A review by bwritesreviews
Wilder Girls by Rory Power

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

 
Characters: 5/5
Rory Power did an excellent job of creating characters that are well written and complex and kind of messy and not the purely good characters you see a lot of in YA novels. They're allowed to be messy and do some kind of messed up things, because they're in a pretty messed up situation. The relationship between Hetty and her two best friends, Reese and Byatt was written so well. The dynamics were different yet similar and they felt like messy teenage girls, which is what they are. Power didn't shy away from complex teenage feelings, and how sometimes they're messed up but no one's to blame, it's part of being sixteen even when you aren't worried for your life. All of the side characters felt alive, and just as complex as the main characters. They all had their motivations, and a lot of the were sympathetic. 
Writing Style: 3.75/5
While I really did enjoy the book, there were times where the writing style brought me out of it. The beginning of the book felt like a dump of information, a lot of telling instead of showing. She was trying to build the world so we understood what was happening, but at times it felt like there wasn't a lot of exposition, it was just information being shared. Not only that, at times it felt like she was changing the characters to match the scene, instead of the other way around to get a point across and it just came across as odd. However, as the plot picked up so did the writing style, and it shifted from telling and not showing to showing instead of telling. She did a good job of weaving the characters and plot together, and I had a fun time trying to piece together what I thought was going on. Power is very good at foreshadowing. Byatt's chapters were especially interesting when it came to writing style, and I think Power did a really good job of showing her internal thoughts and how broken up they were. 
Plot: 4.5/5
Wilder Girls took a really interesting look at a "Lord of the Flies" situation, and how different it was when it was girls, but there were times when the larger plot felt rushed. While Power did a good job of foreshadowing, and building up to bigger scenes, there were times where I felt like I was missing pieces and answers, and I couldn't tell if it was purposeful or not. Also, there were times where she seemed to contradict herself in the worldbuilding, and while they weren't major plot points, they were noticeable. However, the plot of the book was still extremely interesting and the groundwork she laid in foreshadowing and character dynamics really paid off when the big, plot heavy scenes happened. It's hard to talk about the plot of the book without any spoilers, so I'll just say that when it all started coming together closer to the end, I was really impressed with the story.
Movie Rating: R, really for the things that I mentioned in the TWs, there were times where it was too much, even for me who doesn't mind gore, and I had to skip over the more graphic descriptions 
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