The Wicker King (The Wicker King, #1)

by K. Ancrum

[nitzan_schwarz]

Wow.

Just... wow.

It's been five hours since I finished reading The Wicker King and my chest is still heavy and these boys are still at the forefront of my mind. When I started reading today I was on page 60, and I wasn't planning to finish it. I was in the middle of a thousand other things and I was just taking a short break. That turned into a really long break, and two and a half hours later I blinked and looked up from my book and wondered what the hell I just went through.

The Wicker King is the story of two boys who make terrible judgment calls. They don't do the smart thing, but the more you read of them and their lives the more you understand they probably couldn't, because their entire lives, they were the only ones taking care of each other. August and Jake simply don't believe in anything but each other. It was heartbreaking and nerve wrecking because you know that if they just get help things would be better, but you understand.

The relationship between the boys is complex and wrapped. They are wrapped around and in each other. That's an aspect of the book that I loved, and I definitely want to see more of these characters, after the events of The Wicked King.

And Jack is allowed to be completely mad, not two ways about it, which I love,even if he gets cured in the end. The fact the author sprinkled enough hints of this through the novel, letting us as the readers understand far before August or Jack does that his hallucinations are a symptom and not the illness made thing both harder and easier. Harder because I knew he needed medical help, and Jack & August's refusal to seek professional aid made me anxious, but also easier because I didn't feel "cheated" by the end when he was returned to normal.

This book is also a very unique experience, using not only mixed media but also a unique writing and presentation style that took me a moment to get used to but then captured me completely.

I'm having a hard time explaining how I feel about this novel and these characters. Maybe the best thing I can say is that I will probably re-read this one, perhaps even before the year is over.

PS I'm two for two on Cait recommendations and so I pretty much will read aNYTHING this girl recommends.