Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

18 reviews

vespera's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Vomit

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, Gore, Child death, Vomit, Animal death, Chronic illness, Body horror, Blood, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

fanboyriot's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I’ve had this book for a while and just got around to reading.  Naturally, I went into it knowing nothing, as one does.  To say it was not what I was expecting was an understatement.  The plot did have a promise, there were some things that seemed all too realistic in a horror-ish paranoid way.  The setting was done nicely at least.

Honestly, most of what I didn’t like was the ending.  We got no answers for anything really, and it left with absolutely no resolution.  It just felt like it was dragged out and then it just ended.  The switching POV I normally really like just didn’t work for me; they just seemed too close to one another and a few pages in I’d forget which character it even was.

(First Person POV)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Genocide, Death, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Torture, Body horror, Gore, Blood, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Animal death, Confinement, Chronic illness, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Child death, and Grief

Moderate: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Ableism, Vomit, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Cursing, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, War, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Fire/Fire injury, and Eating disorder

amberghinii's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Confinement, Murder, Body horror, Child death, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

tiredtori's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Blood

Moderate: Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Self harm, Violence, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Gore

Minor: Emotional abuse, Grief, Drug use, Vomit, Death of parent, and Suicide attempt

jiji_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Anyone beginning this should go in clear-eyed about what this book is and isn't. Setting aside the pastel cover with flowers and "Girls" in the title, this is a horror story. It isn't a cute or silly YA cozy mystery. There are no butterflies-in-the-stomach love triangles in math class. This is gory, dark, and deeply disturbing. If that's not your thing, don't start this, DNF it, and rate it poorly because you thought it was something it isn't. 

If this IS your thing, like it is mine, you're going to love this. On top of a deeply twisted, creeping dread of a plot, Power's writing is beautiful. It's poetic. It shocks at times, the poetry in the terror. It's brutal and fast-paced with no time to take a breath. At times I wished it were longer, but then I don't know if my heart and stomach could take much more. It's part zombie-apocalypse (kinda). It's part science thriller. It's part school girl survivalist drama. It's part warning. It's all good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Body horror, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Vomit, and Murder

Minor: Sexual assault and Incest

mfrisk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I can’t quite decide how I feel about this one but I think it’s a 3.5 for me. 

I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the build up of the Tox and how that shaped Raxter and those within it. The scenes with the deer and one of the character’s parents were particularly chilling in their descriptions. The dual perspective was done fairly well though I think I was waiting for more from Byatt’s side in terms of her backstory and what drove her to lie. 

Things I didn’t love were the seemingly out of nowhere nature of the romance. While there were some touching moments it was a bit confusing and didn’t feel fully realized. 

And finally the ending was a huge disappointment. While you think the ending would at least give us more information about the navy and cdc involvement or about the tox or even what happens next we instead are led to an ending where we determine what happens. It felt like a chapter was missing and while I wasn’t expecting a happy ending perfect wrap up I definitely didn’t expect what we got. 

I hope to read more from this author as I overall really enjoyed this book but there were definitely some aspects I just wanted to see be pushed further given the darkness of the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Child death, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Confinement, Gore, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Gun violence, Animal death, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Vomit and Toxic friendship

apolloniablooms's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It really choked at the end, which felt rushed.  Overall glad I read it, but it feels like a shadow of books like Annihilation and Inspection which do the same thing but feel more complete.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Self harm, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Gore, Body horror, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Grief, Emotional abuse, Death, Confinement, Blood, Animal death, and Abandonment

laurenlab's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

i love this author's writing style. WOW rereading this i forgot how dark it gets. great plot honestly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Toxic friendship

jazminnnnnnn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Vomit

diedaahh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

I'm genuinely thinking of how i could successfully illustrate the vibes with other stories. Maybe a lord of the flies situation mixed with AOT? Theres an unknown enemy that makes the lives of 60 isolated female boarding school students a living hell. They train tirelessly to stand a chance in terms of survival, but things ofcourse aren't easy.  There's a virus on the island which has caused the island to go into a year-long lockdown. The virus causes deformities in the victims. If it doesn't kill you first.

The story is told from two different perspectives: Hetty and Byatt. 
There were definitely strong parts in the book which I absolutely flew through.
Unfortunately there were also weaker sections (and sections were I rolled my eyes)
Some of the interactions and dialogue were clunky. Some even infuriating (PPL DONT ACT LIKE THIS!): 
For instance

Spoiler

There's a moment where Hetty has to kill Reese's father. The virus has turned him into a zombified walking tree disgusting monstrous creature which is out to attack and kill them both. Reese ofcourse melts instantly because somewhere under the twenty layers of grime is her father!11! Hetty is able to save Reese seconds from her death by impaling him through his insect infested black heart. Only for REESE to have the audacity to get mad at Hetty for saving her and killing her father. like girl.... get your shit together. I don't care how much you love your paw paw it doesn't take a genius to realize that there's nothing of your lovely parent left if you are actively being killed by him!

Spoiler

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Body horror, and Murder

Moderate: Toxic friendship and Death of parent