Trigger Warning: Sexual assault, PTSD, torture, violence, human/ child trafficking.
3.5 stars, rounding up because I know others will like it.

This book holds some beautiful elements: found family, a support system against the violence that has happened to the characters, magic mixed in a world like ours, & diversity.
I really adored the sisterhood that held such empowerment, realism with PTSD from violence and a sweet relationship between the main girl and the boy.

No matter how I thought this book was good overall, the writing style didn't really fit my reader style, no matter how unique and poetic I thought it was. Since it wasn't my writing style, it affected my reading of pov and the story at times, which hindered my enjoyment, but I know that is just me, and I really think others will love this.
You know a book is good when you can see that it is good, just not your tastes.

For me, this book was a beautiful celebration of sisterhood. It is filled with so many unapologetically fierce women, and I loved that! Such a unique story and absolutely gorgeous writing!

I've recently started reading more books catalogued as fantasy and young adult, so this was a perfect book for me to continue exploring this genre. The language is some of the most poetic I've read. There are many characters in The Wild Ones and at times I found myself having a hard time keeping track of all of them, but I feel this is a weakness of mine and not the authors. However, if you are a reader that doesn't like a lot of main characters, this may not be the book for you. I loved the magical In Between that exists in The Wild Ones - the perfect backdrop for the characters' adventures. Thank you to NetGalley for the digital ARC!

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada and NetGalley for providing me with an excerpt in exchange of my honest review.

To break the ice right off the bat, excuse my bluntness but, this isn't a bad book at all but...it isn't great or good either. I think this is a partial 'it's not you, it's me' kind of book but there were some things I just had a problem with as well.

My biggest issue with the book is the POV switches, and it may be how the eARC is formatted but considering how it was throughout the entire book and seeing that a few other reviews are having similar opinion to me here on this thinks otherwise. In the summary on Goodreads, you know there is a character named Paheli and out of all 11 characters, she is the only one you know you are reading POV wise. Everyone else, unless if it's the one chapter (some of them weren't even a paragraph long) describing a memory/background on the 11 characters, are not mentioned for their POV. To make this simpler to understand: 95% of the time I didn't know who's POV I was reading. I would see someone refer to Paheli in third person and I was like oh okay, not a Paheli POV. That was my biggest issue. I wouldn't have a problem with not mentioning who's POV it is if there were like 2 or 3 characters but when you have 11 main characters and then a few side characters. Even if the entire book was in Paheli's POV I wouldn't have a problem with there being so many characters.

And stemming off the last part into this: I honestly, couldn't tell you more than 3-5 things about all the characters. Nor do I remember most of the characters names. I think due to the POV switches and not knowing who was talking, due to the fact there is little information about each character that is shared it's hard to really...get to know the characters. As a collective you know they seem to all have sexual abuse/assault or rape happen to them (all is just mentioned, no details), they like mangoes and they're women. The most I know out of all the characters is Paheli and that really isn't say much at all. There are books that have more than the conventional 2-3 main characters like Roshani Chokshi's The Gilded Wolves series for example that has 6 main characters, all get POV's of their own and it's done well in the manner you understand all the characters. Whether you are reading for example Severin's POV's (a character in The Gilded Wolves) you understand his character but other the other 5 characters. This book, it simply just fails in that manner. And that me talking about the main characters too!

There is a romance in the book but the way it is developed and you haven't hit the halfway mark surely surprised me considering...I didn't know anything about either character. It continues throughout the book and gets a little better but found myself still not caring for said relationship I think due to the fact of how it developed within like I assume a few days and there were little scenes between the two to show the development of the relationship before they kissed.

The plot I...honestly have a vague idea of what was happening. I felt myself quite distracted during the novel due to two things, one being the points above and another one I will mention. The writing style, this is definitely where it's a "it's not you, it's me" situation. I'm sure there's those who like the style of writing but for me, it just distracted me from the plot and anything else that was happening. It felt poetic but not in a way that left a good impression to me? Felt a little like someone using a thesaurus for 50% of the words in a paragraph. But like I said, I do think this writing style was definitely a "not you, it's me" thing, so you can feel free to disregard my opinion about the writing style if you are questioning on whether or not you want to read this.

The worldbuilding in the universe is honestly a little weak, I've read worse but it left a far too big space to imagine, one that is too big for a fantasy novel. Especially if you have magic in your universe as well.

All in all, if you are interested in reading this, please do! I'm a simple casual reader and reviewer and everyone else can and will have different opinions about the book. Like I said, it's not a bad book in any sense, it's not anywhere near an unbearable read.

(This is more a small, small point but I would be lying if I said this didn't annoy me. Perhaps I'm being weird but as someone who is non-binary, I can't help but just. Be weirded out. There was only two points/sentences in the book that reminded me a little of the pussy hat/pussy power feminism. Specifically "Does the absence of periods make a question of our femininity?" and "Do they not consider that if the God they profess to serve wanted women to live without sexual pleasure they would be born without clitorises?" So if you are iffy about that kind of language, I would recommend just be aware of it while reading the book)

Important topic and interesting premise, but poorly executed. Difficult to distinguish between the Wild Girls (voices too similar, too many of them), author tells too much and doesn't show enough (doesn't seem to trust readers to figure things out?), lacks nuance.

The Wild Ones is the story of Paheli and her group of Wild Ones - girls that all have painful stories from their pasts. While these pasts haunt them, they're able to live and thrive together because they are bonded by Taraana's gift - stars that allow them to walk through the Between, and keep them safe from magic used against them. After finding Taraana in danger, Paheli and the Wild Ones work together to save him. Even though this is the story of the girls saving Taraana, it's also a story of the girls trying to save themselves and learn to love themselves. The interwoven stories of the Wild Ones were beautiful and tragic, and I adored that Azad let the reader see snippets of the past.

I'll just say: wow. The storytelling, the diversity, the descriptions, the food...Not only that, but this book was an emotional roller coaster for me. It was so great to see tough issues that women and girls face brought to the fore front by Azad. She has such an amazing way of conveying emotion in just a sentence, even in a few words - even when the tragedy is not explicitly seen or described, I found that it didn't need to be for me to feel emotions like fear or loneliness that shapes these girl's lives.

One thing I also really enjoyed was the freshness of the narrative. Although it sometimes tripped me up, especially at first, Azad's use of the 'we' to tell her story, similar to the second person point of view 'you', was really unique and something I've never seen done before, and made me feel like a Wild One. Really looking forward to seeing what's next for Nafiza Azad.

Sisterhood. Friendship. Love. Strength. Survivors.

Azad has written a narrative centering girls and women in all their expressions and complexities; the horrors that they at too many times face, endure and the strength they find to carry on. In The Wild Ones, we have a group of girls that have banded and bonded together over their shared violations; creating a loving, supportive, and protective family.

She has included historical settings, the betrayal of trust, and the exploitations that are perpetuated on the bodies of women, usually by the ones they love and trusted. She does this while building a world that is awash in magic and wonder, infusing specific locales with a brand of fantasy all their own.

Azad uses the narrative of girlhood and womanhood to explore how we can come into or approach our femininity, identities and the ways in which we choose to express them or not; how we form relationships: platonic and romantic, how we grow within the confines or freedom of these relationships, as well as the beauty, cruelty, and futility that can reside within them as well.

The bonds of friendship that was formed between the girls and the support that they showed towards and among each other was amplified in the ways they joked, communicated, teased, and snarked each other. There was a level of comfort and trust in the relations that spoke to the comfort and ease that they had cultivated for one another.

But as with all thigs magical, there are persons who wish to harm, harness, and steal what is special to use and twist to their evil intent and it is here that the Wild Ones must truly count on the bonds they formed and the love they have for each other to face and defeat what is hunting them and the one they have found again.

The use of memory, first person narration, and a conversational style of prose really aided in engaging and capturing the reader's attention. Azad also immerses us in the atmosphere and foods of the places our women visit and explore, which was definitely a feast for the senses.

Written simply and with clear purpose, Azad has used this story to highlight the ways in which the body of women and girls can so easily be used and abused, without any care for all the light and hope they have to offer.

I found the story line very interesting but the build up to the climax was really dragged out and long. The authors writing was beautiful at times.

I had really high hopes for this book, but I feel like the book did not meet my expectations ! I felt like the concept of an intersectional feminist magical girl squad would appeal to many audiences, especially those who often feel under-represented in YA fiction but I believe this book failed to live up to its potential. I did not feel particularly inclined towards continuing to read this title and was disappointed by the author "telling" instead of showing in regards to world-building. The prose itself tried to parade itself as poetic but often felt clunky, choppy and filled with redundancies. The narrative changes felt jarring and confusing. The writing itself reminded me of a middle grade novel , many of the characters felt immature and the humour felt out of place in several sections. This writing style seemed especially bizarre when coupled with the serious and mature themes that this book covers.
All in all, a book with a great premise but not one that I would find myself recommending in the future.

LOVE this book! The story is original, and the characters and setting is diverse, which I appreciate as an Arabic-Canadian woman. Nafisa Azad is a very talented writer, and I hope she continues to write, I will happily read anything she releases. One of my favourite books of the year, and one of the best YA books I have read in a while! pre-ordering it for my younger sister.

I wanted to enjoy this book. The premise was intriguing, the cover is beautiful but it fell flat. The writing was inconsistent, there were moments that the prose was wonderful but then there were instances (which felt like most of the writing) was telling. There were so many characters and different point of views that I couldn’t see them as individual characters. Individual distinct traits were seen every few chapters. I also, could not tell for the life of me, who the target age range was. The writing felt like younger YA audiences but the content was for a more mature reader. I do have to say, that one of the saving graces for this book was the instances where we saw the different way survivors coped. Feelings that are so (sadly) common were reflected and it felt true and raw.

Thank you to the publisher and author for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review #indigoemployee. The Wild Ones is an incredible story with such a unique magic system that had me unable to put it down. This novel brought to light some of the many issues women and young girls face in the world in a way that is not only magical but creates a sense of community and that we are all in this together, no matter what your experiences may be, we are here to support one another and I think this is such a lovely message that is much needed right now. The style of writing really pulls you into the story and it makes it seem like you are actually with the characters. The characters are written so beautifully and realistically that it is easy to relate and connect with them. I highly recommend checking out this wonderful book!

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of The Wild Ones in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book with my whole being and while I did still love the core plot, themes, and a lot of the narration (particularly the Memories sections), I am either far too dumb for this book or the narration is really really disorienting. The Wild Ones uses a lot of really flowery, poetic narration frequently juxtaposed by (often childish) fourth wall breaks and humour that I can see working to create really unique character voices but to me, constantly shifting between the two was really disorienting. I also had a lot of trouble figuring out who's head we were in since the book shifts from Paheli to someone clearly outside of her (I'm assuming another one of the girls) in a way that I think is intentionally supposed to be vague to signify how connected all of The Wild Ones are, but it just really didn't work for me.

Sections here are absolutely stunning, but I was so consistently perplexed that I don't think I'd be able to reread it over and over again like I wish I could with books this poetic. I want to stress that I really did like it which is why I gave it a fairly good rating, but because of the parts I liked, the parts I didn't bothered me all the more.

Interesting and I did absolutely adore the concept. There's no denying that Azad is a talented writer, either. The writing was often very poetic. I just didn't find the plot very enthralling and I felt the build-up was slow and honestly found the book quite hard to get through.