Wilder Girls
“It's been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty's life out from under her. It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don't dare wander outside the school's fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything. But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there's more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true,” (Rory Power).
This novel was a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, it was fast-paced and it felt like there was always something going on. On the other, it felt like Hetty’s selfishness and stupidity was the only thing pushing the plot at times. What a surprise in a YA novel. Eye Roll. Examples include Hetty’s need to find Byatt ending the school’s support by breaking quarantine and how Hetty’s inability to close the gate led to the trouble with the bear and more woes. On that note—I found it strange that Hetty got upset with the Headmistress for trying to kill everyone, but later, knowingly sacrificed the other girls in the hopes that she, Byatt, and Reese could survive... within a few pages. Isn’t this a bit... hypocritical? And cold? And generally rude? Also, why didn’t the girls try to leave the island earlier? Perhaps, during the quarantine in secret or just after it ended when they realized they would no longer receive help? Finally, I felt as though the novel was unnecessarily icky at times.
Rating: 3/5 stars
