Blog Tour | Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Hello and welcome to my stop on the Wilder Girls blog tour. I’m really excited to share a bit about the book with you as well as my thoughts about it! Wilder Girls will be released on July 9, 2019. I hope you enjoy this stop on the tour, and for more on Wilder Girls, head over to itsrorypower.com.

SYNOPSIS:

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.

THOUGHTS:

When I was in high school, I read Lord of the Flies for the first time. I can vaguely recall the plot and a few characters, but mostly I remember rushing through reading it because it didn’t capture my interest. I think that primarily has to do with the fact that we had read so many (if not only) books from the male perspective, or books that followed a male protagonist. So, to then have to read another book that was filled with nothing but boys? I was bored and unenthusiastic.

Fast forward about 7 years later, and enter: Wilder Girls by Rory Power. Described as “a feminist twist on Lord of the Flies,” I knew I needed to get my hands on a copy of this book as soon as possible. I’m pleased to report, it lived up to the immense hype I built in my head.

Every page of Wilder Girls was thrilling and quick and painted a clear and vivid picture of Raxter Island, where the Raxter School for Girls resides. As a reader, you are almost immediately engrossed in the environment and living conditions of the island and the school. You fall into the shoes of these girls and you yourself begin to think like a Raxter girl. The book is so captivating in that way, and that’s all due to Rory Power’s incredible writing style.

The book is told through the point of view of two of our main characters: Hetty and Byatt. Let me just really quick begin by saying: AMAZING name choices. Anyway, typically when a book is split into different POVs, I find myself leaning towards one character over another because usually one is more interesting than the other. Not the case for this book. I found myself so excited to visit both Byatt and Hetty because they both had fascinating and crucial storylines going on.

We do have another main character named Reese. She is best friends with Byatt and Hetty. While I am pretty satisfied with the fact that the author chose only to have Byatt and Hetty tell the story, I definitely do wish we could have gotten more of an inside look into Reese’s mind. She’s awesome and so strong and if there ever is a sequel to this book, I think her POV would be something I need in my life. I. LOVE. HER.

There are so many layers to Wilder Girls and so many awesome themes. I think it would be fascinating to see this put into curriculum alongside Lord of the Flies. It does have similar themes to the classic, but to me, it’s better because it’s feminist, includes LGBTQ+ representation, it’s exciting and thrilling, and it’s written really well. I genuinely think it’s going to be one of those young adult books that people will reference for years to come.

Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5) = Masterful.

Disclaimer: An ARC of Wilder Girls was sent to me by Random House to review for the Wilder Girls Blog Tour.