Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

19 reviews

rexgertspud's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Murder, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

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

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

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

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

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, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Toxic friendship, 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: Animal death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Gore, Self harm, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

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

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

Moderate: Vomit, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Incest and Sexual assault

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

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

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