Probably the best read I have read this year so far. It's a book full of anger and much of it is righteous.
Interwoven in the story are those lives of girls that stay in the group. They begin with Paheli, a girl sold by her mother to a man for his use. Violated and despairing she runs and then she finds Taraana, a boy with stars in his eyes. He tosses her a box of stars, which allow her to go into the Between which is a place of magic and where you can travel between cities. She finds other lost souls and saves some, there are always some whose despair is too great. When they are done they can return to the ordinary world and age, but Paheli keeps on, the pivotal person in this group.
With the ability to travel is also the ability to see the magic beings that also inhabit the world and a scream of rage that will defeat many of them. Taraana is in danger and they feel that they must rescue him, partially because without him they can't access the Between, and that puts them in danger.
There was one passage that I just had to keep reading:
"Ever notice how many derogatory terms are actually words that describe female bodies? Yes, we are talking about words that you may have used yourself despite being a girl or a woman, perhaps not realizing that all you are doing is being complicit in the way the world recognizes women not as people but as bodies: bodies to objectify and to police.
Feminism isn't a four-letter word.
You know what is?
Rape."

It's a book full of range and of discovery and while it's told in a somewhat disjointed way with an unnamed narrator who can be judgemental. It also ecapsulates what can happen when people band together and at least try to do some good in the world. Where they could transform their pain and rage into something productive and have some agency. When I finished I was in awe of the writer and was torn between just starting again and letting it linger on my palette like a fine wine. ( )

I really liked "The wild ones" Even if it waggers at some points, the writing style is incredibly beautiful, it's poetic and full of metaphors and it's exactly my style. I can understand if some don't like it, but I loved the long passages about being, feeling and identity, poetic writing without any dialogue, just describing and rephrasing.

The characters were interesting. There was something deep within them, even if you only briefly saw them, and it was beautiful. So all in all, I really, really liked this story for what it is and fo what it gives. ( )

so so beautiful ( )

A mystical anthem to/for girls and women whose souls and spirit have been damaged by abuse. The Wild Ones are ageless, but not, rescued by others who found them at their peak moment of desperation. Able to move from place to place through mysterious doors that open into the Between, they find themselves harboring and then trying to protect Taraana, a boy with stars in his eyes who is the next Keeper of the Between. He has already escaped from imprisonment and torture by a magical monster in human form who wants to force him to create more magical tears to fuel the monster's greed for power. Following the Wild Ones as they try to keep Taraana safe and find a way to defeat the bad guy will take readers to many exotic locations around the globe.In the process, readers will become gradually more aware of how much pain has been inflicted upon the Wild Ones and those girls they have rescued (although, sadly some are lost at the moment of their potential rescue.) This book isn't light reading, but it is a terrific one. ( )

The amount you enjoy The Wild Ones will be directly correlated to the amount you enjoy poetry and flowery language. Azad’s writing reminded me of Nikita Gill and Rupi Kaur. As such, this book was very much not my cup of tea, but it’s not a bad book! Just not a fit for my tastes.

The make up of The Wild Ones is wonderful. It’s the story of a group of girls who come from traumatic, sorrowful backgrounds. They became part of the middle world when Paheli gifts them the stars they press into their palms, a gift given to her so long ago. The girls stay until they are ready to move on. The journey they take as a Wild One feels like a metaphor for processing trauma. So much of this book feels like a series of metaphors, and it makes you think, reread, reconsider.

The Wild Ones are Black girls, brown girls. They are a sisterhood of strength and recklessness and fearlessness. They rescue other girls who are in the same pain they were (are) in. When their creator, the Keeper of the Between, seeks them out, they protect him too. It’s altogether an interesting book, and I DO recommend it to the right reader. It’s extremely stylised, so it requires the right reader to appreciate it fully, but I believe to the right reader, this will be an amazing five star novel. I liked the diversity, I liked the world, but the pace and writing style lost me.

Because of the linguistic choices that Azad made in telling this story, I found the pacing lagged and my attention waned, leading to a lot of rereading. I cannot emphasise enough that this is entirely due to my own reading preferences and for others, this could be a non-issue. The style made the writing (to me) feel vague and scattered. There were single paragraphs and single scenes that I found lovely, but as a reader I felt like I was constantly chasing cohesiveness in the novel.

It’s a good book, but it wasn’t a good book for me. I think others will like it, but before diving into it, do note the prose-like writing style and go in prepared to navigate it. ( )