Reviews with content warning for Child death - The Wishing Game

This was not at all what I thought it would be but I still really enjoyed it. It is not a fast-paced mystery but instead is a very slow intense and heartbreaking mystery. It gave me so much anxiety and was so sad and so heart-wrenching for 90% of it.

I loved every single main character With my whole heart. Christopher is a very well written, realistic 8 year old. Lucy is such a good character because she feels so real. It feels like the author took a person she knows in real life and just wrote her into the story because she has these fully fleshed out thoughts and feelings and reactions and everything she does feels so well suited to the character.

I loved Hugo's povs and would've actually enjoyed more of them. I appreciate that there are so many povs and they work so well together to give an overall, well-rounded perspective of the whole story. Jack feels like a good balance of meddling rich old man and genuinely loving and sweet grandfather. I adore the ending so so much it makes all the anxiety worth it.

I usually deeply dislike any chapters or povs that are not integral to the plot but the chapters where we heard directly from the Clock Island Books were actually enjoyable and useful to the plot and character development.

There are so many good discussions of what makes a family, helping others, love, what it means to be a parent or guardian. There are some terrible things talked about that I was jumpscared by but I thought they were done as well as those topics could be. I also like that Jack is gay and its openly stated and discussed. The narrator was very good.

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sustainably_lucia's review

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hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed the whimsical nature of this book. It addresses some heavy topics with a layer of hope, love, and support around them. It is a beautiful story of found family and finding gratitude for our past, even though it sucked at the time. There were a few things that were overly simplified but I didn’t feel that it detracted from the overall story.

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turrean's review

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hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

The runaway children theme was more than a little alarming. The idea of a TA at a public school breezily coming in late to work because since she knew there was a parent volunteer in the room was so absurd I snorted out loud. I was impatient at the single-mindedness of Lucy’s drive toward her vision of the future, and aghast at the way a child’s hopes were raised in such an unrealistic way.

…And since their happy ending literally (little pun there) needed the intervention of an eccentric multimillionaire philanthropist, and the just-in-time resolution of a child’s phobia,, I think “unrealistic” is putting it mildly. This actually read quite like a kid’s book with some sad scenes and some swear words added in.

The happy ending is clearly on its way from page one, and the honey-sweet story will make a great movie.

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olma's review

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adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Amazing story for the child in all of us. This Willy Wonka story for adults is beautifully written and captivating. I only knocked off a half star because Lucy should never have told Christopher that she was going to be his mom. You should only tell a foster kid that when it is definitely going to happen. The social worker was right, she was getting in the way of Christopher being adopted by someone else. That being said, I obviously loved the story and could “suspend my disbelief” of that aspect for the sake of the story.

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chronologically_charlie's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

So many freakin' things that I disliked about this.
A really slow start. Really weird character relationships. Like...really weird. And I like weird! But this was weird. A really slow and predictable plot. The writing felt flat. I just ugh...

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