like because of the nature of the story I wasn't really able to connect with any of them individually. They all brought something unique to the story though and had different pasts that were discussed a bit.
Overall, I am really happy I chose to pick this up. It was sad but heartwarming and the style of writing was unlike anything I have read in quite a while. This should definitely be tried for those who are fans of Rupi Kaur and enjoy their stories wonderfully magically and diverse.
[TW: child trafficking, rape (implied and mentioned), suicide (on-page), forced pregnancy, genital mutilation (mentioned), murder of a child, torture, drowning]
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The writing style was slightly confusing and with so much detail it made the story hard to connect with
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
adventurous
inspiring
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual violence
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Where do I even start. Let's start with how forgettable the villain is. I don't even remember his name. All I know is that he's some sort of ocean dude who wanted to kill a main character, Taraana.
The perspective of this book is… weird. Nafiza Azad mostly uses the pronouns of we and us in the book to be in the perspective of the Wild Ones as a group, but it really threw me off. Every once in a while there would be a chapter in Paheli’s point of view, and those were the best written chapters, so maybe the whole book should have just been in Paheli’s point of view.
The main theme of this book would probably be healing from past traumas, however, we only see that with Paheli, since there is such a big cast of characters, and I don’t even know most of their names because they were pushed to the side so much. I believe there are eleven girls in the Wild Ones, so it was extremely difficult to keep track of all of them or even know what was going on.
Descriptions of everything like worldbuilding were very vague, except for the dang food the characters ate. Then there was a lot of detail.
I gave this book 2.5/5 stars. The concept of this was so good and interesting, but the execution was just bad. I read The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad before and that wasn’t amazing either, so I read this book to give her a second chance, but I was once again disappointed even with my lowered standards of her writing. This book might even be worse than The Candle and the Flame. And I had the same problem with this book as The Candle and the Flame where the ending was rushed, abrupt, and felt unfinished. The ending of The Wild Ones is probably more finished than the ending of The Candle and the Flame, but it still had those issues. As I said in my review for The Candle and the Flame, “The ending was happy and good, but abrupt.”
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I wanted to love this book. I loved the concept. I loved the world. I loved the mouth watering food descriptions. I loved the GORGEOUS cover. I couldn’t love the characters because there were too many Wild Ones to keep track of, especially given the lack of differentiation between them. Paheli and maybe Valentina were the only ones who got significant development. As an avowed poetry hater, the Book of Memories chapters and overall writing style frustrated me immensely. I would not buy this book or read it again, but am glad to have read it once.