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A review by lightqueer
The Wild Ones by Nafiza Azad
3.0
THE WILD ONES has been a release that i’ve been very excited for these past few months. i thoroughly enjoyed the storytelling, the world building, and the character development that occurs throughout.
however, i found there to be several weaknesses in the writing itself. the dialogue between the characters often felt stilted and abrupt. the backstories of each one were not clear enough nor touched on enough in their own development - in fact other than paheli and valentina, there was no development. it must be noted that this interpretation could be entirely a result of the poor formatting of the ARC itself on my kindle, but nevertheless, it weakened the story for me.
what’s more, taraana is described as being a fully grown young man but is described so often as nothing but a child. while i can appreciate that he is soft, sweet, and simple, i had a hard time seeing his character as anything but the little boy he was introduced as in the first chapter of the book. as a result, i found it difficult to reconcile his and paheli’s growing bond throughout the story.
i loved that each location of this book was somewhere that is not often touched on in larger YA circles: north africa, eastern asia, the middle east, etc. the uniqueness of each location and the incredible descriptions of each one enriched the experience for me both as a reader and as a reviewer. what’s more, the sentiment of steady anger and pain throughout this novel hit me hard. THE WILD ONES managed to discuss and include topics such as sexual assault in a way that was not as triggering as it normally is for me, which i deeply appreciate. i found those sensitive topics to be handled very well throughout the book and woven excellently into the collective sentiment of anger, frustration, and, eventually, healing.
however, i found there to be several weaknesses in the writing itself. the dialogue between the characters often felt stilted and abrupt. the backstories of each one were not clear enough nor touched on enough in their own development - in fact other than paheli and valentina, there was no development. it must be noted that this interpretation could be entirely a result of the poor formatting of the ARC itself on my kindle, but nevertheless, it weakened the story for me.
what’s more, taraana is described as being a fully grown young man but is described so often as nothing but a child. while i can appreciate that he is soft, sweet, and simple, i had a hard time seeing his character as anything but the little boy he was introduced as in the first chapter of the book. as a result, i found it difficult to reconcile his and paheli’s growing bond throughout the story.
i loved that each location of this book was somewhere that is not often touched on in larger YA circles: north africa, eastern asia, the middle east, etc. the uniqueness of each location and the incredible descriptions of each one enriched the experience for me both as a reader and as a reviewer. what’s more, the sentiment of steady anger and pain throughout this novel hit me hard. THE WILD ONES managed to discuss and include topics such as sexual assault in a way that was not as triggering as it normally is for me, which i deeply appreciate. i found those sensitive topics to be handled very well throughout the book and woven excellently into the collective sentiment of anger, frustration, and, eventually, healing.