Originally posted to I Should Read That

I had been dying to get my hands on Wilder Girls ever since it came out in the US in 2019. I’m not much of a horror reader, but I’ve started becoming more and more interested in the genre and thought this would be a great way to get into body horror -- a subgenre that I’m particularly nervous to read. However, this book was a big flop for me and I’m so disappointed!

I think my biggest issue with this book is that it was completely and utterly underwhelming. I would normally DNFa book that I wasn’t enjoying, but I held on with the hope that it would get better -- it didn’t. I wouldn’t say Wilder Girls is a bad book, it was just so boring. The plot was basically non-existent, the characters were totally lackluster, the actual horror elements were so light pointless that they could have been removed completely, and the secrets of the island were so underwhelming. I liked the aesthetic of the book well enough, with its overgrown forest and mutated animals, but that was about it. 

The book is split into two perspectives -- Hetty and Byatt. Hetty’s point of view dominates the book -- in fact, she’s the only POV character until past the halfway point and it’s so jarring when it suddenly switches to Byatt’s perspective. Hetty was a totally flat character -- she doesn’t have an ounce of personality and was just an empty vessel that moved the miniscule plot forward. I didn’t understand her or Byatt’s motivations or personalities, and I just didn’t get it.

Ultimately, I don’t think the author pushed anything about the book far enough. Wilder Girls had so much wasted potential, and I think that’s what bothers me most about it. I desperately wanted to love this book, however it was a huge flop for me. I am, however, not put off her books and will likely be giving Powers a try again in the future.

CW: murder, suicide, gore, medical experimentation

1.5 out of 5 stars