Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

156 reviews

jebrollier's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

2.0

I feel like the author was too preoccupied with writing the next great horror Sci Fi novel along the lines of Lord of the Flies or The Island of Dr Moreau, but not occupied enough with just making sure it was well-written. The plot was engaging enough for me to want to finish the book, but the horror was egregious, the ending felt rushed, and there were number of inconsistencies and plot holes. Fine concept, poor execution.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal death

izzyvb023's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

This was a relatively short read and a great one for October. It’s definitely YA, but enjoyable regardless! 

Pros:
- The vibes are immaculate: Spooky Girly Sapphic Medical Body Horror
- characters were equally likeable and flawed. 
- it was a great read if you watch “Yellowjackets” and are waiting for the 3rd season to come out. Similar vibes and scratched the itch

Cons:
- i wish we learned more about the Tox itself! I thought the whole

global warming aspect

that gets sprinkled in towards the end is really interesting. And the

worms

were super cool too. I personally would have loved to have more of the scientific elements fleshed out
- the romance is pretty brief. If you’re looking for a fully fleshed sapphic horror romance, i’d look elsewhere. I still enjoyed it though! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

thebetterstory's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

2.75

I wish this lived up to its premise. "Boarding school girls go full Lord of the Flies, with bonus body horror" has tons of potential as a concept, and for the first half of the book or so while it's setting up its mysteries I was hopeful it would deliver.

Unfortunately, the book didn't seem to have any real themes to tie its plot together. The Tox seems perfectly designed to be a meaningful metaphor: it's only survivable by cis girls (or presumably AFAB folks in general, which is addressed), it only hits during or after puberty, and in at least some of its forms it causes the victims to develop bestial features, animalistic rage and merge with sentient plant life. At times the book seems to suggest it frees the girls from the confines of their social and gender roles, but most of the time it's just played straightforwardly as an uncomplicated horror-flavoured problem with no greater meaning. It works that way because it works that way.

Without particularly strong prose or ideas to fall back on, the plot meanders around and becomes just a series of things happening. Often bad things happening, often directly as the result of poor decisions made by the main trio of girls. I frequently had the urge to reach through the book and shake them.

Why deliver the obvious can of euthanasia gas to the Headmistress you know you can't trust? Why lie to a boy to get him to kiss you when you have Deadly Body Horror Plague if you're going to feel bad when he inevitably contracts it, especially if that's then going to be played for angst as though you couldn't have known?

Logic is thin on the ground, both with the girls and with the actual plot itself, and when the answers to the latter's mysteries are revealed they're both poorly explained and incredibly dull.

Parasite worms as the results of melting polar ice? Really? This would perhaps work if the book had been going hard on ecological themes, but it really doesn't.

So with all that said, do the characters and their relationships manage to carry the book? Nope. The characterization is wildly inconsistent. We're introduced to Byatt as someone caring and good at holding herself together for other people's sake, and the way the book rips that away isn't so much interesting as baffling because there was little to no foreshadowing. Reese is established as a cold, harsh determinator with a temper who wants to survive and win no matter what, but she spends most of the second half of the book being the opposite of pragmatic, while Hetty steps in to take that role. Meanwhile, a ton of emphasis is placed on Hetty's guilt and feelings of camaraderie towards the other girls,

only for her to abandon them all to die at the end without a second thought. Shortly after criticizing the Headmistress and Taylor for wanting to do the same thing. Make it make sense!!!

The weak, half-hearted ending is just the final straw. If you want a first-person book about a clever group of women in isolated circumstances dealing with mystery and excellent eco-horror, I'd recommend you bypass this entirely and go for Annihilation instead.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Self harm and Vomit

zmeiat's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Very interesting and engaging story. It could however have fleshed out the Tox and its properties more since It felt like it was doing a lot of things at once. 
Nevertheless it was a good read.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Vomit

_corrin's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal death, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, and Grief

Minor: Mental illness, Self harm, Medical content, and Gaslighting

sufferingsapph0's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

melusinedln's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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

2.75

2.75 stars.

This book is disappointing and I don’t know why the publisher agreed to publish it as it is. When you reach the end, you’re left with even more questions than in the start, and the ending scene, like every other important scene in this book, has no impact at all. It felt like the author wanted a lazy open ending just to be able to make a 2nd book if this one sold well.
Also, the queer romance between 2 of the characters is underdeveloped despite being one of the main point used by the publisher to sell the book.

It’s generating a lot of frustration in me because the idea was really good, but it was so poorly executed. I had a nice time reading some parts of the book, and okay time reading most of them, and I was so frustrated when I reached the lazy ending.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Pandemic/Epidemic

kira20's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.75

Honestly took forever to read. I kept going back to see if itd get better. I didn't connect with any of the characters or relationships. I finished it but just barely.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

laughingrecord's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

nicosta_music's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I feel like Wilder Girls is being done a disservice by being marketed as Lord of the Flies but with girls. Both books involve one gender of schoolchildren being stuck on an island, but the similarities stop there. And speaking as someone who hated Lord of the Flies: thank god that they do. 

Wilder Girls was a truly exciting read -- the plot kept me hooked the entire way through, and the characters were interesting and engaging. I thought the world-building was interesting and the different twists were essential in continuously raising stakes throughout the book. I think my only complaint is that

the ending does feel a bit underwhelming. It sort of leaves the book open to a sequel, but not enough so that I felt it was a good ending. It reads more like the author just didn't know how to end the book so it was left ambiguous.

But besides that, I still thoroughly enjoyed Wilder Girls, and it definitely defied my expectations in a good way.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, and Cursing

Minor: Torture and Vomit