Not necessarily enjoyable - but definitely interesting
Overall, I think this one is closer to a 3.5/5 than a full 3 stars.
They say it's a Lord of the Flies retelling. That's honestly all I needed to know to pick this one up. Mysterious disease wrecking havoc, sapphic girls stranded on a deserted island, fighting to survive? Sign me up!
The story is set perfectly. Girls trapped on a deserted island in Maine, Raxter, where a parasitic disease is causing horrific mutations, causing them to rot from the inside out. This is combined with a forest that wants to destroy everything in it's path; A forest that is also infected. All of the imagery is absolutely horrifying and viscerally uncomfortable; especially the scenes describing the girls' flare-ups or Hetty's eye (ew). Also, the vines that grow out of people??? Truly terrifying. If you've ever seen the videos of the ants infected by cordyceps, the mutations in Wilder Girls feel extremely similar to that. Fantastic work making the world and inhabitants terrifying.
While I absolutely loved the imagery, my main problem with the story is the lack of plot description. Don't get me wrong, I am totally okay with a vague story that's left up to interpretation - but I didn't feel like that was the purpose of this stor. I kept expected, especially towards the end, for someone to really explain what was going on. While I understand that the characters did't necessarily need to know, nor did I really want them to), I never fully understood the Tox. We understand the explanation given to us from the lab with climate change, but it was brief, easy to miss, and didn't fully explain the horrific happenings to this island. I think some of the story got buried beneath the action and I was left with more questions that I typically like to leave with.
There are some great positives of this story:
1) The cover is absolutely stunning - definitely one of my favorites of 2019
2) It was really refreshing to read a YA that didn't shy away from the "gross" stuff. I like that it made me uncomfortable because when I think about it now, almost a year later, I'm still unsettled by the imagery.
3) There are some really interesting writing techniques, especially in Byatt's chapters. I loved how you could see the disintegration of her mental state throughout the chapters. I loved even more that most of her dialogue was via whiteboard - that concept is fascinating to me and I loved how they incorporated it.
Overall, I think this is absolutely worth the read. It leaves a lasting impression, even if I didn't love it as much as I wanted to. Creepy and atmospheric, it is the perfect book for a rainy day or to start off the Fall season with.
They say it's a Lord of the Flies retelling. That's honestly all I needed to know to pick this one up. Mysterious disease wrecking havoc, sapphic girls stranded on a deserted island, fighting to survive? Sign me up!
The story is set perfectly. Girls trapped on a deserted island in Maine, Raxter, where a parasitic disease is causing horrific mutations, causing them to rot from the inside out. This is combined with a forest that wants to destroy everything in it's path; A forest that is also infected. All of the imagery is absolutely horrifying and viscerally uncomfortable; especially the scenes describing the girls' flare-ups or Hetty's eye (ew). Also, the vines that grow out of people??? Truly terrifying. If you've ever seen the videos of the ants infected by cordyceps, the mutations in Wilder Girls feel extremely similar to that. Fantastic work making the world and inhabitants terrifying.
While I absolutely loved the imagery, my main problem with the story is the lack of plot description. Don't get me wrong, I am totally okay with a vague story that's left up to interpretation - but I didn't feel like that was the purpose of this stor. I kept expected, especially towards the end, for someone to really explain what was going on. While I understand that the characters did't necessarily need to know, nor did I really want them to), I never fully understood the Tox. We understand the explanation given to us from the lab with climate change, but it was brief, easy to miss, and didn't fully explain the horrific happenings to this island. I think some of the story got buried beneath the action and I was left with more questions that I typically like to leave with.
There are some great positives of this story:
1) The cover is absolutely stunning - definitely one of my favorites of 2019
2) It was really refreshing to read a YA that didn't shy away from the "gross" stuff. I like that it made me uncomfortable because when I think about it now, almost a year later, I'm still unsettled by the imagery.
3) There are some really interesting writing techniques, especially in Byatt's chapters. I loved how you could see the disintegration of her mental state throughout the chapters. I loved even more that most of her dialogue was via whiteboard - that concept is fascinating to me and I loved how they incorporated it.
Overall, I think this is absolutely worth the read. It leaves a lasting impression, even if I didn't love it as much as I wanted to. Creepy and atmospheric, it is the perfect book for a rainy day or to start off the Fall season with.