Week 24 Reviews: The Wicker King, The Legend of the Golden Raven

From Goodreads:

The Wicker King is a psychological young adult thriller that follows two friends struggling as one spirals into madness.

Jack once saved August's life…now can August save him?

August is a misfit with a pyro streak and Jack is a golden boy on the varsity rugby team—but their intense friendship goes way back. Jack begins to see increasingly vivid hallucinations that take the form of an elaborate fantasy kingdom creeping into the edges of the real world. With their parents’ unreliable behavior, August decides to help Jack the way he always has—on his own. He accepts the visions as reality, even when Jack leads them on a quest to fulfill a dark prophecy.

August and Jack alienate everyone around them as they struggle with their sanity, free falling into the surreal fantasy world that feels made for them. In the end, each one must choose his own truth.

Written in vivid micro-fiction with a stream-of-consciousness feel and multimedia elements, K. Ancrum's The Wicker King touches on themes of mental health and explores a codependent relationship fraught with tension, madness and love.

From Goodreads:

K. Ancrum's The Legend of the Golden Raven novella, part fairy tale and part gritty reality, follows a boy as he descends into madness.

August and Jack weren't meant to be friends. One is a misfit with a pyro streak and the other a golden boy on the rugby team. But as their relationship intensifies, Jack slowly begins to lose his mind—taking readers on an intimate journey into the fantasy kingdom creeping into the edges of his world.

As the novella moves back and forth between a medieval legend and our own, contemporary world, nothing is as it seems. The boys alienate everyone around them as they struggle with their sanity and as Jack's quest to fulfill a dark prophecy begins to consume them both . . .

Devour this companion novella to The Wicker King.

My Review:

I loved reading these books! I had some really great things about the Wicker King, and it absolutely lived up to them! The wondering if Jack was really seeing something magic, or if his brain was seeing things for him, I had to know! And oh, The Wicker King was just really great and unique, with some creative details to help tell the story, with the pages changing colours as the story goes on.

I honestly felt so bad for August and Jack. Jack is August's best friend, no matter that they on paper don't fit. And he knows Jack is going through something-but he doesn't know how best to help him, and it's an awful situation to be in. 

This was a story about these two boys, and I'm really glad that it exists! I adore their relationship, even through some pretty terrible bumps in the road. Where they ended up, that was really fantastic to read. And it makes me wonder how The Weight of Stars will be set in this same world...So excited to find out! 

I really enjoyed Legend of the Golden Raven, getting Jack's perspective was really great, and seeing this world that he was experiencing was great, if a little sad, knowing from the Wicker King what was going on. But it was really great to get his side of the story! 

Loved reading these, and I can't wait to read more by K. Ancrum! 

Author: K. Ancrum
Series: The Wicker King #1, 1.5
Read: June 12th, 12th, 2021
Source: Ebook.bike
Reason Why: Sounded really great, and they're Prequel & Sequel Challenge Books, and The Wicker King is a DAC Book and The Legend of the Golden Raven is a End of Series 2021 Book!
Publisher: Imprint 
Published: October 31st 2017, October 31st 2017

The Wicker King:

5/5 Hearts

4/5 Books

4.5/5 Stars

The Legend of the Golden Raven:

5/5 Hearts

4/5 Books

4/5 Stars