Thursday, March 29, 2018

The Wicker King by Ancrum - OPTIONAL

Ancrum, K. The Wicker King, 305 pages. Imprint, 2017. $18. Language: (56 swears, 60 “f”); Mature Content: R; Violence: PG-13

August and Jack have been friends since childhood and both of their parents do not have a huge influence in their lives. August’s parents are divorced and his mom suffers from depression. Jack’s parents are always away on business trips. When Jack starts to see hallucinations from another world, he turns to August to cope. He tells August that they are needed to save this other world that Jack is seeing. As they fulfill the quest things start to get more and more dangerous for everyone involved and Jack has a harder time distinguishing what is real and what is not.

This book was quick and easy to get into with the visuals and one page chapters that draws the reader in. The characters felt real and as the story went on the pages get darker and darker just like their situation. It dealt with mental illness and codependency of the two boys involved in the story. There was teen sex and drug abuse in the book that didn’t get too graphic. I found it was just another story of two boys with no adult influence and if they had listened to their peers and gone to an adult or if an adult had taken the time to notice they were struggling then it would not have gotten as bad as it did. Definitely only for high school because of the mature content.

HS- OPTIONAL. AlleeLS


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