Wilder Girls by Rory Power

I would like to thank the author and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this debut YA novel.

This book is set at a residential school based on an island off the coast of america.  Raxter School is for girls and has been put under quarantine due to the outbreak of an unusual condition.  Since the arrival of the Tox, Hetty's life has been turbulent to say the least, as she see's her fellow classmates, suffer and vanish!

The disease takes it time to spread, first with the death of the teachers then the students begin to fall one by one, the Tox affecting them all differently turning their bodies into unusual and foreign objects.

Now cut off from access to the rest of the world and nobody knowing who is fully aware of what is going on at the island, the girls are left to survive for themselves on the island they now call home!  They dare not go beyond the boundary fence as the contents of the woods themselves are infected, wild and dangerous.  But when Hetty's friend goes missing she seeks to go beyond the boundary and face the horror she faces.

This book is aimed at a YA audience and therefore I was uncertain how I would feel about reading this book however, it was gruesomely dark sometimes to the point where even I felt it went a tad too far.  It has been compared to Lord of the Flies however, there really was no direct comparison in my opinion.

This book did also touch on LGBTQ+ relationships and I felt this was the most compelling factor of the whole story, this and that the book relied solely on what seemed like very strong and independent female characters, Hetty's relationship with Byatt and with Reese showed a tenderness and gentle self-doubt that softened the harsh reality of the outside environment with Hetty's character.

As with the location of the story and the characters within the Maine based school, the overall feeling of wildness, an increasing level of dread and the final cliffhanger conclusion has meant I gave it a 3 stars.