Words I Write Crazy: Week 49 Reviews: Wicked as You Wish, An Unreliable Magic, The World's End

Saturday, December 9, 2023

Week 49 Reviews: Wicked as You Wish, An Unreliable Magic, The World's End

From Goodreads:
An unforgettable alternative history fairytale series from the author of The Bone Witch trilogy about found family, modern day magic, and finding the place you belong.

Many years ago, the magical Kingdom of Avalon was left desolate and encased in ice when the evil Snow Queen waged war on the powerful country. Its former citizens are now refugees in a world mostly devoid of magic. Which is why the crown prince and his protectors are stuck in...Arizona.

Prince Alexei, the sole survivor of the Avalon royal family, is in hiding in a town so boring, magic doesn't even work there. Few know his secret identity, but his friend Tala is one of them. Tala doesn't mind—she has secrets of her own. Namely, that she's a spellbreaker, someone who negates magic.

Then hope for their abandoned homeland reignites when a famous creature of legend, and Avalon's most powerful weapon, the Firebird, appears for the first time in decades. Alex and Tala unite with a ragtag group of new friends to journey back to Avalon for a showdown that will change the world as they know it.

From Goodreads:

The second book in the A Hundred Names for Magic trilogy, an unforgettable alternative history fairy-tale series from the author of The Bone Witch about found family, modern day magic, and finding the place you belong.

Tala, Alex, and the rest of their friends are safe for now, but know the Snow Queen is still out there. They have to be prepared for when she eventually attacks—and all decide to do so in their own way.

When Ryker comes out of the woodwork, showing himself when he starts attacking American detention facilities and freeing refugees. And the Nameless Sword, a legendary weapon that according to Avalon legend, will make its wielder the most powerful warrior of their time turns up with her name on it, Tala's life gets messier...But when the Snow Queen arrives with an unlikely ally, the group will have to work together.

From Goodreads:

It's been three months since the Snow Queen and OzCorp infiltrated Maidenkeep and nearly seized the Nine Maidens. Ryker is still unconscious after the Snow Queen attacked him and is being monitored at the hospital. Abigail Fey's curse has far-reaching consequences, and many in the Royal States has been using it to stir unrest and hostilities against Avalon. When the Adarna, a firebird-like creature appears in Avalon, the gang discovers it is one of seven magical artifacts that the Snow Queen has been searching for, in her bid to open a portal to Buyan. Determined to find the artifacts first the Bandersnatchers find information about the other five the Lotus Lantern in China, the tamatabeko in Japan, the Pied Piper's Flute and the Singing Bone in Germany, and the raskovnik at World's End, the site where Peter Pan and Captain Hook had fought and had destroyed. The final relic is a portal somewhere inside Wonderland. But the Snow Queen will stop at nothing to get to the relics first. And when one of their own is killed in the fight it takes everything they have to continue the fight to save Avalon once and for all.

My first review of Wicked as You Wish, An Unreliable Magic
My Review:
I loved reading this series through! I loved the first two books the first time, but reading the second book was a bit difficult since it'd been so long, remembering all their names. But this time I got to go back to back to back, and that was so great!

With each book, things grow. The first book ends up being freeing Avalon from the cures that it was under. The second book was dealing with opening back up and the bad guys building up the threat that the pose. And the third and final book is dealing with them once and for all!

This series is very much about social justice, which was both satisfying and not-because it happened, and because it rarely happens just as well in the real world, which sucks. But that, alongside some really great representation, and funny banter makes this series so much fun for me to read!

The whole quest to find these various objects was really cool, to go to different places, explore different cultures and mythologies, as these places and objects were of pretty important value, that's why they were picked to hold the pieces of the bad guys' soul. And boy, did they have to keep their wits, there was some tricky puzzles and dangerous situations afoot!

All of these characters have prophecies (Though West has the best one of just getting married) that throughout the series, start to come to pass. I loved watching how they dealt with them, to have them work out in their best favour, there were some very clever paths taken! And it all wrapped up in the final battle in a very satisfying way-in that not everything ended happening, at least on these pages! It was all jst so fantastic to read and I loved where we left them!

This series was just so good and I loved reading it, and I can't wait to read more by Rin Chupeco!

Author: Rin Chupeco
Series: A Hundred Names for Magic #1, 2, 3
First Read: December 22nd, 2019, November 29th, 2021

Read: December 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 2023
Source: Bought, NetGalley
Reason Why: Rereading! And they're Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2023 Books, and The World's End is a End of Series 2023 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Published: March 3rd 2020, May 3rd 2022, December 5th 2023

Wicked as You Wish: