This book was a YA Annihilation that did not flinch on visceral details and the tough choices young girls have to make under impossible circumstances. A strange infection called The Tox had taken over the island of Raxter school. Hetty teams up with classmate Reese to find out what happened to their best friend, Byatt, when she suddenly goes missing.

I really enjoyed the visceral details of the body horror taking over. Power does not flinch whatsoever and you're forced to watch and feel the body transformations and injuries as they take place. I also really liked the rule-breaking with regards to sentence structure in Byatt's POV section. It makes for a really good form meets function that makes the details all the more squirmy.

The ending, for me, could have been a bit longer. We get the reveal of the truth of their dire circumstances and then the plot drives forward. I'm still left wondering where exactly the Tox came from and why it only affects teenage girls. There were some bread crumbs, but not enough to really bring the plot full circle.

That being said, come for the eco-horror, stay for f/f love and the power of female friendship.

Hetty has not left the Raxter School for Girls in over eighteen months. They have been under a quarantine that started with the teachers dying first. When the students became infected, it didn’t seem to kill them, but turn them. These girls have been cut off from all communications with the outside world and they can’t even go outside of the fence because the Tox has infected the local wildlife. Hetty was a rule follower until Byatt went missing. Now she is questioning everything about the quarantine, including what lies on the other side of the fence. What will Hetty learn about this mysterious disease?

Wilder Girls is a stand-alone science fiction story that was a fun escape read with just a little bit of science fiction thrown in. Even if readers are not very familiar with quarantines and diseases, most will be able to enjoy the bigger story that is included here. Power has created a few different characters for readers to explore and overall the ending was satisfactory. With that being said, it was not a drop everything and finish the book experience. I’m glad I read it and recommend others who like this type of book to add it to their TBR list.

If you break down pretty much every single element of this book - feminist Lord of the Flies retelling, queer girls, body horror, girls exploring their monstrous side - it should be literally the PERFECT book for me, but I found the actual book to be a little bit disappointing. First - and I know it's not really the 'point' of the book but still - I didn't like that we weren't given any real information on the origin of the Tox or why it behaved the way it did. I spent so much of the book being like 'ok but WHAT is going on' that I feel like it was hard for me to concentrate on the characters and what they were doing.

Despite the book being of a decent length, I just felt like the author didn't really explore any of the concepts in what I would consider an in-depth manner. I really wanted her to lean into why this was only affecting young girls in this specific way and tie that back into women exploring their 'wild' side, but it felt like the whole thing just meandered along until it ended rather abruptly. I'm still giving it three stars because it was such an interesting idea, but I was a bit disappointed.

I'm trying to reflect on the reading experience separately from my feelings about the ending, so here goes: <em>Wilder Girls</em> has a terrific, terrifying premise: On an island off the coast of Maine, the student at a girls' boarding school are starving, fierce, and desperate after eighteen months of isolation and quarantine. They're all infected by the Tox, experiencing flare-ups in which their bodies are modified and distorted and changed -- scales here, spiny growths there, gills, and spikes and other random mutations taking over their bodies. Once it's bad enough to go to the infirmary, the girls never return.

For most of the book, the plot delivers. Conditions worsen. The girls don't know if they're being fed lies. The wild parts of the island seem to be closing in. We also get brief chapters from Byatt's perspective, as outsiders attempt to treat her, maybe cure her, although her condition becomes more and more extreme, and the treatments seem cruel and painful.

I was wrapped up in the story and really intrigued by the overall plot. So what was my problem with this book? Either the ending is unsatisfyingly incomplete, or this is a set-up for a continuation. I don't know which, and that's part of the problem! We're left hanging at the end, with only the most partial of explanations about what the Tox really is, what caused it, and what it means for the surviving girls. I really needed more from the ending -- so while I was caught up in the story and enjoyed the book overall, when I finished reading the final pages, I felt frustrated and annoyed.

This was super weird but in a good way! The plot and writing are super unique and keep you flipping the pages. I personally wanted a bit more closure at the end as it is left way open. The characters were dynamic and interesting.

TW: suicide, self harm, violence

Rory Power’s Wilder Girls is an atmospheric read that takes a hard and disturbing look at what happens when a mysterious plague-like disease called the Tox infects the entire population of an all-girls boarding school. When Wilder Girls opens, many are already dead, both teachers and students, and the entire island has been in quarantine for eighteen months. Boats periodically come and drop off supplies for the quarantined survivors, but aside from that and the occasional promise that the CDC is doing everything they can to find a cure, there is no contact with the outside world.

The whole idea of the Tox drew me in right away. Powers does a wonderful job of creating an eerie and terrifying atmosphere by plunging her readers right into the action and showing us what the Tox has done to the girls. Even with our first glance around the school, we see a girl whose arm has suddenly grown reptilian-like scales on it, another girl whose eye has sealed shut and now appears to be growing something beneath the seal, and even a girl who appears to have grown a second spine that protrudes out of her back. And that’s just scratching the surface of ways this disease is manifesting itself. The mood is dark and desperate, there aren’t nearly enough supplies being sent, and most social conventions have flown out the window as the name of the game is survival. I read somewhere that this book is considered a feminist retelling of Lord of the Flies, and from those first moments, I definitely felt a similar vibe between the two books.

I also liked that the opening scenes really got my wheels turning with question after question and even got my inner conspiracy theorist humming. What the heck is the Tox? Why are everyone’s physical symptoms so different? Why the total isolation, without even radio contact? Is the government responsible for the tox? If not, is it something alien? And on and on, you get the idea. This is a book that will definitely make you think and it’s also a quick read because you’ll find yourself just dying to get all of your questions answered.

In addition to being fascinated by the deadly Tox, I also really enjoyed the friendship of the three main characters, Hetty, Byatt, and Reese. These three girls are very loyal to each other and do everything they can to make sure all three of them have the best chance of survival. When Byatt unexpectedly disappears. Hetty and Reese make it their mission to find out what has happened to her. What they find as they search for her is every bit as disturbing as the Tox itself and adds tremendous tension and suspense to what is already a book that you won’t want to put down.

*****

So why only 3.5 stars if this book has so many great things going for it? Well, I did have a few issues with it. The first is that I didn’t find the explanation for the Tox to be thorough enough for my liking. As interesting as it was, I felt like it was explained in a very vague way. Also, even though I liked the dynamic of their friendship, I didn’t feel emotionally invested in the three main characters. I don’t want to say that I didn’t care about what happened to them because that’s not true, but I just felt like they were at arm’s length and would have preferred getting to know a little more about each of them. One final issue I had was the ending, which was just way too open-ended for my liking.

Wilder Girls really is an entertaining read, especially for horror fans and if you don’t mind an open-ended read. I wanted more from it since it was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, but it’s still a good read overall. Be forewarned though that it is violent and gory, there are many deaths, as well as mentions of self-harm and suicide. It’s not a read for the faint of heart.

“My other eye’s dead, gone dark in a flare-up. Lid fused shut, something growing underneath.

It’s like that with all of us here. Sick, strange, and we don’t know why. Things bursting out of us, bits missing and pieces sloughing off, and then we harden and smooth over.”

This book will make your skin shift,

your toes coil,

and your breath hurt.

With every page it slowly peels away layers of your heart while simultaneously sewing those pieces back together; until you’re left with nothing, but this mismatched, lumpy, irregular beating organ lost inside your chest that you aren’t even sure is yours anymore.

There is a rawness and truth hidden in these beautifully writhing words.

So make sure you’re listening.

“…and I miss the way the wind steals your breath like it never belonged to you in the first place.”

A year and a half ago, the Tox infiltrated their island. It crept its way through the trees and animals, tickled the locks on the gates and doors. It sighed through the ventilation like a whisper after lights out, and it took a hold of every girl with a beating heart and a smile. The Navy said they were looking for a cure. That there is still hope, they just needed more time. But the girls at Raxter don’t have time. The Tox is ripping them apart one by one, making them turn on one another, or worse, making them turn on themselves. But Hetty, Byatt and Resse have each other. And as long as they stick together, they can survive anything.

Unless the next flare-up shreds them from the inside and turns their bodies black.

“About three months into the Tox, they came back from the woods with their names torn out of their heads. The Tox took what they were, took everything except how to hold a knife. It made them stick each other in the main hall during dinner, made them watch themselves bleed dry.”

This book took my body through a mess of psychological and physical torment. My stomach is still writhing around and trying to jump out of my throat, and I’m honestly more than a little concerned that something might be crawling around inside me now. Wilder Girls…is wild. Rory Power has taken the typical “virus outbreak” story and dipped it in a drum barrel of mental terrorism to give you a tale of graceful misery and unorthodox beauty.

Because that is exactly what this toxic storm of starvation, terror, and savagery is.

It’s beauty.

“His skin peels off like strips of paper, gathering under my nails, soft and pulpy.”

These sweet, innocent and delicate young girls are trapped in an asylum that keeps them cut-off from the rest of existence. Their once normal lives have been drowned; washed away by an outbreak that leaves behind unpredictable flare-ups that leave the girls in a state of physical insanity. Bruising from the inside out, second spines and hearts, a silver scaled hand, skin lesions and bubbles. Each girl is a walking nightmare. A grotesque and brutal version of their former selves. But what makes these girls truly breathtaking and beautiful, is that they look at one another without judgement.

Each girl is wild, untamed and ferocious. They are monstrous creatures with brave hearts and convictions. They go to physical blows over scraps of food, but protect one another with a passion and savagery that is…enviable. These girls push through their bleak existence to find love and comfort in one another. It’s a story of strength and iron-will. Of yearning and love that doesn’t need to be explained. These girls aren’t pushed into categories and stigmas, they just ARE.

“Reese and Byatt, they’re mine and I’m theirs.”

The three main girls are Hetty, Byatt and Reese. The story mainly unfolds by the voice of Hetty, but flips over to Byatt’s viewpoint occasionally as it progresses. Hetty and Byatt are extremely close, to the point of near obsession for Hetty. She wants to be everything that Byatt needs, and credits Byatt for being the one to show her who she really is. But somehow, this obsession doesn’t feel poisonous or harmful. It feels loving, respectful and protective.

“Byatt was the one who put the bones in my body.”

The romance in this story is slight, but it is absolutely heartfelt and soft. It isn’t lustful or forced, and it doesn’t take away from the plot. To be honest, it’s one of the only truly good feeling moments in Wilder Girls. The sweetness of it is quick and will be gone before you know it, so enjoy that moment while it lasts. Because this book isn’t going to lull you into blissful dreams.

“My back arches, eyes slamming open. Thrashing against the straps pinning me, throwing my weight from side to side. Paretta, at the foot of my gurney, saying my name, but she’s the one who did this to me. I scream. “
This is a horror story, and it is indeed horrific. It is eerie, creepy and doused in a gloom so thick you can barely focus your eyes. It made me cringe. It made me disgusted. It made me keep the lights an hour after I finished the book. But most of all, it created a pit in my stomach that I still can’t seem to shake. And honestly, that is all I ever want from a book.

For it to leave my body in a state of confusion.

“…I start to know what the rope is for. But I don’t do anything. I sit so my legs are tucked under me. I watch the Tox go to work. On his knees. A rope into a noose. His eyes never close. His grip never changes. He is pulling right until the end.”

I found this book horrifying, intriguing, sad, and entertaining. This is a unsolved mystery as much as it is a horror story. It's a story of loss and bizarre circumstances, as much as it is a coming of age novel.

Because of the nature of the story this book is a little hard to assign stars accurately. As a stand alone I'd give this book 4 stars. If it is the first in a series, I'd give it 5 stars. This book would be stronger if there are future books, because too many unanswered questions are left at the end. Honestly, I don't think that Hetty's story and the stories of her friends could be told completely in a single book and I really hope there are more books coming.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys strong girl characters.

Wilder Girls by Rory Power is a dystopian sci-fi for young adults. I read an excerpt on Bookish First and was so grateful that I had an ARC from NetGalley and Delacorte Press/Random House so I could finish reading the book immediately! The opening frightened and piqued my curiosity. I also felt sorry for the Tox survivors because civilization deserted them, except for limited, intermittent supply drops from the Navy. Told in alternating points of view between friends, Hetty and Byatt. (I cannot seem to get out of my mind, the fact that if the first letters of both names are exchanged, the names would be Betty and Hyatt);) Hetty starts the story and continues until Byatt suffers a Tox episode and is taken away. Hetty searches for her, can’t find her and overhears one of the leaders on the radio talking about an exchange. Then it’s Byatt’s turn to tell the story. She wakes up in a strange place and she struggles to talk. Soon, she’s surrounded by people in surgical clothing and is forced to take a bitter tasting pill. Byatt has a few more experiences to share but the majority of the story is told through Hetty’s perspective. Strange and frightening discoveries are made and the story ends with a wide opening for more to come. I do enjoy science fiction when it’s in dystopian form and the ending left me wondering what’s next! 4 stars!

Have you ever read a book that is so perfectly catered to your tastes that it felt like a personal attack?

This book came into my home and assassinated me.

I've really tried to write any sort of coherent review, but I know there are a. better reviews and b. I loved this book So Much. The creepy atmosphere, the pacing, the ending, all of it hit every button I possess. I love ruthless girls and their inexplicable friendships.

I don't want a sequel, prequel, or any other supplemental stories. I ate this up and it was a full meal.

Really solid debut novel! I am a huge fan of "The Troop" by Nick Cutter and this reminded me of a female spin on this book. The prose was beautiful; imagery amazing. I felt like in the beginning a lot was unexplained, but it does wrap up in the end. However, I was quite disapointed by the ending. It leaves much to be desired, and I feel like the novel is lacking an epilogue. I'm glad that a "cure" was identified - but if those as Camp Nash saw them coming, would they have blown up the boat? Do Byatt, Reese and Hetty survive? The end is what knocked it down a star for me.

Overall I am very impressed; YA novels typically lack the depth I want on tougher subjects but Rory Power had a very nice balance and I think it would appeal to YA and adult readers alike. Will look forward to what comes next for this author!

5/5 stars

I loved this creeptastic YA thriller so much! It pulled me in from the start and wouldn't let me go. I just had to keep reading to find out what was truly happening on Raxter island and how it would end.

<u>Synopsis</u>
It's been almost two years since signs of the 'Tox' appeared on Raxter island and Raxter's School for Girls was quarantined. No one knows what the 'Tox' is for sure, but it's slowly changing the teachers, girls and island in disturbing ways. When Hetty's best friend Byatt goes missing, Hetty risks everything to find out what happened to her and discovers everything on the island isn't what it seems.

<u>Pacing, Points of View & World Building</u>
The overall pacing was lightning quick! I couldn't put this one down, but I also didn't feel like the story rushed over parts. There were three main points of view which were Hetty, Byatt, and Reese. I honestly enjoyed every character's point of view and never felt like speed reading past any one character's part. The world building was amazing! When the characters walk through the woods on Raxter island, it felt extremely realistic, eerie and mysterious. The oddness of those woods crept off the page and threatened to suck you into it's murky depths! This story's world truly had me on the edge of my seat and questioned whether I really needed the light off at night to sleep!

<u>Characters</u>
The dynamics between the three main female characters was very raw and real. I loved reading about Hetty, Byatt, and Reese. All of the characters within the story were survivors, but with that survival came emotional baggage. It showed in the raw interactions between them especially when one fell ill or during meal time. The drive to do anything to survive reared it's ugly yet entertaining head a few times in this story and I loved the realness of it all.

<u>Overall</u>
Overall, I loved this thrilling survival story about the bonds between those people and the strange situation that is Raxter island. Please do yourself a favor and grab this one if you're in the mood for a fast read that's filled with eerie mystery and raw emotions!

I feel ridiculously lucky that I was granted an advanced NetGalley copy. Thank you so much to NetGalley, Random House Children's and Delacorte Press for allowing me the opportunity to read this amazing digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. I cannot recommend this book enough to thrill seekers and anyone who loves survival stories!

Wilder Girls is a horror, sci-fi, YA blend of a story, set in an all-girls school resting on an island off the New England coast. The girls and their teachers are struck with a grisly illness that leaves them with deformities of all kinds, each worse than the next. The tamest symptom seems to be suffered by the protagonist, Hetty, whose right eye has fused shut. I read the book in three days , eager to find out if I’d learn how this plague, the Tox, started and how it could be cured. With shocked fascination, I witnessed the girls fight each other like animals over resources, create little factions within the school, bounce back fairly well after being struck down by a freakish sicknesses (well, some of them), and somehow do other typical teenage things, like have crushes.
Friendship, especially best friends, are such a big deal in adolescence, and it was interesting to see how Power takes friendship to another level. The girls break off into small groups, and in an almost pack-like manner, share food and look out for each other. There is even a hierarchy, with alpha girls that the other look to for orders and reassurance. They aren’t the only ones turning feral- the island flora and fauna seem to be growing at a rapid, wild rate, and an innocent island is now a Land of the Lost.
The story feels so unique and refreshing, while reminding me of books with similar tropes, like Nick Cutter’s The Troop and William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. But instead of groups of boys, we have girls- strong, fierce, innovative girls.

The thing you should know before starting Wilder Girls by Rory Power is that it is excruciatingly beautiful and excruciatingly brutal. The prose packs a punch that steals your breath away from the get-go until you’re 300 something pages in and still breathless, unable to catch your breath or still your heart due to the fast-paced plot.

It’s hard not to come across some mention of the book — a modern feminist answer to The Lord of the Flies — among “Best of” lists and recommended reading around the internet this summer. Usually the buzz falls flat after a book comes out as anticipation gives way for other books on the horizon, but I’m here to tell you that the buzz is spot-on and this is a book you want to devour. Devour it quickly before the story worms its way into your heart, sticking with you after every break and pause in the reading. I went to bed thinking about the Tox, about Raxter, and the island off the coast of Maine, of the girls with their inhuman flare-ups and the wild woods that threaten to swallow them whole. Rory Power vividly captures your attention as she describes the sickness that claimed the lives of half of a boarding school and its teachers. The urgency that I felt while reading made the Tox and the fate of protagonist Hetty and her friends even more important to me.

There’s no spoiler here when I tell you that things aren’t easy for these girls. They’ve clawed their way through the wilderness, clawed at each other and dragged themselves through, each day doing what they had to to survive. The cost of living day-to-day as the virus takes hold is insurmountable. And once you’ve started reading, even as the horror sets in, it truly is hard to stop.

But I think one of the main reasons I couldn’t look away was because of the strength of the Raxter girls–not only Hetty, Byatt and Reese but all the other students was inspiring. It drove the story as much as the mystery of the Tox and whether a cure will come in time before the whole school is wiped out. The layers of love and compassion that most of the girls shared in small ways (saving a scrap of crackers for each other, looking out for the smaller girls) kept the novel from being too grotesque. Hetty’s love for her friends (which borders on co-dependence but honestly but who can blame her) is buffeted by the kindness the girls show each other, even as their school falls apart. They turn on each other only in necessary moments — to fight for food fair and square, to steal a blanket not properly claimed for example, and never sacrifice each other needlessly. I could see this replacing Lord of the Flies in schools or at the very least being read alongside it. It’s more powerful in the way the girls lean on each other and don’t tear each other to pieces at the lack of humanity around them.

Another thing before I let you go to get your nearest copy as soon as possible: What blossoms and unfolds between Hetty and Reese, at the worst time, is so stunning and human. I loved the way they found each other. It gave me some hope when it looked like the rest of the book would be bleak. That through the darkest and deepest despair in their year and a half with the Tox, Hetty, Reese and Byatt loved each other enough to survive for them. It was deeply affecting to read and took me out of the grittiness of the setting. If the stunning prose, fascinating mystery of the Tox and whether this school can survive under its influence doesn’t sway you to pick it up immediately, hopefully the promise of this impactful relationship will.

I was left stunned by the ending in a way that I wasn’t expecting. I wish I knew if a sequel was possible but the book stands alone too well for a need for a follow-up, even though I’m desperate for more. Even then, if this is Rory Power’s debut, I can’t wait for the rest of her novels. I’m sure they will wreck me (in a good way) just as this one did. Go read Wilder Girls and find out why.

Savage, raw, beautiful debut that reads like a cross between LORD OF THE FLIES and Libba Bray's BEAUTY QUEENS. Perfect for readers who love their prose sharp, their plot a bit strange, and their protagonists strong as hell.

4 stars

First, can we talk about how STUNNING that cover is? My goodness, the cover alone made me want to read this book. But when I read the synopsis, I practically screeched. It sounded exactly like the kind of book I would love. And I did. It kept me on my toes the entire time I was reading.

The entire plot of the tox infecting an all-girl school on an island is probably one of the greatest concepts I can imagine. Its the PERFECT SETTING for a story like this. I mean "A feminist Lord of the Flies," made me instantly fall in love with this concept. That is why I ended up devouring this book. I found it almost impossible to put down.

"Wilder Girls" has so many amazing characters that I related to on so many different levels. Each character was different, but our main three characters were strong and badass. Also, slightly scary. Seriously, I would be terrified in a situation like that, but they were pros. Hetty, our main character was obviously my favorite of the bunch. Even with her tox symptoms, she was pretty damn badass. Her interactions with Byatt and Resse were sweet and tender, I loved their friendship instantly.

As for the plot, again I was obsessed. I think we have grasped that by now but I just want to again say I loved it. The idea of the tox is scary, but it's even scarier when you don't know what's causing it and you don't know what your symptoms will be. It's just fascinating to think about. My only issue with this book was the ending. I would have personally liked a bit more and for it to be a little less rushed. Or you know a sequel. This is the kind of book that needs a sequel.

If you love some f/f romance, slight dystopian/horror vibes, and a fascinating story then give this book a try. It comes out today so go get your copy!!!!

Thank you to Netgalley and Delacorte Press for sending me this arc in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

Monstrous, horribly real, and addicting. Wilder Girls by Rory Power is a bright shining star of a fresh voice, she's hypnotic with he emotions she evokes with her storytelling, and gut punches you with real shit when the horrible, terrible, and monstrous situation these girls are in takes it's damnable toll.

It’s been nearly two years since the Tox first started altering the girls from Raxter School for Girls. It impacts everyone differently—whether from growing extra vertebrae, developing a reptilian hand, or a just-out-of-reach fluttering behind your now-blind eye. The school has been on quarantine all these months, and now, slowly, the supplies are dwindling, and their communication with the outside world is further and farther between.

If you want to survive you have to keep close those you can count on. For Hetty, she has Reese and Byatt. When Byatt goes missing, Hetty decides to break quarantine and leave the gated confines of the school to search for her. With Reese’s help, they set off searching the island that has become their purgatory. Little do they know the island still has some secrets left, and it won’t share them easily.

First off, can we just admire that gorgeous cover?! It really captures the horrific beauty that runs throughout the book. The grotesque and scary changes happening to the girls are given this strange ethereal quality in the hands of Rory Power’s wordsmithing. It’s not just the girls, either, but everything happening on Raxter Island. From the nuanced changes to the more dynamic.

Wilder Girls is definitely a character-driven story with the mystery of the Tox taking second-stage to the need for Hetty to find Byatt.

Rory Power makes a clear distinction between Hetty’s deep sisterly connection to Byatt and her more romantic feelings for Reese. It’s a wonderful coming-of-age story with a dystopian setting backdrop, but I loved the moments of clarity—for both Reese and Hetty—in discovering their true feelings for one another, like a moment of quiet in the eye of a storm. Yet also seeing the unflinching devotion Hetty carries for Byatt which sets the pacing rushing forward towards the inevitable conclusion.

Hetty, and on alternate chapters Byatt, is a perfect navigator through this strange world. Hetty still keeps hope alive that a cure is forthcoming, yet she also is realistic in that she understands that in order to benefit from said cure, you must first survive. That means fighting against the outside forces, but also fighting against your own body.

I will say I wanted more time exploring the island outside the gates of Raxter School. The slow way that the Tox inhabits not only humans but seems to consume everything around it in varying ways was fascinating, yet just shy of satisfying my curiosity for it all. Overall, I’d say I was satisfied for what we find out about the Tox, but that in and of itself felt very quick, instead it’s the mystery of maybe why this seems to be happening that is slowly pieced together until the very end.

Wilder Girls is written with such flowing prose often used in flowery and metaphorical ways; it may not satisfy those who like to have a structured buttoned-up conclusion. For me, I love these types of stories, when done right of course, because they are so open for interpretation and just beg for a reread which typically results in a discovery of new perspectives.

Wilder Girls has been a very hyped book. Rory Power’s debut certainly packs a punch. After resting on it a bit, I wouldn’t be surprised if I found myself opening the book again.

The girls used to be normal. They used to number almost a hundred students at Raxter before the Tox came. Before everyone was transformed into something different.

‘It’s like that, with all of us here. Sick, strange, and we don’t know why. Things bursting out of us, bits missing and pieces sloughing off, and then we harden and smooth over.’

As time passed, the girls’ numbers dwindled but the ones that survived continued holding out hope for a cure that was promised.

Wilder Girls begins with an otherworldly air. A girl with a second spine, another with an eye that has fused shut with something growing underneath. It’s eerie and unsettling and their story only gets better (or worse, depending on how you look at it.) Much like the cover, the horrors within have their own sort of twisted beauty that is equal parts horrifying and mesmerizing. Horrific, yes, but at the heart of Wilder Girls though is a story of love and friendship. After Hetty’s best friend Byatt experiences a flare-up and is sent to the infirmary which many girls never return from, Hetty begins a dangerous search for answers. Her search quickly disturbs the delicate veil of secrecy that surrounded the school to keep the girls in the dark from what was truly happening to them.

The horrors of the island and the girls themselves were perfectly described and I found the comparisons to Annihilation to be apt. I wanted more questions answered about the island, the effect on the animals, and the irises, but I also wanted the resolutions we did get to still be rooted in that otherworldly horror. They were instead stripped of that mystery, made the answer far too simplistic, and made me wonder if any of the horror was truly real at all. Powers is a skilled horror writer and her debut proves this. I anticipate that Wilder Girls is just a dip in the pond of the horror stories she has in store for us.

‘I think I’d been looking for it all my life – a storm in my body to match the one in my head.’

I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I received an advanced digital copy of this book from the author, Random House and Netgalley.com. Thanks to all for the opportunity to read and review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The hype around this book is extraordinary and I expected an extraordinary read. I was completely disappointed in this book. The premise seems plausible, a private girls' school becomes the scene of an outbreak of unknown origin. Predictably, all hell breaks loose. Early on, the story drags without character development and no reason to empathize with them in their situation. Of course, there is a lesbianism trope, because would it be considered feminist if it didn't?

In the end, the cause of the outbreak, is as preposterous as the rest of the novel. It ends without an ending, honestly.

1 out of 5 stars. Do not recommend.