"The perfect kind of story for our current era."—Hypable
From the author of Burn Our Bodies Down, a feminist Lord of the Flies about three best friends living in quarantine at their island boarding school, and the lengths they go to uncover the truth of their confinement when one disappears. This fresh debut is a mind-bending novel unlike anything you've read before.
It's been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty's life out from under her.
It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don't dare wander outside the school's fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.
But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there's more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true.
And don't miss Rory Power's second novel, Burn Our Bodies Down!
Praise for Wilder Girls:
4 STARRED REVIEWS!
"Take Annihilation, add a dash of Contagion, set it at an all-girls' academy, and you'll arrive at Rory Power's occasionally shocking and always gripping Wilder Girls."--Refinery29
"This thrilling saga...is sure to be one of the season's most talked-about books, in any genre."--EW
"Fresh and horrible and beautiful....readers will be consumed and altered by Wilder Girls."--NPR
I couldn’t decide how to rate this at first so I pondered for a few days before writing my review. In short summary: it was ok, but it also left a lot to be desired. The first half was strong and suspenseful, but the second half became disjointed and confusing. I appreciated the dystopian vibe, but it lacked the creative thrill I was expecting from this genre. And while the author’s writing style was almost poetic, it clashed with the way it was implemented - allowing too much vagueness in certain details and confusion in areas that should have been more clear. There was so much potential in the plot but it felt like the author was trying too hard to make this work. I also felt let down with the way this ended. It was too neat, too tidy, and too easy to the point of thinking “seriously? That’s it?” There was enough build up to catch my attention in the beginning, but the mediocre thrills in the middle and a non-impressive ending ultimately decided my 3 star rating. It didn’t quite deter me away from this author (I do plan to read her next book “Burn Our Bodies Down) but depending on how I feel about the next one will decide whether I ultimately avoid this author all together in the future. I know there are a lot of mixed reviews for this one, so I’m sure there is someone out there who may appreciate the book the way the author intended it to be. As for me, I wouldn’t make this a priority read.
