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A review by evandegrift1
The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos
3.0
I feel conflicted with this book. I picked it up because I saw a Booktuber talk about it and it seemed like an incredibly unique story. And it was. But it was done horribly.
For the first 1/3 of the book I was bored. Nothing happens. A 95 year old family member dies. Sad, but she was 95 and had only been in one brief scene up until that point so I didn’t have any emotional attachments to her. But basically everything is really vague and boring.
Finally things started to pick up a bit. You learn what Ruby and her cousin Cece saw for their “Time” and both are sad. The LGBTQ characters are revealed here. This was the first book I’ve ever read with a trans character and I felt that it was well written. It was all very PG13 but I believe this is supposed to be a YA book so that’s fine. A lot of mysteries and secrets are revealed in this part of the book. I was constantly wondering what was REALLY going on.
Then came the final 1/3 of the book, which is where those 3 stars went. The 3 stars I took off might be found hiding wherever the ending of this story is hiding. Because WTF? First of all, Ruby is revealed to be a HUGE moron who actually thought that the bracelet she was told to steal from her “enemy” was the sacrifice itself. Then there is the big climactic ending but Ruby and Cece run away and we don’t get to know what happens. At all. There are a ton of questions left unanswered. Nothing is resolved. I thought maybe this was meant to be a series but apparently it’s not.
Ruby’s relationship with Dov is the only part of this book that I enjoyed. It was sweet, the dialogue was realistic, and I liked them as a couple. The rest is boring and pointless
For the first 1/3 of the book I was bored. Nothing happens. A 95 year old family member dies. Sad, but she was 95 and had only been in one brief scene up until that point so I didn’t have any emotional attachments to her. But basically everything is really vague and boring.
Finally things started to pick up a bit. You learn what Ruby and her cousin Cece saw for their “Time” and both are sad. The LGBTQ characters are revealed here. This was the first book I’ve ever read with a trans character and I felt that it was well written. It was all very PG13 but I believe this is supposed to be a YA book so that’s fine. A lot of mysteries and secrets are revealed in this part of the book. I was constantly wondering what was REALLY going on.
Then came the final 1/3 of the book, which is where those 3 stars went. The 3 stars I took off might be found hiding wherever the ending of this story is hiding. Because WTF? First of all, Ruby is revealed to be a HUGE moron who actually thought that the bracelet she was told to steal from her “enemy” was the sacrifice itself. Then there is the big climactic ending but Ruby and Cece run away and we don’t get to know what happens. At all. There are a ton of questions left unanswered. Nothing is resolved. I thought maybe this was meant to be a series but apparently it’s not.
Ruby’s relationship with Dov is the only part of this book that I enjoyed. It was sweet, the dialogue was realistic, and I liked them as a couple. The rest is boring and pointless