Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

49 reviews

orcamagicka's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

When I saw this was a feminist Lord of the Flies meets the film Annihilation I was VERY intrigued. Unfortunately, I could not connect to the characters. They seemed very one-dimensional and Hetty, the main character, was very bland and dislikeable in my opinion. Many of the characters made obviously stupid decisions throughout the story and at times the book was incredibly frustrating to read. Hetty made the most of these decisions and I hated how despite all the mistakes she makes and the intense suffering her actions put the other characters through, she never fully suffers the consequences of her own actions. The plot moved way too slowly for the first portion of the story and honestly didn't get remotely "scary" until maybe the last quarter. I see a lot of people complaining about the ending and that it was "too ambiguous" or "left too many unanswered questions". Personally, I thought the ending was appropriate for the story (in fact WAY better than I was expecting) and as a huge horror fan, endings like this are common for the genre. It ends with the potential for a sequel but either way I think the story is fine as a stand-alone. Overall this book had a lot of promise but fell short for me

 

Also there seemed to be some plot holes in the story. If the Tox is a parasite how on earth did the CDC and Navy not discover this when researching the nine girls? A massive parasitic worm doesn't sound like it would be hard to find in the body, and could be removed with some ease. Also how on earth was Teddy infected just by kissing Byatt? My best guess was they transferred parasitic eggs or microscopic worms but if that's the case, all of the girls would have more than one adult worm in their body

 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Abandonment, Animal death, and Eating disorder

katielaine_w's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

gracebanks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Suicide, Grief, Gore, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Confinement, Child death, Body horror, Blood, and Abandonment

Moderate: Toxic friendship and Mental illness

readsandrants's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.5

I saw a review by 'corabookworm' here and it summed up a lot of my feelings on this book. their review starts by saying they're disappointed and goes on to say:

"While the plot was mildly interesting, not much actually happened. The mystery that the blurb hinted at, which seemed to be the premise of the story, never fully got solved. Some clues were never explained, which left multiple loose ends, and the ending was completely unsatisfactory. 

They literally. Left All. The other. Girls. Behind. To save. Themselves. After saving as many of the Raxter girls as they could from a deadly gas (which at least would've been a peaceful death), they leave them all behind to be either (1) eaten alive by a huge zombie bear or (2) bombed.

"
I completely agree on this point, not only was I mad that after everything, they just left, I was disappointed at how vague things were in the end we basically just got:

it was a parasite and we don't know the cure for it yet and everyone thinks we're dead what will we do

there were also other things that weren't exactly explained but talked about like we should understand, like:

why their families were told they were dead in the first place, why they didn't just bomb them from the beginning, why they were trying to test them with the food, why the headmistress was suposedly evil and why Taylor switched sides to help them, why Byatt seemed to be a fragment of herself, why she was taken of all the other girls, what exctly that drug was, where were all the teachers if there was supposedly 10 of the 20 left, and so many other things where I was just like: why.

this reviewer also goes on to say:
"One of the two POV main characters, Hetty, was selfish and, in my opinion, stupid, multiple times during this book. Besides that ending, she put the girls of Raxter at risk multiple times, either accidentally or knowing what could happen, and it infuriated me.
The other main character is Byatt, who goes missing from Raxter in the beginning(ish) of the book. Most of her chapters had no punctuation, like poetry, but the style didn't fit with the rest of the book. It almost made it feel like one long rambling sentence, making it very difficult to read. I found myself almost skimming these parts."
I also strongly agree with this. there were very few chapters from Byatt and I had to constantly read and reread to understand what was happening, I feel like the hazy kind of drugged state could have still been written without it sounding like mindless rambling. it also wasn't consistent, one second everything would be repeated and run together and the next minute she would be speaking perfectly normal, then repeat the same process the next chapter. 

overall I just feel meh about the book, though I did have a lot of fun while reading it and it was very addictive to read. i think the ending definitely lowered my rating but so did all of Byatts chapters and the kind of explanations for what happens in them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Gore

farncc's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

i cried near the end and i didn’t expect myself to, BUT i felt it could’ve been written a little better. plus that one scene is just too close to… something and i didn’t really enjoy that and there’s no content warnings for me to put on it so like :// idk 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Self harm, and Vomit

keen's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Initially, I felt off about this book. It didn't feel like horror, it felt like a thriller. High-stakes and tense moments, but nothing scary past the graphic body horror. As a body horror fan, that was enough to keep me going, even if I wasn't sure I was reading a horror book.

It took me until halfway through to realize I went into this book with the wrong expectations. Not every horror story involves running away from a murderer or trying to escape the attention of a ghost. This is a story about being trapped in a bleak situation and trying to survive when everything is out to kill you. It's about the strength of love and friendship that powers you through every horror you face.

Once I realized that, the emotional horror of this book hit me. Every paragraph made me question if there was some ounce of hope in the end. I can say I was satisfied with what I received, even if in the end it felt like I had no idea where I was being led until I was punched in the gut.

Additionally, I enjoyed the characters. There were times when I was angry at them, wondering why the girls were behaving so irrationally and why the adults felt so unhelpful. I had to remind myself of what it would be like to be a 14 to 17 year old girl, trapped on an island with a virus twisting your body into a mockery of itself, with little to no hope of surviving. Alternatively, I had to imagine what it would be like to take care of these children and watch as they die off, one by one. There's no way I could react logically in either scenario. The characters did the best they could do in the situation they were forced into and trapped in.

I admire stories that make me read deeper into the thoughts of the characters. To me, a good horror story makes me compare how I would face each situation to how the characters do. In this case, every event made me want to throw up, run away, or cry.

So, yeah, this story gave me the emotional turmoil. I was joyfully horrified.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Animal death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Bullying and Cursing

belleden's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I’ll give a better review later because I’m still reeling from this book!
Best WLW romance I’ve read so far this year
I usually can’t stand gore/horror but it was so well-written in this book I didn’t mind
The mystery was so deeply intriguing and it makes the reader feel like putting the clues together is your job.
The switching perspectives were SO well done - this definitely has the potential to fuck up perfectly good books but Power uses it sparingly and it adds so much to the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Self harm, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death and Vomit

ppixxie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I've been putting off reading this for the LONGEST time for no goddamn reason. Then my library hold(s) came in. Oh my GOD was I not disappointed. Going in, I thought there would be a lot more horror/body horror elements/cosmic horror-esque elements, which was probably why I found it hard to get into the first half of the book where it focuses mainly on world-building. (The beginning mainly reads like a dystopian survival horror?) 

But boy does it pick up. I love to read a nasty female character, and this is no exception. I can't talk about a lot of the stuff that happens, because it's spoilers and this book is a nice one to go into with 0 knowledge. It ends on an ambiguous note (almost a sequel hook, and I've heard whispers around that there's going to be a sequel or something??) but I liked how it ended, and I probably would have been satisfied with just this book as a standalone.

Anyways, if you like gay horror, definitely check this one out!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Vomit, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Self harm, Suicide, and Torture

Moderate: Eating disorder and Emotional abuse

Minor: Bullying and Cursing

caitlinattemptstoread's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Terminal illness, and Suicide attempt

starccato's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Death, Violence, Self harm, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical trauma, and Grief

Minor: Animal death, Cursing, and Bullying