Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

86 reviews

strawberrytheauthor's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

If you heard this book was sapphic and are picking it up solely because of that don’t. You need more information. That’s what I did and I was shocked and not in a pleasant way. 

The love story is not the main focus of the book seeing as it is not a romance and it is really barely there at all. Frankly, these girls have other, bigger things to worry about. 

This is a horror story with a lot of body horror and murder so just be prepared. An infection has spread through the girls on an island and changes their bodies in terrible ways. It is a little Lord of the Flies esque in the way that have to fight for food and survival, but their bonds with each other are stronger. 

I personally thought the ending was very satisfying and ended exactly how it needed too. However it is an ending that leaves interpretation to the reader so if you don’t like that don’t read this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Grief, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Cursing, Vomit, Violence, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Suicide

Minor: Self harm and Cannibalism

alisazhup's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Medical content, Chronic illness, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Death, Child death, Animal death, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Murder, Confinement, Body horror, and Blood

Moderate: Grief and Self harm

itsdanibee's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Body horror, Death, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal death, Child death, Medical content, Vomit, Grief, and Terminal illness

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Kidnapping, Suicide, Medical trauma, and Murder

kaz_brekker1's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Suicide and Abandonment

Minor: Grief and Vomit

fanboyriot's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.0

I’ve had this book for a while and just got around to reading.  Naturally, I went into it knowing nothing, as one does.  To say it was not what I was expecting was an understatement.  The plot did have a promise, there were some things that seemed all too realistic in a horror-ish paranoid way.  The setting was done nicely at least.

Honestly, most of what I didn’t like was the ending.  We got no answers for anything really, and it left with absolutely no resolution.  It just felt like it was dragged out and then it just ended.  The switching POV I normally really like just didn’t work for me; they just seemed too close to one another and a few pages in I’d forget which character it even was.

(First Person POV)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Genocide, Death, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Torture, Body horror, Gore, Blood, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Animal death, Confinement, Chronic illness, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Child death, and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Ableism, Vomit, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Cursing, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, War, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, and Eating disorder

vigil's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Abandonment, Death, Violence, Death of parent, Vomit, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Gore, and Suicide

tiredtori's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Blood

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Violence, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Gore

Minor: Emotional abuse, Grief, Drug use, Vomit, Death of parent, and Suicide attempt

katieswrld's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

This story was beautifully written and immersive all the way through. The Tox and how it affects the girls’ bodies was so unique and compelling, with the perfect mixture of body horror and realism. Nothing was so out-there that it was hard to picture, everything was described beautifully and vividly. Also, I liked that the author put trust in her readers, and didn’t spelling things out for us. Some books give you a fantastic line of description or dialogue and then get nervous and over-explain it. Not here. Perfectly vague and perfectly descriptive when needed, respectively. In terms of the ending, I can see how others would find it too vague, but I had no problem with it! I definitely would’ve appreciated more pages at the end just because I loved the story and the world within it so much, but I was content with where it left off! The open ending felt right in this instance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Self harm, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Medical trauma

heathermarie08's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad 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

4.0

I enjoyed the way this book was set up, the descriptive scenes and the mystery that slowly unraveled. However, the ending felt ... abrupt. It was a little disappointing. I liked the Byatt parts but not the way it was written. Maybe it was because I enjoyed this as an audiobook but it. Was. Very. Patchy. Overall, it was a good book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Grief, Death, Chronic illness, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

jiji_'s review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Anyone beginning this should go in clear-eyed about what this book is and isn't. Setting aside the pastel cover with flowers and "Girls" in the title, this is a horror story. It isn't a cute or silly YA cozy mystery. There are no butterflies-in-the-stomach love triangles in math class. This is gory, dark, and deeply disturbing. If that's not your thing, don't start this, DNF it, and rate it poorly because you thought it was something it isn't. 

If this IS your thing, like it is mine, you're going to love this. On top of a deeply twisted, creeping dread of a plot, Power's writing is beautiful. It's poetic. It shocks at times, the poetry in the terror. It's brutal and fast-paced with no time to take a breath. At times I wished it were longer, but then I don't know if my heart and stomach could take much more. It's part zombie-apocalypse (kinda). It's part science thriller. It's part school girl survivalist drama. It's part warning. It's all good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Vomit, and Murder

Minor: Sexual assault and Incest