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rubynicholls's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Child abuse
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
THE WICKER KING is a tale of compulsion, mental illness, loyalty, love, and consent; finding how far a king and his knight can go to save the world without burning up.
I loved reading this. The two main characters are so intertwined, so vivid and resonant that it took me half the book to realize that only one of them was actually a POV character. The way the story is told in one to two page sections made it feel like I could take a break anywhere if I needed to, if it ever got too intense for me. Instead I barely paused, inhaling it in a single sitting.
The story is very focused on the MCs and their intense relationship, but has a few secondary characters and devotes enough time for them to feel like full characters. In a book so focused on the interior worlds of just two people it would be easy to have other characters be ill-defined and mere window-dressing. Instead their reactions to the MCs both established the secondary characters in their own right and helped to build up the MCs by commenting on things they were unable or unready to consider. Some of the secondary characters are also love interests, and they're handled in a way that maintains their agency even as they are allowed less and less space in the MCs' world. The photos, documents, and slowly darkening pages helped with world-building and mood, but even without that assistance this story is absorbing and fascinating. There were two worlds to build, and both were excellently laid.
This is primarily about someone having difficult telling apart fantasy and reality, and the best friend doing his best to help. There are voices of reason trying to provide stability at various points, but the extent to which they do or do not succeed is crucial to the story, so take care of yourselves and check the CWs before proceeding.
I loved reading this. The two main characters are so intertwined, so vivid and resonant that it took me half the book to realize that only one of them was actually a POV character. The way the story is told in one to two page sections made it feel like I could take a break anywhere if I needed to, if it ever got too intense for me. Instead I barely paused, inhaling it in a single sitting.
The story is very focused on the MCs and their intense relationship, but has a few secondary characters and devotes enough time for them to feel like full characters. In a book so focused on the interior worlds of just two people it would be easy to have other characters be ill-defined and mere window-dressing. Instead their reactions to the MCs both established the secondary characters in their own right and helped to build up the MCs by commenting on things they were unable or unready to consider. Some of the secondary characters are also love interests, and they're handled in a way that maintains their agency even as they are allowed less and less space in the MCs' world. The photos, documents, and slowly darkening pages helped with world-building and mood, but even without that assistance this story is absorbing and fascinating. There were two worlds to build, and both were excellently laid.
This is primarily about someone having difficult telling apart fantasy and reality, and the best friend doing his best to help. There are voices of reason trying to provide stability at various points, but the extent to which they do or do not succeed is crucial to the story, so take care of yourselves and check the CWs before proceeding.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Mental illness
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Ableism and Self harm
CW for child neglect, depression, drowning, self harm, mental illness, confinement, forced institutionalization, pyromania, panic attack, violence.patch's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Forced institutionalization
sapphirebubble_'s review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
K. Ancrum, please take all my money and keep giving me such books!
Trigger Warnings for the book: depression, drug dealing, hallucinations, hospitalization, pyromania, violence, separation anxiety
Representation: bisexual main character with anorexia, anxiety and depression; bisexual main character with peduncular hallucinosis, an Indian Sikh love interest/side character polyamorous relationship
To say that this book is mindbending is an understatement. The Wicker King destroys and builds its reality piece by piece in such a fascinating manner that it leaves you in awe, and thirsty to drink it all in. It defies all expectations and is something out of this world with its particular format and building of world and characters.
There is so much put into this small book. From amazing characters and character arcs to beautiful relationships, wild imagination, the effects of parental and authoritative neglect, the machinations of a small town and its people, and so, so much more.
The Wicker King is full of yearning. Of August and Jack, for each other, for recognition and affection from their parents and from others, for something more. It was really incredible to see this weirdly affectionate, toxic, needy relationship that August and Jack had with each other. They couldn't help but want to possess each other because they had so little. Even though they came from different backgrounds, the way they molded until they fit each other perfectly to make the most of their circumstances, being the best support for each other in their small world and yet, also leading each other to destruction - it was beautiful, painful, mesmerising, heartbreaking.
Rina was my favourite character, on account of her being South Asian (an Indian Sikh) and also because even though she finds herself in a similar situation to Jack and August, she deals with it very differently. Even though, she realises what they are doing is not good and they require help, she allows them to breathe in their space and make their own decisions rather than forcing them. As teenagers, there are some things that we cannot let others figure out for us and Rina understands that, not fully supporting the boys but not shunning them either.
The Wicker King is a story of neglect and found family. I loved how it portrayed both of these in such a gray manner. You can say that the grass wasn't greener on either side, but it was more bearable on one. It is not a happy ending, but not a terrible one either and I think that pretty much encapsulates how life can be.
There is a lot of ugliness to the relationship that Jack and August have, and somehow that made me love this even more. Highly recommended.
Trigger Warnings for the book: depression, drug dealing, hallucinations, hospitalization, pyromania, violence, separation anxiety
Representation: bisexual main character with anorexia, anxiety and depression; bisexual main character with peduncular hallucinosis, an Indian Sikh love interest/side character polyamorous relationship
To say that this book is mindbending is an understatement. The Wicker King destroys and builds its reality piece by piece in such a fascinating manner that it leaves you in awe, and thirsty to drink it all in. It defies all expectations and is something out of this world with its particular format and building of world and characters.
There is so much put into this small book. From amazing characters and character arcs to beautiful relationships, wild imagination, the effects of parental and authoritative neglect, the machinations of a small town and its people, and so, so much more.
The Wicker King is full of yearning. Of August and Jack, for each other, for recognition and affection from their parents and from others, for something more. It was really incredible to see this weirdly affectionate, toxic, needy relationship that August and Jack had with each other. They couldn't help but want to possess each other because they had so little. Even though they came from different backgrounds, the way they molded until they fit each other perfectly to make the most of their circumstances, being the best support for each other in their small world and yet, also leading each other to destruction - it was beautiful, painful, mesmerising, heartbreaking.
Rina was my favourite character, on account of her being South Asian (an Indian Sikh) and also because even though she finds herself in a similar situation to Jack and August, she deals with it very differently. Even though, she realises what they are doing is not good and they require help, she allows them to breathe in their space and make their own decisions rather than forcing them. As teenagers, there are some things that we cannot let others figure out for us and Rina understands that, not fully supporting the boys but not shunning them either.
The Wicker King is a story of neglect and found family. I loved how it portrayed both of these in such a gray manner. You can say that the grass wasn't greener on either side, but it was more bearable on one. It is not a happy ending, but not a terrible one either and I think that pretty much encapsulates how life can be.
There is a lot of ugliness to the relationship that Jack and August have, and somehow that made me love this even more. Highly recommended.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Violence, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Sexual content and Toxic relationship
piperlee's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This book feels difficult to review. Maybe it’s one that I’ll have to mull over for a while before I really get a grasp on it. The book itself is dark and almost tragic, following the story of two teen boys, both neglected by their parents, who fall deeper and deeper into codependency and unhealthy patterns until everything seems to crash down around them.
I didn’t love the story itself or the writing style, but I still felt drawn to the book - I think because of how the author writes such complexity into the characters and their relationship. I expected the focus of the story to be on Jack’s hallucinations and how August helped him cope, but the story really centered on the nature of their friendship and how it evolved as Jack grew more and more lost in his own world.
As I read, I was worried that the author was romanticizing Jack’s mental illness and his unhealthy and borderline abusive relationship with August. But as I kept reading, I saw that the author was simply portraying the real consequences of neglect and codependency and allowing us to uncover the dark nature at the same pace as the characters. While difficult to read at some points, I found this creative writing style also drew me in.
For me, the best part was the author’s note at the end - without it, the book would have felt incomplete. In the note. K. Ankrum describes her intention in how she portrayed the characters and scenarios, highlighting the seriousness of neglect and the future relational damage it can create, as well as demonstrating how failure of other adult figures to address signs of need in students can only create more damage. I found the note really insightful and helped me to see the story in a different light.
Also! I loved the mixed media inclusions as well as how the pages changed color as Jack plunged deeper into his own world. Details like that are my fav.
I didn’t love the story itself or the writing style, but I still felt drawn to the book - I think because of how the author writes such complexity into the characters and their relationship. I expected the focus of the story to be on Jack’s hallucinations and how August helped him cope, but the story really centered on the nature of their friendship and how it evolved as Jack grew more and more lost in his own world.
As I read, I was worried that the author was romanticizing Jack’s mental illness and his unhealthy and borderline abusive relationship with August. But as I kept reading, I saw that the author was simply portraying the real consequences of neglect and codependency and allowing us to uncover the dark nature at the same pace as the characters. While difficult to read at some points, I found this creative writing style also drew me in.
For me, the best part was the author’s note at the end - without it, the book would have felt incomplete. In the note. K. Ankrum describes her intention in how she portrayed the characters and scenarios, highlighting the seriousness of neglect and the future relational damage it can create, as well as demonstrating how failure of other adult figures to address signs of need in students can only create more damage. I found the note really insightful and helped me to see the story in a different light.
Also! I loved the mixed media inclusions as well as how the pages changed color as Jack plunged deeper into his own world. Details like that are my fav.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Child abuse and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Drug use, Homophobia, and Panic attacks/disorders
moonlit_paperbacks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
ollieshark's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
i don't know what i was getting into when i got this on kindle. i definitely wasn't expecting having to squint to read the text on the images interspersed throughout the novel, but they were pleasant additions that probably look way better in a hard copy. i was also pleasantly surprised by the turn jack and august's relationship takes at the end of the novel.
there are very few issues i have with the wicker king. one is that the timeline is all jumbled while jack and august are on the quest and learning more about jack's world. there are a lot of timeskips during this portion, and other than taking place mostly in 2003, i have no idea when all of these events take place in relation to each other. my other really big gripe is why the hell are there so many graphic, gratuitous sex scenes in a ya novel? only one is necessary to the story, and the others feel thrown in just to lengthen the story and to make readers hot. at least ancrum doesn't beat around the bush with them the way sarah j maas and her velvet-wrapped steel does.
the reason for jack's visions also feels a little cop-outy. i do realize that it's an extremely serious thing and that i probably shouldn't feel this way about it. it gives me "it was all a dream" vibes, but real people experience it and i feel like a dick for complaining about it.
other than that, i really enjoyed the narrative choices ancrum made. i loved the vignettes. normally i'd whine about telling instead of showing, but in this case it works because waxing poetic would make the vignettes chapters instead. it leads to a remote, detached narrator, like the whole thing is happening in another room in relation to you. it's very clinical while not being dry, and i appreciate it. the supplemental images thrown in strengthen the narrative, as it helps to have a visual on what august and jack are drawing and seeing rather than just hearing jack describe it all. it's also a really fast read as a result, and i would have finished it in one day if i hadn't fucked around watching bad horror movie reviews all day.
this is a good, atmospheric, moody read for fall, winter, and very early spring when it's still cold out. this could be potentially triggering due to its heavy focus on mental illness, but a great story otherwise.
there are very few issues i have with the wicker king. one is that the timeline is all jumbled while jack and august are on the quest and learning more about jack's world. there are a lot of timeskips during this portion, and other than taking place mostly in 2003, i have no idea when all of these events take place in relation to each other. my other really big gripe is why the hell are there so many graphic, gratuitous sex scenes in a ya novel? only one is necessary to the story, and the others feel thrown in just to lengthen the story and to make readers hot. at least ancrum doesn't beat around the bush with them the way sarah j maas and her velvet-wrapped steel does.
the reason for jack's visions also feels a little cop-outy. i do realize that it's an extremely serious thing and that i probably shouldn't feel this way about it. it gives me "it was all a dream" vibes, but real people experience it and i feel like a dick for complaining about it.
other than that, i really enjoyed the narrative choices ancrum made. i loved the vignettes. normally i'd whine about telling instead of showing, but in this case it works because waxing poetic would make the vignettes chapters instead. it leads to a remote, detached narrator, like the whole thing is happening in another room in relation to you. it's very clinical while not being dry, and i appreciate it. the supplemental images thrown in strengthen the narrative, as it helps to have a visual on what august and jack are drawing and seeing rather than just hearing jack describe it all. it's also a really fast read as a result, and i would have finished it in one day if i hadn't fucked around watching bad horror movie reviews all day.
this is a good, atmospheric, moody read for fall, winter, and very early spring when it's still cold out. this could be potentially triggering due to its heavy focus on mental illness, but a great story otherwise.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Addiction and Violence
Minor: Homophobia and Terminal illness
camillou's review against another edition
4.0
The story was gripping, intense, and getting darker and darker with each new pages. I liked reading this book, reading the story of these characters: following the descent in hell for the characters was agony. It was heart-wrenching, hard, sad, and at times, I felt like I was trapped, unable to properly breathe.
I liked the format, the shorts chapters and the little things that were added along the way, whether it was files, playlists or just pictures and drawings. I read the ebook edition, but I know the physical copy has drawing and pages darkening as you move forward in the story, and I think it adds another level in the experience of reading this story.
However, there are other things that didn’t work for me, especially the ending and how the characters, in a relationship both important but toxic for them, still ended up together (though, I understand the need for a hopeful ending). I think it could have been more impactful, and I felt a little bit underwhelmed by the ending. I also couldn't really relate fully to the characters, except for a few times, but I felt deeply for them.
The author’s note is really important and touched me deeply. It gave even more meaning to the entire story.
I believe that The Wicker King is a book that will stick with me for a while.
I liked the format, the shorts chapters and the little things that were added along the way, whether it was files, playlists or just pictures and drawings. I read the ebook edition, but I know the physical copy has drawing and pages darkening as you move forward in the story, and I think it adds another level in the experience of reading this story.
However, there are other things that didn’t work for me, especially the ending and how the characters, in a relationship both important but toxic for them, still ended up together (though, I understand the need for a hopeful ending). I think it could have been more impactful, and I felt a little bit underwhelmed by the ending. I also couldn't really relate fully to the characters, except for a few times, but I felt deeply for them.
The author’s note is really important and touched me deeply. It gave even more meaning to the entire story.
I believe that The Wicker King is a book that will stick with me for a while.
« Do your best to be brave, but it is okay not to be.
If you drop the weight you’re carrying, it is okay. You can build yourself back up out of the pieces.
If your mind stops listening to you, it’s not your fault. There are billions of us; you are not alone.
And lastly, whoever you are:
I am so so proud of you. »
TW: mental-illness (one of the main characters has a degenerative hallucinatory disorder), codependency, anxiety, violence, abuse, neglect
—————————————◆
buddy read with the Dragons & Tea book club.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse
nickoliver's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Panic attacks/disorders
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