2.12k reviews for:

The Wicker King

K. Ancrum

4.0 AVERAGE


this is one that i heard good things about around when it released and then "never got around to it" and oops maybe it should have stayed that way...

honestly the whole book(and especially the characters) was just really annoying and borderline icky... (kinda romanticizing toxic co-dependent relationships imo) - maybe i just didn't "get it", but yeah it's an overall no from me

This book was like no other that I have ever read. It was mesmerizing, defiantly one of my new favorites.

Second read and I still can’t talk about this book properly I just love it so much.

Third read: I think what I love so much about this book is the affection shown through writing. Also the way this book transports me to another place every time.

visual presentation =A1, with the light to dark pages representing the deteriorating mental health of our two main characters. however, execution of the story was not there... the writing style was not my cup of tea. i understood that the characters were codependent before the book even said it, but it was portrayed in weird ways sometimes and this book was just not what i expected. i wanted a book of pure friendship & psychological fantasy; i wasn't expecting as many romantic elements in it, and i wasn't into it at all. i only felt somewhat connected to the characters after reading the author's note where she put the explanation into normal words rather than this weird prose-but-kinda-verse writing style lol.

Sooo, i'm not 100% sure how I feel about this book. There are some problematic things but I feel like for the sake of the story I was pretty on board with it and found myself captivated and very interested in seeing what would happen. It was interesting, not a favorite but not bad either. I can see why some people would really like it.

For more thoughts check out my Reading Vlog: https://youtu.be/3pIbyhFoAeo

I have a hard time rating this book. It was the kind of book where none of the chapters were really that special, but the book as a whole kinda was.
And that author's note hit me hard, I was crying the whole time. Mad respect for authors who try to shine light on a broader problem with their work!

Holy crap! I loved every second of this.

I highly recommend reading physically because the mixed media and the page changes added to the eerieness and intenseness of the story.

Plot 5 
Characters 5 
World-building 5 
Writing 5 
Enjoyment 5 

This book is like nothing I have ever read before and I loved it so much! Could not put it down! 

This was beautiful. I loved it. I read it in like 3 sittings.

Visually this is a gorgeous book, and explores some hard hitting topics. It ticked a lot of my favourite boxes (codependency eyy) so I'm probably rating it a bit higher than it deserves, but I enjoyed it and got a little weepy at the end. 

A fantastical and tension-filled story, let down by how choppy and disjointed the writing is. 

If you've ever watched Mirrormask it feels very that! If you've read this but haven't watched Mirrormask, watch it!

I'm going to need a while to recover from this book

So... This book absolutely wrecked me emotionally. I didn't even think I would give this 5 stars until the very last 100 pages, but oh, when it hit, it hit hard.

This book made me cry and it made me scream with frustration because oh my god, they were just kids they should never be forced to deal with this kind of stuff on their own. But at the same time it was almost comforting to see a character struggle so much to help his mentally ill friend and to be assured that, even when he was failing, he did the best he could.

I still struggle to find right words to describe this story so instead I'm going to say how it felt.

It felt like holding someone so tightly and not tightly enough at the same time because what if there's no one else to hold them when you let go?

It felt like watching something so wrong and so intimate at the same time, the codependency and toxicity of main characters' relationship, the wrecked beauty of it.