Rory PowerReviews

This is not my normal content that I go for but I saw this book recommended time and time again. Although odd and unique I am really glad I gave it a shot. Excellent book.

That was a rollercoaster

Reading this book was such a rush. After the first few pages it felt like something came over me and just I couldn’t put this down or stop thinking about it until I finished. It’s not for everyone, but it’s definitely for me.

quick read, parts of it were good, interesting concepts but not overly involved or invested in any of the characters

Excellent premise and imagery. Poorly paced.

i liked the book, but i wish the ending was more concrete. i wish we woul've gotten a reese perspective too.

This is my first book by Rory Power, and I have to say, I'm so impressed! The world building was first-class, and the character development kept me intrigued.

A tale reminiscent of the Greek tragedies (or Shakespearean) in form and outline, In a Garden Burning Gold is about family feuds, lust for power, and the battle between doing what the family demands vs what you think is right.

Fans of S.A. Chakraborty and Sabaa Tahir will appreciate this first in a series.

I thank Del Rey/Penguin Random House and Netgalley for an ARC of this book.

Lord of the Flies meets Facts of Life meets The Island of Dr. Moreau - that is Wilder Girls. And the thing is I like enough of each piece of those stories for this to be a good story. I like the characters. I don't love them. I'm not insanely invested in them, but that's okay. There are other elements of the story that I don't feel a loss not knowing everyone's origin story. In some ways, I kind of appreciate that. The story moves at a good pace. The descriptive language is on point. It's never too much or too little. I appreciate that she doesn't use a heavy hand with descriptions but I can still become immersed in the setting. The overall storyline is great. To a point. I agree with other reviewers the ending is not an ending. It seems like there is another part of the story waiting to be told. It feels like at least a sequel. But Rory Power just announced her second book to be published and it's not a continuation of this story. So now I'm upset that this doesn't have a follow-up. Of course I was upset when I got to the end and assumed I had just been sucked into a series. So I'm not sure which one I'm more happy about. If this isn't meant to be a series then the ending is lackluster. If it is meant to be a series then you should lead with that.

This was like if The Troop and Maze Runner had a baby, but it was sapphic.

A bit slow near the beginning and end but the middle is really cool. Disappointed there isn't a sequel yet but at least the first is good.
The frenemies to lovers trope was done surprisingly well and the kiss was sooo cute

**** Spoilers***,,

First off......the cover!! Absolutely gorgeous!! I was immediately drawn to this book based on the cover art alone. With hardbacks I always remove the cover while reading......I kept this one close just to look at it! The book itself is also beautiful....a deep hunter green with coppery/ rose gold title inscription. This is definitely one for the bookshelf!!

I went in without many expectations....the few things I heard about the book were: Female Lord of the flies, feminist story, and LGBTQ+ oriented.

The Lord of the flies comparisons intrigued me, as it's one of my faves....although after reading this, I'd say the description isn't apt. I'm not a fan of feminist stories...but, this book definitely isn't a feminist anthem... it only qualifies as such for the lack of male characters. The LGBTQ+ aspect isn't significant for me personally....the sexuality of the characters doesn't matter to me. The main female protagonist, Hetty, is bi-sexual, and her friend, Reese, is lesbian....but it only touches on this, and their relationship, briefly. If you are looking for a more LGB oriented book, this is probably not what you're looking for.

As for the warnings associated with this book....body horror, gore, suicide, starvation, self harm, graphic....none of those things are excessive or gruesome.....there is the expected amount of this content based on the plot. Nothing here disturbed me personally.....that said, I'm an avid horror reader, so take that as you will.

It was a bit hard going at first....but once I got into it, I read it rather quickly. The plot is unique and smooth sailing, it reads nicely, and at a great pace.

I would have liked more character development, and would have appreciated more interaction with the other girls on the island.....the writer barely acknowledges the rest of the school.

The story is pretty ambiguous.......unfortunately, you learn only a bare minimum about the Tox or why it's there. The ending is left open with no conclusion......a HUGE pet peeve of mine......I'm hoping this means a sequel could be coming that explains more.....fingers crossed.

All in all, it's a pretty good read, with an interesting plot, that kept me reading despite the negatives.½

A creepy, easy-to-read Sappho young adult novel.½

This was a wild ride, and by wild I mean ridding a mid grade roller coaster with one eye closed, not knowing how you got on the ride, who or what’s behind you, and then stopping at the edge of an island and being told to depart.

Not sure if there is a sequel planned and unless it promises some answers, I’m not sure if you could get me back on that ride. I’m left wanting and slightly confused, not how I like to be at the end of a book.

I have to say this was a fantastic book to round out the duology Argyrosi series. It's hard to talk about the story without giving too much away but I will say that I was quite happy that Chrysanthi really got to shine in this story and I loved how her story line ended. I was sad about some characters, not so sad about others lol. The book did end with a few surprises and a few unanswered questions, so I feel like there could have been another book but I was pretty content with how this one ended. I think if you enjoyed the first book you'll definitely enjoy this one as well.

Reading the blurb I thought I would be blown away with this book, sadly I was left feeling a little disappointed. Don’t get me wrong it was a good read and was written well but the ending was deflating, it felt unfinished. I would still give it a 3.5 star rating though because it did have many good bits and it was just the ending that let me down.

An expansive, heart-wrenching ending to the Argoyrosi children's story.

The four Argyrosi children struggle to find their place after the collapse of their father's rule. Rhea and Chrysanthi find that all is not paradise with the Sxoriza rebels, who are happy to exploit their power but leave them out of major decisions. Even Michali, Rhea's lover who she brought back from the dead, no longer has all the qualities that made Rhea fall for him. Meanwhile, Nitsos leverages his outside connections on a quest from kingdom to kingdom, seeking to harness the Saint's power. Lexos finds himself a prisoner, but a connection with a fellow prisoner brings him closer to real power than he ever dreamed.

Though they all split up, the Argyrosi siblings aren't done with each other, and their fates continue to intertwine, even as it becomes apparent that they won't all survive this new power struggle.

I loved Chrysanthi's story in this book. She never really had a voice in the first one, and she's become my favorite character. Of all of them, her ambition is to love her family and build beauty into the world. She finds the perfect grump to her sunshine in Andrija, her bodyguard turned more who accompanies her on the quests Rhea sends her on across the continent.

This book dove deeper into the mythology of the Saints and what happened when they were all killed years ago, which added some interesting context to the story.

The ending really spoke to the corruption that comes from power and how that destroys lives.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
CAWPILE score: 5.14 (36/70), Good
FRTC

Honestly, I am not completely sure how I feel about this book. My first impression of it was a beautiful cover, and while the writing at times feels lyrical, this book is anything but beautiful.

In an almost twisted retelling of The Lord of The Flies, Powers delivers a story of a group of girls doing anything to survive a deadly "Tox" while under quarantine at their boarding school. I absolutely loved the writing in this book and it would have felt magical had the contents not been so horrific, which is undoubtedly the point. I adored how complex and yet simple the characters were. While they were distinctly different from each other, they were also all young girls trying to survive. I will say I wish some things got more backstory. For example, we get hints of Byatt's life before the Tox but we never actually see it. I understand how this plays into Hetty's almost idealized version of Byatt, however, I would have loved to see this fleshed out a bit more. I think the ending of the book was abrupt, but I also feel like it would have been impossible to wrap up such horrific events in a matter of a few pages. The trauma that the girls have endured and the lies that they have been told will affect them for the rest of their lives. I just wish we could have learned more about the Tox and the after-effects of physically cutting it out of you. Overall, I found the story interesting and dark, but also real and raw. While you can see the inspiration pulled from other texts, this still feels original and new.

3.75/5½

Review from September 21, 2021 (posted on Goodreads)

I am very glad I took a chance on this book. If you’re like me, either through some preconceived notions on what “young adult” fiction is, or by bad luck reading a string of kinda bad, very boring YA novels in college, you might not have the faith to pick up anything with a YA tag. Let me reassure you that there are gems in this genre, and Wilder Girls is one of them. Adults can and should read this book. The writing is pretty and disturbing. It is tender and callous. A quick read, no unnecessary density (unlike my reviews, ehehe) but a book you can lose yourself in.

Horror fans, if you are up for a book that portrays teens a little more tenderly, and you’re not afraid to tap in to your inner vulnerable teenager that I know you have stashed away deep inside, you will have fun with this one too. The main feast is the body horror, coming in enough variations to be a fun treat no matter what your personal favorite flavor. The medical bodily harm had my heart rate through the roof. Blood everywhere. It doesn’t dwell but it doesn’t hold back. We are given descriptions of the mutations these young girls (and the animals that roam the nearby forest) are experiencing with the detached casual feeling of someone doing their best to compartmentalize the horror in order to survive it. Side dishes include a bleak, isolated location, the constant threat of something morbid and unknown pressing in, sapping your warmth page by page, and of course children in peril. Desert is the sharp knife of survival horror, as the desperate need to not die on this horrid diseased island, relying on government supplied food drops, is a major concern to every character.

What did I think of it? It had me charmed. The first few pages reel you in by describing Hetty, the main character, and her eye (the one she’s hiding on the beautiful cover behind her hair) that has been fused shut, something moving behind it, and how her best friend Byatt helps sew shut the surface wound that reopens every once in a while. I couldn’t stop reading. From the start, their need to be understood and supported by their friends, loved ones, anyone, is universal, something we can all tap into.
Through the whole novel I was moved by the humanity of all these young ladies. They comment several times and doing what it takes to survive, and there is cruelty, violence, anger. Tough decisions. But this novel is not Lord of the Flies: through every harsh reality and hurtful mistake, these girls never completely forget their humanity. They try to do the right thing, they try to protect others, they try to absolve their guilt, even as they fight over a single moldy orange, even as they comply with their forced target practice, as they hide in the woods from monsters. They are stripped of society and civilization but are still holding the bloody scraps of what each of them actually cares about, and they refuse to let go of that. We only get glimpses into who they where before, only tiny slivers of personality can surface when they are numb from watching dozens of classmates die painful, screaming deaths and burning the corpses behind the main building. But there is enough here for all of us to connect to, as fellow humans.

A good ways into the book, there was an event with a scalpel that I read around 11:30 at night that left me feeling wired, physically writhing as I forced myself to read. They kicked it up a notch and I knew if I stopped there all I’d be thinking about all night was muscle and tendons, so I read the last 100 or so pages in a fugue state. And then the book ended, like the proper dire, horrific, betraying situation that it was, leaving me with this mental anxiety wound gaping and bleeding and nothing to do but let it cool in the 1am air and try to come down from the high. It was like I was begging it to just rip the bandaid off, and it finally did, and took my arm with it. Reading it so late at night was a mistake (some of us aren’t lucky enough to be trapped day after day on a quarantined island and we have to get up early for work) but it was a great mindset to be in, exhausted and vulnerable, reading about exhausted vulnerable girls trying to survive- it’s going to stay with me for a while.

Wilder Girls is memorable and fun and sad- a notable highlight of my reading this year. I don’t know that it will change you, but it will take you by the hand cautiously, with a small hesitant smile, lead you behind the dark trees hidden from view, and show you the mutated, writhing, multiple-eyed corpse of a dead bobcat it just shot with a hunting rifle. And then maybe kiss you (pretty chaste because it doesn’t know if you feel the same, and neither do you really) right there as the dead thing watches you from the ground, growing fleshy roots into the dirt and dead leaves, before you’re both consumed by the plague, a flesh eating deer, or the hazmat team finally takes you away for testing. It just wants to have one sad, sweet first kiss with you over mutated dead animals, can’t you do that? Just this once?

I do not get it. The story was way too simplistic to be a complete book for me. Getting to the ending/payoff was painful bc nothing was happening. Don’t get me wrong, the book is full of beautiful/creepy atmosphere and an A setting, but I need more than that— I need character development and plot (and a lot of it). There were so many threads started that never went anywhere and were never followed up on. And the big reveal was just.... disappointing. It felt like it should’ve been something cooler and weirder than what it was. What it was was predictable and I didn’t want that.

I read Wilder Girls and then Burn Our Bodies Down. I think my central issue is that I need a more inquisitive protagonist. Power's protagonists just *drop* the issues that arise and those issues are more fascinating to me than the emotional aftermath. Power definitely focuses on the emotional story.
The relationships in Burn Our Bodies Down were very problematic. All of them. The mother/daughter relationship was especially abusive and difficult to read. At the same time, these relationships stayed surface level and uninvestigated-- the characters reminded me of VC Andrews writing.
As with Wilder Girls, there are many, many unanswered questions remaining at the end of the book. Some it seemed like we would get an answer to-- but no. I'm referring here... to say it without spoilers-- to the apricots and the eating of the apricots???

Honestly this was one of the weirdest, creepiest books I have ever read. I mean seriously! The apricot grove y'all! I can't say too much more because I really don't want to spoil it for anyone. The writing was moody and atmospheric and the author created a wonderful sensory experience for Readers. The suspense was almost unbearable and the lying, secretive behaviour and gaslighting had me feeling a bit crazy myself. This was an incredible experience that I respectfully don't want to go through again in a hurry. Apricots and corn are off the menu for me.

Get ready for a slow burn virus outbreak read.

I'd been hearing about this book from many of the bookish people I follow, and put off reading it because of it's YA nature. I'm not here for teen drama y'all. But I figured I would give it a try since I found the audiobook on Libby. Rory Power does an excellent job at capturing the emotional state of girls ranging in age of 13 - 18 living through something unfathomable. There was none of the tropey things I usually loathe about YA reads.

The story focuses on one friend group, following them as they push through each day, wondering if a cure will come, who will be assigned what duties, and will this next wave be the one that kills them. It sucks you in, the slow build of the description, and the nature of the disease. At first I was wanting more information but looking back it was a great way to ramp up the build to the climax of the story. The virus is the mystery for the reader to discover as the story progresses. Mistakes are made, emotions run hot, and lies come out. I couldn't help but wonder what I would have done as the adult in the sea of adolescents girls, looking to me to make the best choices for their survival.

Overall the virus is unique and I loved the flair of how it presented in various ages/sexes & wildlife. I was a bit disappointed in the ending. While it's a solid ending, it left too many 'real world' questions for me. I did love the aspects that dealt with how each characters story is wrapped up. Just the overall ending to the outbreak was a tad lackluster. Kind of makes me want a second book, though. So maybe it did it's job.

REP: Lesbian
TW: suicide, murder, graphic gore