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A review by rjstellar
Wilder Girls by Rory Power
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-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? No
3.5
I really liked the way this book was written. the writing style was so clear and well paced, and it was really easy to visualize what was happening. the first half was great! it was incredibly gripping.
...but.
the second half went off the rails in a few ways.
(tl;dr in case you don't want spoilers: the plot went off the rails, the romance wasnt what I expected and a little iffy, and I think the ending could've been executed a lot better. I still really enjoyed it, of course, and I don't want to downplay that, but the book really seemed to lose itself when it mattered most.)
okay, now for detail. for one, I really didn't like Reese and Hetty's relationship. from the start, I wasn't a fan of Reese. I accepted pretty easily that she was a part of their sort of trio, and she mattered to a character I'd immediately liked, so I was willing to acknowledge her presence and her weight in Hetty's life. I always have a hard time getting used to really cold characters. like, it makes perfect sense, obviously, that reese and the others are the way they are. it's just a personal preference with characters like her. especially since her introduction was a full brawl over an orange, plus attacking hetty over boat shift. she did grow on me, but from the very start I was gunning for hetty and byatt to be romantic while hetty and Reese stayed platonic. generally there wasn't a lot of time left for romance anyways, so there wasn't a lot of affection between hetty and Reese, which I would've appreciated even if the romance wasnt what I wanted from the start. but it didn't even do that, so I was just all around disappointed with that aspect of the book.
thing number two, I have no idea what happened to the plot. like, yeah, it's reasonable to think hetty was scattered and forgot to lock the gate and a whole ass bear got in, but I don't understand why that happened?? among other things. I'll get there in a second. I get being careless, but the bear fiasco didn't really serve the plot at all, especially since the jets were coming anyways and the headmistress would've gassed the girls all the same. I would say it was a cheap way to kill someone for the plot to move forward, but not even that, because Lindsay's death was quick and ultimately meaningless. that's not the only strange plot detour. my biggest gripe is the fact that Reese and Hetty's mission to find byatt was cut massively short and the majority of the book is spent on anything but them trying to find her. from the buildup to realizing she's gone and planning their search, to the endless distractions like a bear, or a deadly gas, or a somewhat plausible (but pretty forced) fight over Reese's father. they do find her, but it's in the last 10 or so pages. 10!! the blurb revealed that byatt would go missing, and yet it felt like so little time was dedicated to actually finding her.
thing number three. yeah. the ending. that seems to pretty unanimously be the most disappointing part of this book. it was very, very abrupt. and I'm not closed off to that by any means, but it didn't feel purposefully abrupt. it felt abrupt because it was rushed, not because that was a deliberate choice. I feel like there could've been a good 50 more pages. not just at the end; whether that was in byatt's pov for longer (what happened to that crazy strength and almost uncontrollable urge to hurt dr. paretta?), or with hetty and Reese in the final stretch to find her and get the hell out (again. . .last 10 pages. .), or some other bad situation besides a bear randomly breaking onto school grounds. there could have been so, so much more to this book. there was, and is, so much potential in Rory power's story and writing, but I feel like she tried to do wayyy too much with this novel <spolier>
...but.
the second half went off the rails in a few ways.
(tl;dr in case you don't want spoilers: the plot went off the rails, the romance wasnt what I expected and a little iffy, and I think the ending could've been executed a lot better. I still really enjoyed it, of course, and I don't want to downplay that, but the book really seemed to lose itself when it mattered most.)
thing number two, I have no idea what happened to the plot. like, yeah, it's reasonable to think hetty was scattered and forgot to lock the gate and a whole ass bear got in, but I don't understand why that happened?? among other things. I'll get there in a second. I get being careless, but the bear fiasco didn't really serve the plot at all, especially since the jets were coming anyways and the headmistress would've gassed the girls all the same. I would say it was a cheap way to kill someone for the plot to move forward, but not even that, because Lindsay's death was quick and ultimately meaningless. that's not the only strange plot detour. my biggest gripe is the fact that Reese and Hetty's mission to find byatt was cut massively short and the majority of the book is spent on anything but them trying to find her. from the buildup to realizing she's gone and planning their search, to the endless distractions like a bear, or a deadly gas, or a somewhat plausible (but pretty forced) fight over Reese's father. they do find her, but it's in the last 10 or so pages. 10!! the blurb revealed that byatt would go missing, and yet it felt like so little time was dedicated to actually finding her.
thing number three. yeah. the ending. that seems to pretty unanimously be the most disappointing part of this book. it was very, very abrupt. and I'm not closed off to that by any means, but it didn't feel purposefully abrupt. it felt abrupt because it was rushed, not because that was a deliberate choice. I feel like there could've been a good 50 more pages. not just at the end; whether that was in byatt's pov for longer (what happened to that crazy strength and almost uncontrollable urge to hurt dr. paretta?), or with hetty and Reese in the final stretch to find her and get the hell out (again. . .last 10 pages. .), or some other bad situation besides a bear randomly breaking onto school grounds. there could have been so, so much more to this book. there was, and is, so much potential in Rory power's story and writing, but I feel like she tried to do wayyy too much with this novel <spolier>
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Vomit, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Medical content, Blood, Violence, Body horror, Child death, Death, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Animal death