- Read this one in June and thought it would make a good book review for a spookier season.
- Did not write said book review in June and now that it is October am struggling to remember a lot.
- Raxter School for Girls is under quarantine. Disease is ravaging the students and teachers who have been cut off on their island from the rest of the world.
- Supplies get dropped off but it is steadily becoming clearer and clearer that something nefarious is happening behind the scenes.
- Hetty has two friends – Byatt who is her best friend and another girl whose name I can’t remember.
- Hetty and the other girl don’t really seem to like each other and Byatt is the tie between them but then Byatt gets sick and disappears and they have to save her.
- Now Hetty and the other girl are in love and it turns out the dislike and tension between them has been love this whole time. Holy unhealthy relationships, Batman!
- Byatt is (spoiler alert) being held in a government facility off the island and being experimented on but while there does something so terrible that I found whatever small amount I cared about any of these characters pretty much ended there.
- I can’t remember how the book ended except that it was pretty unsatisfying.
Was the book spooky?
Kind of? It has a wintery, cold atmosphere and there are plenty of visceral descriptions of the Tox taking over the characters; bodies that are well done and shivery. The book is creepy, especially for all of us who have lived through the fear of contagion. While Covid-19 wasn’t quite this dramatic, it’s easy to envision a scenario like this in an isolated community.
Karissa Reads Books 
This does not sound like a good fit for me. I also felt eye-rolly at the name Byatt. Like, why are authors still trying to be “sneaky” about naming their characters after authors?
No, I don’t think this is a fit for you. I haven’t read Byatt so I’m not sure if there was a purpose in naming the character that. It’s not like that’s a name people generally give their daughters so it does feel contrived.
Like Melanie, I wanted to eye-roll a bit at this too. Toxic friendships turned romantic? Ugh.
It seems like such a set up for an abusive relationship. I couldn’t cheer for them as a couple at all.
[…] Wilder Girls – Rory Power […]