Wilder girls by Rory Power

Macmillan Children's Books, 2019. ISBN: 9781529021288.
(Age: 14+) Recommended. Wilder girls is a gory dystopia, with the Tox mutating the systems of students at Raxter School for Girls. The mutation affects each of the girls differently, from coughing up blood and teeth to having dual hearts. Their only hope for a cure is the Navy and CDC who are desperately researching the Raxter phenomenon.
With restrictions on food and other resources, the girls are half wild with the Tox, a new order has been established from the old with fights and power struggles upheld by the remaining two teachers - Welch and Headmistress and the three Boat Shift Girls. Taylor, Carson, and Julie are charged with keeping the peace among students as well as the dangerous task of retrieving supplies dropped at the pier at irregular intervals.
The story follows Hetty and her friends Reese and Byatt. Having established their friendship prior to the Tox, the girls ties are only strengthened by their trials - that is until Hetty is called upon for Boat Shift and Byatt goes missing. People die all the time at Raxter but something about Byatt's disappearance is different. Hetty is determined to find and save her friend, no matter the cost. And the cost is bound to be high.
Brutal and thrilling, Wilder girls captures the fear similar to The natural way of things and The promised Neverland whilst remaining highly engaging. With the grittiness of This mortal coil and the familiarity of a high school setting, this novel has a feeling of authenticity as the girls struggle with not only the effects of the Tox but the social issues to do with violence, self-preservation, and the realities of survival. I would recommend to girls fourteen and up.
Kayla Gaskel