A review by sarahcvo
The Wicked and the Just by J. Anderson Coats

3.0

I wanted to like this book more than I did. As historical fiction it was great - 13th century Wales felt incredibly real, and I learned something about a period of British history that I knew nothing about. But the characters left something to be desired - Cecily was alternately sympathetic and incredibly annoying, and Gwen just didn't seem fully realized to me, so in the end I didn't care that deeply about either one of them. Instead, I ended up caring more about the larger injustice of the English treatment of the Welsh than about any of the people in this novel. Still, I would recommend this to teens who are mature enough to handle the violence and moral ambiguity.