This book was entirely different from what I was expecting. I'd heard that it was a horror book about a group of girls in a boarding school who start developing terrifying mutations as part of an infection-type thing they call 'the Tox'. And yes, that technically is the plot! But it doesn't give you a lot to work with in terms of genre or tone. Even after reading this, I'm still struggling to classify it a little but I think sci-fi is the label that fits it best.
So, many people in the Booktube community have raved about Wilder Girls and I do think that's a bit of a shame really because, after reading it, I'm struggling to see why. Don't get me wrong, there were some really cool things about this book. The characters were fairly decent, the plot once it kicked in was really absorbing and I had no idea how things were going to pan out. But at the same time, there were definitely things that were lacking. With the horror aspect being played up in the way this book is marketed (or at least, classified) I expected more of a focus on what the Tox actually does to these girls' bodies. In actuality there is almost no detail given. At first I assumed this was to build suspense but this is not followed up by any payoff and so it all fell a bit flat for me. It was hard to visualise the true nature of the Tox when we had so little to go on.
Overall, I think I wanted to like this book more than I did. I went in very blind beyond the basic description and, while I tried so hard not to let rave reviews influence me, I was sadly left wondering what all the fuss was about. The climax felt rushed and messy, once again vague on details. I did like the ending paragraphs and parts of the plot were done really well. I just wish there'd been a little bit more of everything.
Overall Rating:
.5
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