Wilder Girls – Rory Power

Akyut Aydoğdu

Cover artist

Across the roof deck Byatt lowers her gun, rests it on the railing. Road clear.

I keep mine up, just in case, keep the sight raised to my left eye. My other eye’s dead, gone dark in a flare-up. Lid fused shut, something growing underneath.

The Baxter School for Girls has been put under quarantine for eighteen months now – since the Tox hit.

Pupils and teachers die and the infection turns the bodies of the surviving girls strange and foreign. The girls are told to wait and stay alive until a cure can be found.

We follow the developing friendship and love between three teenage girls – Hetty, Byatt and Reese.

Of course things are not quite, what they seem – as we shall soon find out.

WILDER GIRLS shows how strong love and friendship can be between young adult girls and what difference it can make in horrendous situations.

It is Rory Power‘s first novel and it carries tremendous promise. How she writes about emotions, strength in adversity and willingness to act in nearly hopeless situations is done in such a beautiful and wise way, that it makes you love this book.

I had never heard of Rory Power. What made me look at the book, was the fantastic cover by Akut Aydoğdu – wow! I picked up the book, and the blurb by Jeff Vandermeer made me buy and read it immediately.

WILDER GIRLS is the best YA book I’ve read so far this year – and I cannot wait for Rory Power‘s next book.

The book is a YA (targeted for 14-17 years). Personally, I think it might give quite a few in that agegroup a nightmare or two – see the Trigger and Content Warnings that Rory Power has written on her homepage by pressing the button below.

Trigger and Content Warnings Below!

Graphic violence and body horror. Gore.

On the page character death, parental death, and animal death, though the animals are not pets.

Behavior and descriptive language akin to self harm, and references to such.

Food scarcity and starvation. Emesis.

A scene depicting chemical gassing.

Suicide and suicidal ideation.

Non-consensual medical treatment.

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Here is a nice piece of fanart to show you the three main characters.

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