Wilder Girls, the debut novel of Rory Power, is the horror story of best friends Hetty, Byatt, and Reese. They have been stuck in Raxter, the island in which their school for girls is on, for eighteen months, quarantined and away from the world because of the Tox, the deadly disease that has claimed the lives of teachers and students alike. The Tox, though, gives surprising but strange abilities to the girls that do survive it, as well as gruesome liabilities. Double heartbeats, gills, second spines.

This book is definitely in my top 10 books of this year. I loved the portrayal of lgbtq+ themes with fantasy. It also has a mythological aspect to it. It’s honestly refreshing to see a book that has lgbtq+ as a subplot and focuses more on fantasy. Most lgbtq+ book are more slice of life or coming of age, although those are fun to read from time to time. Overall I loved this book.