Review: Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Originally, I had Rory Power’s Wilder Girls on my Christmas list, but after staring at the gorgeous cover (designed by Regina Flath and illustrated by Aykut Aydogdu) I decided I just had to have it now. Thanks in part to its earthy, enchanting cover, Wilder Girls has been one of the most anticipated YA releases of 2019.

This speculative, horrific, feminist Lord of the Flies definitely lived up to the hype.

Now, I know that I’m a little late to the party. The book was released in July, and I purchased and read it over my Thanksgiving break. However, reading it in late November was actually a great choice. The story is actually supposed to take place in November, according to Power’s Twitter (which, if you were wondering, is hilarious), so I felt completely immersed in the book’s atmosphere while reading.

Wilder Girls takes place at the Raxter School for Girls, a boarding school perched on an isolated island off the coast of Maine. For the past 18 months, a plague called the Tox has ravaged the island and everything inhabiting it, including the girls. It leaves its victims with deformities, some more monstrous than others. The three main characters, Hetty, Byatt, and Reese, have a fused-shut eye, a second, protruding spine, and a silver, scaly hand, respectively. The Tox affects the girls in seasons, so every now and then they’ll individually experience flare-ups. When Byatt disappears from the infirmary during one of her flare-ups, it’s up to Hetty and Reese to find her.

In pursuit of their best friend, the pair find themselves unraveling answers to questions they didn’t know they had.

In addition to an engaging plot, one of the first things to get me hooked on this book was Power’s writing style. Her prose is poetic and atmospheric, easy to get lost in. I found myself rereading passages multiple times, sometimes to make sure I was taking in all the details, and sometimes just because they were so gripping. I was stunned to find out that this was Power’s authorial debut. Her writing style radiates experience and grace.

Perhaps my favorite aspect of the book was the depiction of female friendships. Too often, books pit women against each other, creating rivalries for no particular reason. Alternatively, they’re occasionally viewed through rose-colored glasses, refusing to acknowledge that sometimes, things get messy. This couldn’t be further from the truth in Wilder Girls. With the developments of Hetty, Byatt, and Reese’s relationships, we see a raw, honest depiction of how complicated and deep those relationships can be.

If you like morally gray characters as much as I do, you're in luck.

Similarly, Power doesn’t shy away from getting real with the gore. This book isn’t for the faint of heart, so prospective readers should probably check out the trigger/content warnings on Power’s website before diving in. I had no clue what i was getting myself into, but as a horror fan myself, I was absolutely reveling in each gory scene. It was horrible and delightful, gut-wrenching and mesmerizing. With just a touch of fantasy, plant horror is something I never knew I needed.

I don’t plan on including spoilers here, but I do feel like I need to touch on the ending a little bit. To put it vaguely, the ending is pretty open. Because this is a standalone novel, the openness didn’t quite work for me. Although the prose definitely gives me resolution vibes, I was left with a lot of plot-related questions. It almost seems as if something is missing from it, like perhaps Power’s editors wanted to keep their options open for a sequel. There isn’t one in the works right now (believe me, I checked) but Power has said that she isn’t opposed to writing more about Raxter and the girls someday.

Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I barely wanted to put it down while reading, and had to ration out the chapters to make it last just a few days. I’d recommend it to anyone who’s looking for an unrelenting, enthralling story… and doesn’t mind a bit of gore.