The Wicker King (The Wicker King, #1)

by K. Ancrum

[alindstadtcorbeax]

Star Rating: 4.5 Stars

Holy F. What a heart wrenching, beautiful queer love story. One of my favorite books ever, hands down! I just want more more more more Jack & August ...I’m begging for more here. Oh and did I say more?

1. More because I loved the book,
2. More because I loved August,
3. More because I loved Jack,
4. More because I loved Jack & August,
5. Also more because the ending?!?! How could she do us like that, man?!?! So short! Way too short!

I feel as if the end of this book is like one of those awkward encounters with someone you don’t know in public that go pretty much like this:
Ending: Oh, Hai!
Me: H—
Ending: Oh sorry, thought you were someone else! Bye-eeee *walks away.*
Me: *thinks wt actual f? Mmmk. How rude.*
Also Me, 2 Minutes Later:
*pines for MORE again and whines on goodreads*

That’s why it lost .5 stars. In case anyone was, um, wondering.

I’m pretty sure throughout this review my undying love for both Jack & August is quite, quite, prominently, obvious, lol- but I also loved the book’s formatting, I loved the story, I loved the writing, and I loved the fact that well... I don’t want to reveal any spoilers, but I really, really loved the ending (with the exception of the topic of my rant above).
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Also; I just want to quickly say:

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS IS SO, SO, SO, IMPORTANT ! ! !

To any of you out there struggling with any type of mental illness (and anyone at all):

You are not flawed; you are perfect. You are beautiful. You are you, & you are lovely.
* Please don’t be afraid to seek help if you suspect you may have symptoms of ANY mental illness .*
____________________

Back to the book:

GOODNESS; I loved well, most of the characters although the character building of the supporting characters is a bit weak IMO. But I’m just in love with the main characters, Jack & August (with their “faults” that aren’t truly their fault, and 100% aren’t actual faults at all. I mean, these are kids in high school- Ignored by both their parents & teachers leaving them with no real resources to properly address the situation and surely no help to rely on. So; they are left to their own devices and a feeling of NEEDING to make things right.

Jack’s state is obviously much more serious than the two realize, and most definitely not just, as August puts it at one point, “bad,” which naturally, August does not, and could not be aware of, or even know how to handle the situation. So, Instead of seeking real help, they do the only thing that they see as an option- to go on the quest calling to Jack in his version of the world, which August, nor anyone else, can see, desperately hoping that completing said quest will “fix Jack
and all of his other problems. August helps him because he sees no other way, and he is desperate for Jack to get better, for the aforementioned reasons.

Needless to say, Jack AND August are BOTH extremely ill, in their own completely different ways, which is revealed little by little, as the book progresses. August’s issues are a little more subdued in comparison to Jack’s, but are none-the-less still there and still just as important.

With all of that said, both boys are just trying to LIVE, trying so very hard to fix the sh*tty situation(s) that they have, quite literally, found themselves in.

They deal with these problems the only way that they know how to. I mean... how could two young kids (seniors in high school) who have been neglected by every single adult in their life and have only had each other for the better part of their lifetimes- be anything BUT extremely loyal to one another, and also extremely & ridiculously ill-equipped to handle the issues at hand?

None of this changes that fact that both of them are so, so, beautiful, so incredibly beautiful, in so many ways. I’m just enamored with these two.

Additionally; The Wicker King covered two parts of the Rubik’s cube that is me, for me (though more #2 than #1 here):

1. The part of me 7 years after graduating college w/ a degree in Psychology: The journey here was both fascinating & eye-opening (I am pretty sure Jack had schizophrenia? It’s been a longgg time lol- and I would never want to misdiagnose!), especially because I’ve never been take on a magical journey through a fictional depiction of something like that, ever! What an original, heart-wrenching story (yes I still was a sap; I just don’t feel defined by my degree anymore and I’m way more in tune with my, & other people’s, emotions... I guess that kinda happens on your freakin way to turning 30 this freakin July.