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massivepizzacrust's review
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
2.75
I'm not sure it's fair to give this book such a low rating because most of it is about me disliking ambiguous endings. But to me a 3 star book is okay, not something that upset me. And there are ambiguous endings... and then there is this ending. It was hard to believe this was a standalone.
I guess it's very clever that the ending echoes the podcast and the idea of not knowing what the rest of your life would be. But come on, there was an active fight going on at the end of the book, with major side characters possibly dead. We don't really get any explanation to what happened in the past either, or even a conversation between the two families where they get to discuss their versions of history and promise not to try to kill each other's kids? It's hard to believe the (admittedly very cute) relationships will survive all this drama, which kinda leaves us with nothing.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Fatphobia, Bullying, Vomit, Transphobia, Sexual content, and Murder
steffiraquel's review against another edition
I'm so upset I got triggered, I was really enjoying this :(
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Death
Minor: Racism, Body shaming, Violence, and Alcohol
e_flah's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The Wise and the Wicked started out strong for me and seemed to lose its appeal toward the end. The story is atmospheric and character-driven as it follows Ruby's journey to uncover her family's secrets. The pacing is slow but works for the story. My curiosity about Ruby's family was strong enough to keep me reading until I felt invested in Ruby. The odd part of the pacing, though, was that the last 25% or so felt very rushed yet also incomplete. There are many threads that the story had been slowly exploring for a majority of the book only to suddenly throw in some action and call these things "resolved." It just didn't quite fit with the rest of the story, which was frustrating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Moderate: Death
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