If you love the grittiness and true humanity of books like Lord of the Flies, Wilder Girls is the book for you. Hetty, Reese, and Byatt, the trio that this book follows, have to crawl, murder, and cheat their way through this thrilling sci-fi horror novel as a terrifying disease threatens to take their lives and the last of their humanity. Trapped on an island as the “Tox” slowly consumes more and more members of the Raxter School for Girls, these three must figure out what has been going on behind the scenes and keep one another safe. 

The “Tox,” or the fictional disease that keeps Hetty and her peers stuck on the island, and it infests the land while making horrifying “improvements” to everything, including the animals, plants, and girls. It comes in waves, making these teenagers fear that death, insanity, or more horrifying modifications await them in their next “flare up.” I absolutely loved the visceral horror and terror that the author manages to evoke throughout this book- her descriptions and writing style are not for the faint of heart or squeamish. The “Tox” also really has a mystery factor to it, as well as a degree of uniqueness that the typical zombie-like diseases I often see in novels do not. Overall, this novel is a really unique and original read, and I loved the author’s way of thinking outside the box with her characters, setting, and plot twists. So if you really enjoy horror novels and sci-fi books, as well as mysteries, I would really recommend this book. 

The best part of this book, however, was how the author wrote her characters. I didn’t get particularly attached to any of them, and they aren’t all that unique, but they all had another quality that more than made up for this. All the important characters, for the most part, are girls- and yet they are allowed to be just as mean and ugly and terrible as boys often are in these sorts of horror stories. They are selfish, mean, flawed, and rude, and they have complicated relationships and morals. In other words, they feel scarily human in the worst and best possible ways- in ways that girls in the media are almost never allowed to be. I can count the number of books on one hand that have female characters who are as flawed and human as them. 

On the other hand, the ending of this book is the main issue I have with it. It ends rather abruptly, with no hints about a sequel. I would have liked a more satisfying ending, rather than the cliffhanger you are left with. In addition, although this novel does have a lovely romantic subplot between Hetty and Reese, the romance is not very prominent and mostly has no significance outside of one or two scenes. I liked the romance, and I would have wanted it to have more impact and prominence in the book as a whole. 

Overall, I would really recommend this book despite its flaws- it is unique, a breath of fresh air, and wonderfully terrifying. It is perfect for readers who like subtle romance, horror, sci-fi, mystery, or LGBT+ stories. I would not read it expecting a happy ending or moral characters, or if you don’t like horror or scary stories. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would rate it a solid 9.5/10. 

Checkout Wilder Girls from the Newport Beach Public LIbrary.