Rory Powers was born in New England and received an MA in prose fiction from the University of East Anglia. She wrote “Wilder Girls,” “Burn Our Bodies Down,” and “In a Garden Burning Gold.” Powers was inspired to write “Wilder Girls” while traveling to Harkers Island off the coast of North Carolina, which helped her shape the novel’s setting and atmosphere.
On Raxtor Island, off the coast of Maine, lies the remains of an all-girls private school. A mysterious illness known as the Tox broke out, infecting both students and teachers, killing many, and leaving others with irreversible changes. The Tox has transformed the forest, made once-docile animals hostile, and caused strange mutations in the girls, such as two heartbeats, an exoskeleton-like spine, or a silver-scaled hand. The school is placed under strict quarantine to contain the disease, and the girls must rely on supplies delivered from the mainland. Wilder Girls follows three friends struggling with the bizarre reality of their lives, and when one of them goes missing, the other two are willing to sacrifice everything to bring her back
“Wilder Girls” is often described as a feminist “Lord of the Flies” just with quarantine due to a strange illness on an island full of mostly unsupervised girls. It’s a queer horror thriller and young adult novel, and its horror aspects depend largely on body horror and suspense.
I first picked up “Wild Girls” because of the beautiful cover art. The writing style and character voices work well with the story and help to further develop the suspense and horror aspects of the book. The characters are all complex and have depth steering clear of a simple hero-versus-villain narrative. Instead, most are morally gray, driven by the need to survive and protect their friends. The physical world-building and descriptions are well done however the rest of the world-building is lacking. The ending is disappointing and leaves so many questions unanswered. As a reader, you find yourself wanting more from the book and could have made it a good start to a series but sadly it’s a stand-alone novel. Despite the length I finished this book in a couple of days because of the interesting plot and all of the questions behind it, sadly hardly any of these questions were answered due to the very unsatisfying ending. Despite this, I did enjoy the book and I’d recommend it to anyone who can look past a disappointing ending and appreciate a story for the whole journey.
