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A review by fallingletters
The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos
3.0
Review originally published 21 May 2019 at Falling Letters
On first glance, I might consider The Wise and the Wicked a read alike to a number of other YA novels I loved: [b: The Devouring Gray|36535913|The Devouring Gray|Christine Lynn Herman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1543850974s/36535913.jpg|58262762] (small town, families with powers and dark past), [b: The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender|18166936|The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender|Leslye Walton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1397110326s/18166936.jpg|21445699] (immigrant family, generational story, fabulism), [b: The Weight of Feathers|20734002|The Weight of Feathers|Anna-Marie McLemore|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1498056987s/20734002.jpg|40061982] (romance, muddled family feud). But in many ways, this book just didn’t click for me like those ones.
The prose style and characters’ behaviours are far more contemporary than I usually read. The fabulism aspects technically drive the plot but they felt more like a backdrop than the driving force of the story. I felt like there were gaps in the story that made it less compelling than it could have been. Snippets of fairy tales, family history, and a podcast are included throughout but I didn’t find them very interesting. (I don’t think the podcast was necessary, though I’m biased against podcasts to begin with.) I didn’t connect with any of the characters. While I don’t think there was anything particularly bad about this book (if i was trying to be objective, I might say the plot is a bit dry given its execution and the narrative style), this clearly wasn’t the right book for me.
To paraphrase the above in a more helpful way: If you prefer more fairy tale than contemporary, you can probably skip The Wise and the Wicked.
I didn’t know to expect queer rep so that was at least a pleasant surprise. (Can you tell this was my first Podos novel? :P) There are lesbian, bi, and trans characters. In some instances these identities are important to the narrative and in others they are incidental. Romantic relationships play a larger role than I expected. But, I did find the story became a bit more interesting when Dov started to play a larger role (he’s a nice kid).
The Bottom Line: While this book holds a lot of the appeal factors I look for in YA fiction, Podos doesn’t execute them in the style that I prefer. I imagine this story appealing to others who read and enjoy a broader range of YA novels than I do.
On first glance, I might consider The Wise and the Wicked a read alike to a number of other YA novels I loved: [b: The Devouring Gray|36535913|The Devouring Gray|Christine Lynn Herman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1543850974s/36535913.jpg|58262762] (small town, families with powers and dark past), [b: The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender|18166936|The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender|Leslye Walton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1397110326s/18166936.jpg|21445699] (immigrant family, generational story, fabulism), [b: The Weight of Feathers|20734002|The Weight of Feathers|Anna-Marie McLemore|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1498056987s/20734002.jpg|40061982] (romance, muddled family feud). But in many ways, this book just didn’t click for me like those ones.
The prose style and characters’ behaviours are far more contemporary than I usually read. The fabulism aspects technically drive the plot but they felt more like a backdrop than the driving force of the story. I felt like there were gaps in the story that made it less compelling than it could have been. Snippets of fairy tales, family history, and a podcast are included throughout but I didn’t find them very interesting. (I don’t think the podcast was necessary, though I’m biased against podcasts to begin with.) I didn’t connect with any of the characters. While I don’t think there was anything particularly bad about this book (if i was trying to be objective, I might say the plot is a bit dry given its execution and the narrative style), this clearly wasn’t the right book for me.
To paraphrase the above in a more helpful way: If you prefer more fairy tale than contemporary, you can probably skip The Wise and the Wicked.
I didn’t know to expect queer rep so that was at least a pleasant surprise. (Can you tell this was my first Podos novel? :P) There are lesbian, bi, and trans characters. In some instances these identities are important to the narrative and in others they are incidental. Romantic relationships play a larger role than I expected. But, I did find the story became a bit more interesting when Dov started to play a larger role (he’s a nice kid).
The Bottom Line: While this book holds a lot of the appeal factors I look for in YA fiction, Podos doesn’t execute them in the style that I prefer. I imagine this story appealing to others who read and enjoy a broader range of YA novels than I do.