The Wicker King by K. Ancrum

 

My Rating ~ Five stars

RELEASE DATE: 31 October 2017

Publisher: Imprint

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 309

Blurb

When August learns that his best friend, Jack, shows signs of degenerative hallucinatory disorder, he is determined to help Jack cope. Jack’s vivid and long-term visions take the form of an elaborate fantasy world layered over our own—a world ruled by the Wicker King. As Jack leads them on a quest to fulfill a dark prophecy in this alternate world, even August begins to question what is real or not.

August and Jack struggle to keep afloat as they teeter between fantasy and their own emotions. In the end, each must choose his own truth.

 

 

Review

This was the most desperately heartbreaking book I’ve ever read.  I just wanted to gather both of these boys up and give them the support they both desperately needed.  The way they were both neglected by every adult around them, and therefore, it was their default to just try and fix such a difficult issue on their own, is awful and all too real for so many teenagers.  Their co-dependant relationship was something I’ve not seen addressed in many YA books before.  I related to August and Jack’s friends so much because years ago I had to watch a similar unhealthy relationship unfold between two boys I know.  I was an adult and I still didn’t know how to deal with their situation, or whether help was even what they needed.  I’m almost 40 years old and I still look around for an adult when issues seem too adulty for me, so I just feel so much heartache for kids who have to deal with stuff they just shouldn’t have to.  The mental health rep in this book was so great.

I’m finding it hard to even put into words the way this book made me feel.  You know the ones that just leave you staring at the wall afterwards, like maybe they stole a little piece of your heart?  That was this book.  The formatting was AMAZING.  As Jack and August’s world spiralled down, the pages get darker and had doodles in the margins.  The chapters are short and choppy, which I adored and there are copies of detention slips and police reports and even a recipe (totally going to leave this cake recipe lying around in the hope a more adulty adult will make them for me).

 

Photo via my Instagram account – Bookbookowl

 

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