A review by betwixt_the_pages
The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos

5.0

Ruby Chernyavsky has been told the stories since she was a child: The women in her family, once possessed of great magical abilities to remake lives and stave off death itself, were forced to flee their Russian home for America in order to escape the fearful men who sought to destroy them. Such has it always been, Ruby’s been told, for powerful women. Today, these stories seem no more real to Ruby than folktales, except for the smallest bit of power left in their blood: when each of them comes of age, she will have a vision of who she will be when she dies—a destiny as inescapable as it is inevitable. Ruby is no exception, and neither is her mother, although she ran from her fate years ago, abandoning Ruby and her sisters. It’s a fool’s errand, because they all know the truth: there is no escaping one’s Time.

Until Ruby’s great-aunt Polina passes away, and, for the first time, a Chernyavsky’s death does not match her vision. Suddenly, things Ruby never thought she’d be allowed to hope for—life, love, time—seem possible. But as she and her cousin Cece begin to dig into the family’s history to find out whether they, too, can change their fates, they learn that nothing comes without a cost. Especially not hope.

Rating: 5/5 Penguins
Quick Reasons: I'm sorry, give me a moment to pick my heart shards back up off the floor; LGBTQIA+ diversity for the win; Russian folklore and magical realism; purple prose; THAT ENDING THOUGH?!?!?!?!?!?!

HUGE thanks to Rebecca Podos, Balzer + Bray Publishing, Fantastic Flying Book Club, and Edelweiss for sending a complimentary egalley of this title my way! This in no format altered my read of or opinions on this book.

This was the legacy of Solnyshko, Zvyodochka, and Zerkal'tse. Deep green eyes, greatly weakened gifts, and the stories their mother--the granddaughter of the woman in the woods--told them in their beds in the old brick house. Each night, she passed along what diminished wisdom their ancestors had brought with them to their new home, this foremost: that the world has never been very kind to powerful women.

My goodness, Penguins, if this book didn't do something to my heart. I blame it entirely on Rebecca Podos's ability to slither between the bones with her colorful, richly painted prose and allow her characters to breathe from the essence of all the things that complete you. I got sucked in from the very beginning, and now I can't quite seem to find a way to suck myself back out, because THAT ENDING!!! As said a few times throughout this read, stories sometimes lie...and I can't quite make up my mind on whether or not that was entirely the point of how this story ends.

I really dig the LGBTQIA+ representation in this read. The characters are well-rounded and almost fully fleshed out, though I'll admit to being just a teensy bit overwhelmed at the beginning of this journey. It took me just a moment to fully wrap my head around the fact that I wasn't, perhaps, going to be given all the answers all at once. That I might, just maybe, be required to work a little to keep certain plot lines straight. Not for any BAD reasons, but because there are a lot of secrets hiding between these characters...and that leads to a LOT of unexpected twists (and reader whiplash) along the way.

"Stories are living things, Ruby, not just ink on a page. Stories are power. They're born, and they grow with time, and they die off if they're not cared for or fed. They exist to fulfill a purpose. They can be dangerous. And sometimes, they lie."

The Wise and the Wicked was wild from start to finish, and I am so very happy that I was given the opportunity to read it! Between the beautifully written characters, purple prose, and lush (albeit often surprising) world-building, my head was spinning by the end of this journey in all the right ways. I'd definitely recommend this read to lovers of magical realism, Russian folklore, and endings that leave a LOT of room for interpretation. You don't know what you don't know until you force yourself to learn it, Penguins...and even then, sometimes, you're not meant to.