TW- gory and bloody (at times)

I don’t know what I think of this book. Like, at all. It was compelling and I flew through it! I couldn’t put it down at times and at other times it was disgusting. The themes of feminism and survival are extremely interesting. However, the ending did leave me unsatisfied!! I wanted to know what happened. I wanted to know if the girls made it. I wanted to know about the cure (if there is one!!) I would say go into this knowing it’s a gory dystopian type read, but read it anyway?!

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Trigger and Content Warning: Graphic Violence, gore, blood,body horror,death,reference to self harm,starvation,reference to suicide and not consenting to medical procedures. 

Wilder Girls has been everywhere lately, with its gorgeous cover to amazing synopsis. I have to say this cover is probably my favorite cover of the whole year.I'm going to need all the sapphic horror books from now on. The female-female relationship in this book was everything! I loved these girls so much and was horrified for what they were going through.

The books follows three girls,Hetty, Byatt and Resse, while there boarding school is under a quarantine. The Raxter school is located off the coast of a Naval base on an isolated island in Maine, the once popular school now sits deteriorating due to a mysterious affliction called the tox. This disease has wiped out all but two teacher and about 40 girls, with terrible affects caused by the tox. The Navy and the CDC has issued a quarantine where everyone must remain in the school grounds except for the boat girls who travel to the water and pick up supplies with one of the teachers. However they do not send nearly enough food or other supplies, many of the girls go hungry as there outbreaks continue to get worse. The CDC promises they are working on a cure but if the quarantine is breached they will stop helping.

Some days it’s fine. Others it nearly breaks me. The emptiness of the horizon, and the hunger in my body, and how will we ever survive this if we can’t survive each other? “We’re gonna make it. Tell me we’re gonna make it.”

:

The outbreaks are different for each person leaving behind a physical affliction of the tox, but what is the same is the intensity and email drain it leaves them all with. Some girls have brightly glowing hair with silver scales on there arms, and some have more grotesque disfigurations such as bones protruding from the skin or feeling of something crawling behind there eye.

“We’ve all lost things, eyes and hands and last names.” 

Rory power's writing is beautiful yet it does a fantastic job at making your skin crawl, with it's deliberate descriptive details. Power's does not hold back on the horror scenes, as a horror movie lover I found some of the horror to be tame but to others it can be quite triggering. That being said this was one of the most unique young adult novels I had the pleasure of reading.

I ended up only giving Wilder Girls a 4 star rating because I felt like the ending was a bit rushed and slightly unfinished. We were left with so many un -answered questions. Many horror films also tend to have no closure at the end, and leaves us wondering what will happen to the remaining characters. I guess that's how the mystery continues and leaves us thinking about the book long after were finished reading. I originally thought this book was the first of a series but then later on found out it was a standalone.

"We don't get to choose what hurts us."

This book had so many things i liked about it, queer girls,boarding school,creepy animals and horror. I highly recommend picking up Wilder Girls, you will not be disappointed.

Wilder Girls has been one of my top books of 2019. It was absolutely fantastic and worth the hype I saw around it. Rory Power is magic with the written word.

Honestly, I’d give this a solid 3.75 stars - but I can't give half or quarter stars, so 4 it is.

One of the things I really liked about this was the storyline - an apocalyptic sickness taking over the school and the entire island it resides on. Turning the girls into deformed monsters and killing everything in its path. I’ve read and seen apocalyptic illness stories before, but never like this. Usually they take on a zombie standard, but most of the girls remain the same and keep their sanity - for the most part.

The new social survival standard was interesting too. Loyalty was still present even in the dog eats dog world as the girls fought each other over everything. Even between friends, Hetty still has to fight to survive as she continues to look out for the people she cares for.

One thing I wasn’t a fan of was Hetty and Reese’s relationship. They weren’t friends but they were more than strangers and it was hard to accept that they were loyal or cared for each other. Hetty was much closer with Byatt and clearly cared for her deeply - so to make it seem like Hetty and Reese had an intense relationship felt false. While it’s clear their relationship changes, there are some aspects to it that don’t feel right or could have been developed more.

Another thing that was somewhat explained but I didn’t fully understand was the sickness itself. There’s some explanation of symptoms and what happening to them, but it doesn’t explain why some people survive while others don’t. Or what is actually happening to them. It kinda hinders the story for me as we continue to see the effects of this illness on everything and I think it will impact book #2.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. The synopsis is a little misleading because it makes it seem like a grand adventure but most of the story takes place at the school. While there is a lot of action, it’s not as action packed as I hoped. I am definitely interested in reading what happens next though! Definitely a 3.75/5 stars for me.

What an extraordinary, astonishing read! Wilder Girls is one of those books that seems to have just always existed, and couldn't possibly have been created, particularly not by a debut author. It's an artifact, a monument, a natural wonder of the goddamn world. But of course I know it didn't grow from the earth with the smashing of tectonic plates (as much as it seems to; as much as its power implies)--no, it arrived in the hands of Rory Power, an author who with just this one book is now on my automatic pre-order list. I don't care what she writes, when she writes it, or what it has to do with--I'm throwing down money to read it on pub day.

I'm not going to spoil anything about this book--if you're looking for some plot hints or narrative nuggets, visit the publisher's page. They're more experienced with telling you only as much as you need to know and not a syllable more. For my part, I don't want to do anything to make your experience less incredible than mine. I will say if you are fans of Jeff VanderMeer, Kelly Link, China Mieville, even Emily St. John Mandel (who, with Power, knows how to sculpt such beautiful works with words), then you will probably dig this book more than most.

I give it all the stars, all the thumbs, all the... cakes, whatever, I don't know. It's great. No, it's GREAT. Read it and you'll be a better human for it.

Set in a boarding school for girls, this dystopian storyline gives a glimpse of human nature in its rawest form. Secrets and bonds of friendship compete to determine alliances that could be the difference between life and death. Who is truly good? Who will ultimately look out for herself? The twists and turns are intriguing and make for a fast-paced summer read.

Wilder Girls is the debut novel by Rory Power, and I can’t wait for more! Her writing is beautifully descriptive. The reader can actually picture all the grotesque things that the Raxter girls are dealing with after being exposed to the Tox.

I really enjoyed this book and I’m hoping (fingers double crossed) for a sequel because that ending...talk about a cliffhanger. I NEED to know what happens to the girls!

I would definitely purchase this book for my library and recommend to anyone looking for a story with strong female characters.
Note: I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! I will be recommending it to all my young adult readers! Thank you for this opportunity to connect books to their readers.

I don’t know what it is about an illness that can take the human race out, but I love that shit. They call it Tox. Tox is an illness that touched a whole school of girls ages 11-18. But Tox doesn’t discriminate. It’ll infect the old too. Slowly, painfully, and gruesomely it will take over the body in unpredictable, inhumane ways. And once you are infected, Tox won’t stop there. It continues to cause “flare-ups” in the body. Morphing the fragile human frame in ways you hadn’t even considered. And if it can do such things to humans, imagine what it can do to nature and her creatures….

Wilder Girls alternates between two points of view, Hetty and Byatt. Hetty and Byatt are one another’s solace in this cruel dystopian world. At least, Byatt is Hetty’s solace until she goes missing. After that their unsure world turns an already twisted existence upside down. Hetty will stop at nothing to find what remains of Byatt (if she even remains….). But everyone knows there are no actions without re-actions. And Hetty has no idea how catastrophic her actions really might be. Thus unfolds Wilder Girls.

After completing the story, I ended up giving the novel a 4 star rating for two reasons. I had built this book up. I had high, high hopes for a living with this one. And while the novel was great, it felt like something was amiss. It could be related to my feelings for Hetty. I’m not entirely sure what the deal is but I wasn’t super into our protagonist. She had some double standard issues that I found hard to deal with. Albeit she openly calls her rationality out. But still….

Overall, dystopian novels are my jam. They always have such eerie settings with a body count that might as well be infinite. Setting the tone for a novel of epic proportions (at least usually). I’m happy to report Wilder Girls content is as pleasing as the cover.

I predict this novel is going to be a huge book in 2019. Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children’s Delacrote Press for the advanced read.

Like other reviewers have mentioned, I think the marketing is doing this book a disservice--it's really nothing like Lord of the Flies, but it is amazing. The plot was riveting, and I couldn't put the book down. The only thing keeping me from giving the book 5/5 stars is that I found the ending a bit unsatisfying--but if you go in not expecting a full resolution to the story (possibly leaving room for a sequel?), then you may enjoy it more.

Ok, if all of these stories were married and had a baby "The Girl Who Owned A City", "The Island of Dr Moreau" and "Aliens" this is what this book is. It is no way close to "Lord of the flies" where each tribe or child is each to his own. This book is about comradery and trying to live together, adults still in charge. So, no Lord of the Flies here, where they turn and kill each other just because they can. Oh there is killing but it's not intentional.. think "Aliens" I'm trying not to give anything away here so read between my lines. This was great. I was on the edge of my seat and could not put this book down.

The Wilder Girls is set at Raxter school where a sickness called the Tox causes different illnesses to occur and later flare up (ex. exposed bones, cold silver hands, and fused skin). The girls are forced to stay in quarantine on the island while sent supplies needed to survive. Until one day the supplies aren’t delivered, but something else instead.

This debut novel was creepy and grotesque. At times it was so gritty that I had to grin and bear it. I’m a sucker for any setting at a school and that's when I knew I just had to pick this one up. Plus look at that cover! Possibly one of my favorite book covers of all time.

One thing I disliked was the way parts of the story were written. I’m not sure why there were sentence fragments, but that part really frustrated me at times. At first I felt like it kept me from enjoying and reading through this fast paced book, but gradually the writing became lyrical and I was able to appreciate the unique approach. For example, I thought it was quite clever the way in which she wrote Byatt’s dreams. It made me feel like I was in a trance right there with her in the dream.

The character development was well done. The only problem I had was with Reese. Her emotions were like riding a roller coaster and sometimes she was flat out mean. I could never predict how she was going to react in certain situations.

On another note, I’m not sure how original the actual premise of the story is. When the world building (animals, plants, etc) was being introduced, all I could think of was Annihilation. There were no surprise elements to the plot or world building.

Overall, this was a promising first novel! I enjoyed the author’s writing style and can’t wait to read more by her.

↠ 3.5 stars

Wilder Girls feels dystopian.

Generators are working around the clock. Animals have gone savage. Humans are getting infected…dropping like flies.

There was an outbreak of the TOX, the CDC and the Chemical /Biological Incident Response Force have issued the implementation of a full isolation/quarantine for the Raxter School for Girls. Everyone is to remain on school grounds within the fence and supplies are dropped off via Camp Nash at the western pier of the island near Maine.

There is order in the school…for a while at first. Girls are paired up, rations are carefully dealt and job shifts are listed weekly. Gun shifts and supply shifts are the most dangerous duties. But the fevers are encroaching, wretched, leaving scars and the infirmary is not a place you want to go…or you may not come back.

The three main characters in this story form a trifecta relationship through love, loss, and hope. Byatt becomes sick and is taken to the infirmary. Hetty, who has had a long relationship with her, sharing everything from secrets to bed-space, is now trying to find her in the infirmary. But Byatt is kept isolated and can’t be visited. Hetty does what she has to, to find out what has happened to her. Her discoveries lead her into another realm of secrecy that is kept from all the girls.

Reese is there for Hetty to deal with the pain and vying for Byatt's bed space. The two of them will take on an investigation of what is happening behind the closed doors of the infirmary and a shipment that has arrived on the island that was anything other then provisions needed.

Something fishy is going on on the island and they are bound to find out what. Tragedy hits very personally on the outer reaches passed the woods when the TOX is making its way in towards the school.

Can Hyatt track down her friend and uncover the conspiracy happening around them?

***

This novel has a striking cover as well as a story. A shared space of beauty and wretched simultaneously. I did not see it like that at first, but the rawness of hurt and evil are spreading like an evil fog, suffocating all that is left of the beautiful girls.

In places, I found the writing somewhat abstract, which added to the eeriness of the plot. The pacing and elusive choice of dialogue have the reader guessing to make sense of it all. This particular part is not my fortay, I don’t enjoy it as much, but I think it would be considered a fitting component to add to the overall atmosphere.

The action scenes were my favorite part of the novel and an element of romance gave the characters a reprieve from hardship. With a dystopian feel and the backdrop of government secrecy, it holds the reader’s interest throughout. I had hoped to find an extreme ending to all of this, but it fell a bit flat in a sense, that it is somewhat open-ended. Therefore the reader has to deduce an appropriate conclusion to their liking. I have seen this in movies that are to be continued, but I am not sure if this novel is to be. Again, all up to the readers taste if this is a make or break.

Overall it was an interesting read filled with chilling moments and adventure. The author shares notes on content trigger warnings on her site: https://itsrorypower.com/wilder-girls/ just in case. And if dystopian novels are your thing and you enjoy YA novels, this one is worth to spend your time with.

I received a digital copy of this novel from Netalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Thank you

I really, really enjoyed this, but I am left with a feeling of incomplete. The whole story was so beautifully written and honestly I never knew if the story was actually something living in Hetty's mind. All the way up to the end I kept waiting for that shoe to drop, but it never did and while I am okay with this world being reality I just needed more to really buy it.

We get a little bit of history as the story progresses, but for me it just wasn't enough. Maybe I have read too many stories where the main character is unreliable and the whole story turns out to be a psychological thriller and the reality is that they are trapped in an institution. I am guessing this wasn't the case here and this was actual reality which is quite scary. I think if I had known going in this was the world they actually lived in I might have had all my questions answered, but as it is I am left with so many questions.

I will say the writing is amazing. Probably the best i have read this year. The descriptions and just overall feel of this was gritty and I truly enjoyed it. Even the gross parts that were pretty much all over the story were amazing. I could picture what each girl dealt with and even though I was thoroughly grossed out I still loved it and read each and every word.

I so wish we could have a prequel of sorts and even a small story that takes place after Hetty and Reese escaped. Did they find her dad?? Did the parasite spread? I guess we get enough information where I can draw my own conclusions about the hows and whys of the island, but I need more and I want more. I am hoping this does turn into more.

Loved the first 25%. The rest was all just okay. I felt like the ending was pretty sloppy. It felt like the author built up this grand plot but didnt know how to wrap everything up.

Wilder Girls is all the rave these days amongst Dystopian thriller fans and I'll admit, it is one heck of a powerful and edgy book unlike anything I've seen in YA in recent years. Which is saying A LOT as YA tends reuse a lot of plotlines and tropes. Power is an author to look out for. From page one of Wilder Girls, I was hooked, and I blew through the first 200 pages in one sitting. Had I not had to get up early the next morning for work, I would have most likely stayed up to finish it.

The entire premise centers around this disease that our characters have. It's so incredibly brutal, dark and terrifying. It has a creepy setting that'll make you never want to leave your house, and great mystery of what is actually happening to these girls. This is the sort of book that I can't say much about without spoiling things. It is lyrically written but with lots of disturbing imagery. It plays with themes of dark and light, beauty and ugliness, death and life. I struggle a bit with how to rate this, but ultimately I think it is an impressive accomplishment.

The story is full of clever ideas that will linger in my mind. The mystery of the story is unveiled with perfect pacing, slowly, methodically, seemingly innocently, until you realize too late the story's got its hooks in you and you couldn't free yourself if you tried. But in the best possible way.

I don’t really know what I just read.

It starts out really good and is incredibly interesting from the beginning. It kept my interest through to the end, though some parts are kind of slow.
I liked the main characters Hetty and Reese. I’m still not entirely sure I liked Byatt much. I got the feeling she was a compulsive liar, but it’s hard to tell. Something about her was fishy, though they never truly explained what.

I wanted to love this more than I did. I hate when none of my questions are answered, and this book certainly does that. We never learn how/why the Tox starts. We don’t learn hardly anything about the girls’ parents or pasts. We don’t know much about the scientists studying them. It’s incredibly frustrating. The end is even more frustrating because it ends on such an open note. We don’t know what’s going to happen. Sometimes that works with the story (The Miseducation of Cameron Post comes to mind), but with this one it was just very unsatisfying.

It had an incredible premise and I loved the idea of the Tox, but it just quite work for me.

I honestly could probably rate it lower, but I’m not going to because I did somewhat enjoy it. I just wish it would’ve explained a little bit more.

Wilder Girls by Rory Power is the thrilling, horror-filled feminist Lord of the Flies we’ve all been waiting for. Following three friends under quarantine at their boarding school, this novel does everything it can to make your skin crawl. Using brutal and deliberate detail, Power doesn’t hold anything back as she describes the horrors happening on the island and to the girls while their bodies are turning against them. When one of the friends goes missing, it becomes a race to find her as well as unearthing the secrets that are being kept from them.

This was one of the most unique, gut-wrenching young adult novels I’ve had the pleasure of reading. Especially since Power didn’t shy away from the horrors of the illness, the stark desperation of survival and the viciousness of hunger. There were times I wanted to stop reading because of how intense, emotional and downright terrifying it was, even the quiet moments where the girls are sitting on the rocks by the sea. Wilder Girls is definitely the chilling kind of story that stays with you long after you’ve finished reading.

If I had to say that there was anything I disliked about the book, it would only be that the ending felt a bit rushed and slightly unfinished. I’m not sure if that was the point but it left me feeling a bit off after such a powerful lead up. Despite that, I chose to give it five stars because of the multitude of things that I loved about the story. A few of those things are as follows:

- Queer representation! The female/female relationship that develops is wonderful.
- Writing! The horror was in the words - in the details of the disease and how it affected the girls. There were no jump scares. Just creeptastic creatures dwelling in woods, grotesque things happening to the girls’ bodies and secrets all around. All in vivid, stylistic writing. Power is one of the best I’ve read.
- Characters! A diverse cast of ladies who are allowed to be human, right on the page. They are allowed to be soft and fierce, angry and loyal, terrified and strong without the reader being told to dislike that part of them.
- Action! The action scenes, which I thoroughly enjoyed, were so well written, absolutely thrilling and very edge-of-the-seat.

I highly recommend this debut novel by Rory Power especially if you like body horror, sapphic girls at boarding school and creepy settings and creatures.

2.5 stars

To start off with the good: I loved the dark atmosphere of this book and it was delightfully brutal in ways that I wasn’t expecting.

However, the characters and plot were not well developed. The plot reveals were sloppily handled, the pacing was strange, and the ending left a lot to be desired.

Wilder Girls was an engaging and interesting book. All of the characters are flawed in some way, and not just physically- neither totally good or evil. I would describe it was Lord of the Flies meets Annihilation with elements of sci-fi, dystopia, survivalism, with some romantic interests (not much). The ending left me wanting more- maybe a prequel, or sequel to the aftermath.