I liked this book. Were my expectations overwhelmingly high? Yes. But I enjoyed the characters and the atmosphere may have been my favorite part of the story. The ending did kind of... affect my rating, but overall this was a nice, creepy read.

The cover, the story, the characters and the ending.....AMAZING! Do not hesitate to get this book! Thank you Netgalley for a free ARC IN exchange for an honest review!

This book had the potential to be so much more. The storyline was great, and the writing style was really interesting and engaging. There could have been 100 more pages to better flesh out the backstory and give it a better ending but all in all it was a good book.

A lot of people have been calling Wilder Girls a female version of Lord of the Flies; I'd say it's much more of a YA take on Jeff Vandermeer's Annihilation, since both involve an all-female cast, weird fiction focused on a very specific environment, and an overlying sense of unease and strangeness. Unlike Vandermeer's creation of humid Florida otherness, Wilder Girls is set on an isolated island off the coast of Maine, home to an all-girls boarding school that has been completely cut off from the mainland for a year and a half after the outbreak of a mysterious disease referred to as the Tox. The Tox, along with causing intermittent episodes of crippling pain and affliction, warps the bodies of the girls to suit its opaque purposes: one character's hair glows, and the cover illustration shows a metaphorical look at the potential for beauty in these mutations, but the reality for the rest of the girls is much more sinister: our main character Hetty's eye has been sealed shut, her best friend Byatt has grown a second, alien spine, and our hair-glowing friend Rae can't use one of her hands.

The disease and quarantine, however, are affecting more than just the girls' bodies. The majority of their teachers are dead, and no other adults are left alive on the island; the Navy sends food intermittently, but it's never enough; and the girls are forced to be constantly vigilant against the threat of attack from Tox-warped wild animals from the surrounding forest. Contact with the outside world is almost non-existent, but the girls still left alive have become survivors, adapting to an unthinkable new reality with pragmatism and strict adherence to the new rules of their lives. Until a few crucial things change: Hetty acquires new information that makes her question what's really happening on the island, and her best friend, seemingly irrepressible, blue-blooded, capricious Byatt, goes missing.

I love weird fiction (think Vandermeer or Samanta Schweblin) and am delighted to find the genre finding a foothold in YA. Powers creates an intensely atmospheric setting in Raxter Island that feels like a character itself, and the mysterious illness plaguing the island's inhabitants is a constantly creeping antagonist, at times forced to the background and at other times reasserting its presence forcefully, throughout the other horrors that the characters encounter. Hetty is a tough, survival-focused main character, and I loved her loyalty to her friends, her determination, and her slowly developing romance with Rae. I also loved complex, morally grey Byatt, who I could easily read another entire book about.

Wilder Girls is fascinating and immersive, and I didn't see a lot of the plot twists coming, but the pacing is a bit irregular and unconventional, which may bother some readers, although it wasn't an issue for me personally. And I'm not going to give away any spoilers, but I do need to address the ending. I really don't mind an open-ended or thought-provoking ending as long as it's done well--Kelly Link is one of my favorite authors, for example, and all of her stories both end and begin ambiguously. But I didn't feel that this was the case in Wilder Girls, and rather than feeling ambiguous, the ending struck me as unfinished, and unfortunately didn't work for me, which is why I'm giving this 4 stars rather than 5.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an eARC of Wilder Girls in exchange for an honest review.

didn't love this and I am SO SAD about it. I did enjoy the first half of the book, but the ending was such a let down that it honestly tainted any positive feelings I had for whatever came before it. The biggest womp.

I truly wanted to love this book. I had heard only great things about it. I love the cover. I loved the synopsis for the book, but I hate to say that this one just wasn't for me. I am honored for the opportunity to review it but I just didn't care for this book. I feel like everything was rushed. The characters had none to little development. None of the characters were likable or even genuine. I felt like details should have been added when referring to the island and the concept of the creatures. It just felt like a void. I finished this book within a day, it was a quick read, but it just felt like a book full of fluff. After I closed it, I tried to think about what I had gained from reading it, and the answer was nothing. It was like a lot of stuff was said, and nothing done.

Wilder Girls has been in my radar since I saw this hauled in Kayla’s channel, @booksandlala, not only because of the exquisitely designed cover but primarily due to the sapphic romance/horror tale it was being branded as. Since one of my reading goals this year is to broaden my reading reach, I figured this will be a perfect candidate to somehow carry out the task. If you know me, you will for sure say that I have wallowed deeply into LGBTQIAplus novels but this surely horror is not something I pick up on my own. It was also a pleasure to read this book with two of my fave book reviewers – Jon from @wanderwithjon and Jenny from @levicorpvs.

The story is set in a girls’ school on Raxter Island off the coast of Maine commencing about two years after the Tox, an unusual disease that took the island leaving the students and school personnel in quarantine. We dive in with the aftermath of said protocol and the continuing, aggravating conditions as the hopes for a cure dwindles. We follow mainly Hetty, Byatt, and Reese as they struggle to survive flare-ups and thinning supplies until one of them goes missing. Hetty will stop at nothing to save her friend and in her wake she tips the balance as the truth strips their safe haven layer by layer leaving every already battered soul fraying further at the edges.

Rory Power was successful in creating a world coated in isolation, of being trapped in a place that is growing and moving so fast it outruns you. It’s a scare that does not take you from behind. It’s a horror that announces itself, slowly pinning your limbs, muffling and heightening your senses at the same time. You know it’s there, something that crawls under your feet and tickles your skin. I particularly loved how she does not shy away from gore and blood in how the Tox materializes in the girls and in the events that followed to fish for survival.

The story is slow-burn and most readers may not like that but it is something that grew on me. I appreciate the characterization of the three main girls. Hetty is driven. Byatt is the damsel that has secrets. Reese is the stoic one. The style reminded me a little bit of Josh Malerman with Patrick Ness thrown in the mix. The cryptic vibe, despite the pacing, actually hooked me.

Although this narrative has its highs, I can’t close the book without having something more to desire. It could be my fault entirely but I dipped my head knowing that there is a female-female romance centered in this. What I got were slivers of it, a peek on something which could have been great. The novel was also told in the POVs of both Hetty and Byatt. Hetty’s focuses on providing the reader of the information that is already known and initiating the action needed. I thought it achieved those things for the most part. Byatt’s, on the other hand, was sort of anti-climactic. I kind of wished that Power used it to be more exploratory. It teased that but ended only telling the same things already proven.

The scientific evidence of its origin and how it manifested actually lowered my rating. It took away from the creeps initially established. There were inconsistencies in the symptoms and cause that although I am willing to suspend reality for this, I would have preferred it was left mysterious.

For a debut novel, Wilder Girls definitely has its dark charm. It’s a solid novel to begin with only that I wanted my consumption wilder. I will definitely look out for the future stuff Power has to offer.

Did somebody say feminist horror cause there goes my money outta the window as I drool all over this cover.
Also just in: this book is hella gay.

Wilder Girls was one of my most anticipated books of 2019. The premise and cover gave me life and I was ready to experience all the horror and gore that they promised. I got what I wanted. So be warned. This book is violent and gory. Don't take this lightly. It's a ruthless story about an all-girls boarding school set on an island that has been overtaken by a plague called the tox. The island and all of its inhabitants, including the wildlife, have been transformed and countless girls have died at its hands. The ones that survived are left with gruesome (but kind of cool) deformities. A second spine. A scaled hand. Two hearts. Expect lots of death, blood, intestines, and violence. Body horror realness.

The characters are my wildest dreams come true. Unapologetic, unlikeable, determined, passionate, independent, queer, young women with complex characters and emotions. No need to say more. The writing was wild, too. I was immediately drawn into the story because it's often poetic, and just as untamed as the world it creates. There was one thing that I wasn't satisfied with though: the ending. [I'm a sucker for open endings that leave you on the brink of an emotional breakdown. But I'm not sure what to make with this one. It leaves too many questions unanswered. It feels like the last one or two chapters were written already but scrapped just before the book went into printing. Now the ending kind of sits there and I don't know what to do with it. (hide spoiler)]

The reason I'm only giving four stars is that I felt somewhat detached from the book - for which I can only blame myself. It was the busiest time of the year, with deadlines and exams coming up, so it took my two weeks to finish the book. My reading experience suffered from it. As soon as I have my tbr a little more under control I'll return to Wilder Girls and give it another go. But overall, this book ticked all the boxes.

This book was a page turning mystery that you definitely don’t want to put down! Hetty the main character was such a strong person throughout the entire book. Even though she went through all the trials Hetty did while she was still encouraging others and going above and beyond for her other friends. I could see myself in Hetty a lot and it was a book I didn’t want to put down! Honestly it’s the first book I’ve read physically in a long time and I just couldn’t get over the cliffhanger at the end!

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for my advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Wilder Girls is deliciously strange and unusual. It can't be molded into one genre with it's horror, sci-fi, and magical realism inspired plotline. The less you know about the story, the more you get sucked in. Where does it lead and what does it mean? You have to find out for yourself!

I am giving this novel a 3.5 star rating because I wanted the author to take the strangeness and madness over the top. I can't even exactly pinpoint where but I just know I wanted more. More weirdness. More suspense. More confusion. I enjoyed how icky I felt while reading the book but there were too many parts where the story was too slow to maintain that feeling.

However, I think this would be an excellent book club read. The ending was vague enough (though to me that felt a bit like a letdown) that it will spark many interpretations. Moreover, the subtle feminism (or maybe not so subtle) with almost all characters being female for example adds to the complexness of this book. The main characters are flawed and beautiful despite or probably because of their disfigured appearances. The characters have no pretense. What you see is what you get. The meaning behind the plot though is open to your imagination making this book also one to re-read.

This premise is really intriguing — a queer/feminist Lord of the Flies? Sounds awesome! But the execution left much to be desired, imo. The characters were bland and the pacing was torture. I couldn’t distinguish any of these girls by name even if I had a gun to my head. The way the plot unfolded also felt really amateurish. Almost all of revelations near the end were frustratingly easy; they didn’t feel earned and they weren’t explained thoroughly to have any sort of meaning to the reader. Wilder Girls has much needed queer rep in dystopian fiction and a cool concept, but it suffers from being a mediocre debut. The prose and dialogue are satisfactory, but that beautiful cover isn’t enough to justify the mess that is everything else. Do yourself a favor and go read Lord of the Flies itself, or Quarantine by Lex Thomas if you want a more modern version. 2.4/5 stars

I read WILDER GIRLS because it was a Kelly's Pick on bookish.com. As soon as I started reading WILDER GIRLS by Rory Power, I was sucked in by the mystery surrounding Raxter Island and the Tox, and the lengths to which the young women of Raxter will go to survive, save one another, and uncover the truth of what’s happening to them.. The imagery is simultaneously gorgeous and grotesque. It’s not a book for the faint of heart, but I highly recommend it for those who love the darkest sides of fairy tales and don’t mind a little gore. I can’t wait to read more from Rory Power!

Unpopular opinion: I really enjoyed this book.
….until the last two – three chapters.

What I liked:

So I had heard pretty meh reviews about this book. It was good until about halfway in, or the ending was bad, or whatever. I still went in with a pretty open mind, and I thoroughly enjoyed the book until the end.

It’s a medical mystery, which I love. There’s something making the Raxter island sick, and no one can figure out what it is. There’s a doomed boarding school on the island. They’ve been cut off for a year and a half. The Navy sends supplies periodically. The girls learn to survive. I absolutely loved that aspect.

The first chapter grabbed my attention and I did not want to put this book down. I was mad when I had to work and couldn’t read. I was right there along side the girls trying to figure out what was making the whole island sick. It was a fast paced story and I read it in about 4.5 hours total.

On another note, I think this would make a super cool movie if they revised the ending!

What I didn't like:

The chapters were long. I like to stop reading at the end of the chapter, so sometimes I was struggling to stay awake and find an ending point. That’s just a personal preference.

They described wounds the girls got.. and it was gross. Even for me as a nurse.

There was, what felt like to me, a weird random romance that didn’t really make sense.

Some of the characters seemed super petty, but they are also teenage girls so i guess that’s to be expected? It was just a turn off for me.

And then the ending. It just seemed like there was no resolution. You figure out what was making everyone sick, but you never saw the aftermath. I want to know what happened after they found out! And I want to know other things which I won’t say here because ~spoilers~. It just left me wanting.

Would I recommend?

Ugh, what a tough question. I guess I would, but I would tell them that the ending was not what you want. Like, it was a super good book up until the last few chapters. The last few chapters is why I gave a 3.5 star rating instead of four. Just sooo disappointing.

The top 3 reasons you need WILDER GIRLS by Rory Power on your shelf:

1.) The characters: If your favorite characters are usually written by Courtney Summers, then you need to read Rory Power's debut immediately. They have the same gritty tones, complex interior lives, and rough edges. For Hetty and the others, it's not a matter of being likable or unlikable; it's a matter of existing on a decaying island where survival and love are both bloody and edged in steel.

2.) The body horror: While I love horror, I never truly understood body horror until I read WILDER GIRLS. The infection changes people's bodies in unique ways, there are several scenes of physical conflict, and scenes of scientific experimentation. For some people, this will be a deal-breaker, so be prepared going in.

3.) The edge-of-your-seat tone: Power captures one of the elements that make people love survivalist stories: the tense, edge of your seat tone. The pages are filled with tension, and you get the feeling that it could snap at any moment (and it's a big hit when it does). WILDER GIRLS is made to be devoured, and I couldn't put it down once I started it.

Overall, WILDER GIRLS cements itself as a unique, edgy, and horrific (in the best way) novel that you won't soon forget.

Feminist? Check. Horror? Check. Sapphic horror is the genre I never knew I needed. Wilder Girls is the weirdest combination of everything that I love. It's almost a feminist Lord of the Flies combined with boarding school antics, sick children, and a mysterious hands off government.

This book was devastating, emotionally wrenching and beautifully fierce all at the same time. The story involves a group of girls who are attending a private school that is located on an island. The school is put on quarantine because of an outbreak of a disease or phenomenon called the "Tox". The "Tox" affects each girl differently, but the affect is always physically altering. There are characters who develop 2 heartbeats, some develop almost magical like "scaled appendages", while others have double vertebrae. They girls are advised to honor the quarantine and wait it out for a "cure".
Throughout the the book, time passes, the girls have to deal with food shortages, lack of medical supplies and no contact with the outside world. The most devastating issue is the eventual death of so many girls who are not strong enough to survive the sickness. So many lives are lost and this brings an emotional turmoil to the group that is so palpitating that you can feel their loss and hopelessness.
Reading this book was like re-reading "Lord of the Flies" all over again. The alliances that are formed during a tragic event, the survival and fight to endure an impossible situation, the tantalizing element of brutality are all encompassed in this unforgettably raw plot line.
If you like reading YA fiction with a bit of grit this book is for you. It will make you feel like you are drowning slowly, as your lungs fill with an arctic cold that paralyzes your ability to come up for air.

DNF super early in the book, I am not sure why but this just did not click for me at all. I have seen lots of raves for it, it just wasn't for me.

Girls at an isolated boarding school become infected with an incurable parasite. Some reviewer compared it to Lord of the Flies because it is about girls fighting for survival on a quarantined island. The school receives some supplies regularly from the outside world, but some of them are contaminated and are regularly discarded leaving food in very short supply. They do regularly fight for food. The real villain is the parasite infecting them. It is suggested that the parasite resulted from global warming and the melting glaciers.
The three main characters are roommates. Two of them are sexually attracted to each other. The story is fast-paced, gory, and violent. I would rate this a 3.5.

My review for "Wilder Girls" by Rory Power is posted at BookBrowse: https://www.bookbrowse.com/mag/reviews/index.cfm/ref/pr253760

This book was weird. I like weird. And I liked (past tense) this book up until about 3/4 through. And then it was disappointment after disappointment. Womp womp.