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Reviews

This ripped my heart out and I was NOT expecting that.

“how do you live like this?” “where we are, it is light. from where i’m standing…it is warm enough.” so, i read this book all in one sitting, and it absolutely wrecked me. i want to go into clinical psychology and this book was a reminder of kids, well they're basically my age, but still of people I want to help. people that feel like the weight of the world is on their shoulders and they don't know what else to do, or just people that are alone and have no one else to turn to. it reminded me of that. i wanted to talk more about the mental health representation in this book. jack is suffering from a hallucinative degenerative disorder; august by the end of the book definitely has anxiety from thinking he is responsible for his mom and jack and possibly ptsd from all the stress of trying to complete the quest. but, the most important message of the whole book, to me, is getting help does not mean you are weak . the majority of the book august takes cares of jack and his mom. it's just what he's always done. but, it starts taking a major toll on him when jack gets worse and worse. he refuses to ask or get jack help. no matter who tells him. the help is forced on him, then he learns about the tumor that caused jack's disorder and how if they didn't catch it soon his disorder would be permanent and he'd get worse. from there he realizes if he would've gotten help, they wouldn't be in any of this mess. so important lesson learned, getting help is okay, no one will think lesser of you. also, the relationship between jack and august is nothing i've seen before. i mean, it's (spoiler) best friends to lovers, but jack is kind of possessive over august, but it's mostly due to this fantasy world that's in his head. but their love for each other is beautifully crafted. jack has been in love with august for a long time, since before his mental illness becomes more and more prominent, as told here: “how long have you been waiting for me?” the words tore themselves roughly from his throat. jack closed his eyes and hung his head in despair. it had been before all of this, then. maybe even earlier. jack waited for him, waited for august to love him back. maybe he couldn't stand to fall out of love with him, or he knew he couldn't love anyone else. but god, that declaration of love from jack, it brought tears to my eyes. “i love you and we don’t need the other world to keep that. it’s just true,” he said. “it always has been. in this world and the next. they could take everything away and leave us with nothing, and i would still love you.” one last thing, the only constant between what jack saw and what was real, was august. and oh my god it just makes me feel things. this book was too good to put down. definitely deserves a 4 star rating.

** spoiler alert ** hoooooooly shit, im actually like speechless at how good this book was, read it one sitting, could quite literally not put it down. the whole thing being a story about love and mental health and what you would do for the person you care about most WHILE ALSO BEING A KID LIKE HOLY SHIT. I totally thought this was going to be some YA magical realism type of book but it was so much better. K. ANCRUM YOU HAVE A NEW FAN OVER HERE OMG !!!

Review to come but: wholesome, codependent boys with a penchant for trouble? Sign me tf up. I adored every bit of it and read it in one afternoon. Jack Rossi you soft beautiful boy. 4.5 stars.

2024 is the year of codependent - life changing friendships for me actually,

Oof. I read so many raving reviews about this book, heard so many people say it was absolutely amazing... But I just did not like this book. I wasn't a fan of August or Jack as characters and the story just felt like a jumble with the super short chapters. Normally, I really like short chapters, but this just felt like the story was all over the place. I will still check out K. Ancrum's other books (and I do also have the novella that goes with this book, so I might read that right now), but unfortunately, The Wicker King just wasn't my favourite.

3.5 this was entertaining and a quick read but i didnt get much out of it!

I think I’d rate this a 3.5 stars. I just finished it so I’m still trying to process my thoughts and feelings on it. I enjoyed it but it didn’t live up to the hype I’d created myself over it. I wish there was more after the end of the book, I’d like to know what happened and how they lived after everything.

a solid four. no less, no more. basically the raven cycle meets these violent delights.

The Wicker King just...completely messed me up. It feels like I got nothing out of it and like I got the whole world out of it, at the same time. This book is important and raw and probably one of the most real books I’ve ever read, even if half of it happens in an imaginary world. This book didn’t make me cry and it didn’t make me smile. It made me think and, most importantly, it made me look inside myself.


Everything “Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe” wish it could be. Absolutely breathtaking.

This book was amazing. The writing was beautiful and the prose was raw and real. Plus the 1st the pages became rough and dirty, sometimes I had to too the book closer to the lamp just read the words, it was amazing. The dark the pages, the dark the story. It was an amazing way to bring the reader into the desperation and madness.

ruined my life and turned me homophobic i hate gay people

Tw: Anxiety, Panic attack, PTSD, Depression, Parental neglect, Degenerative Hallucinatory Disorder, codependency, Pyromania Two kids who were neglected so much that they started being there for each other in whatever way the other one needs. This book is so heavy on triggers so if you read it please be very sure you can sit through it. In the authors note, Ancrum mentions "Now, August and Jack are fictional. They wind up okay in the end. They’ll learn how to love each other with fingertips, instead of claws. They will build a home and a life together, and there they will heal and grow." Yes they will but I hope everyone who had to go through anything remotely similar heals as well.

the reread didn't help. This leaves a bad taste in my mouth and I will get rid of the book.

Stars: 3.5/5

I thought this book was so good! I really liked the mixed media aspect of the story and how the pages went from white to black as the story progressed. I thought it brought another dimension to the story.

Wow! This book was a lot different than I expected, but all I can say now is wow. Full review to follow soon!

4.5 stars This may have been the first time an author's note made me cry? So this took me a little while to get into, this is very much the kind of book in which the most important things happen between the lines, so while the writing was addictive from the start it took a bit for the emotional impact to truly take hold. This was weird and it hurt and I loved it.

I really don't know what to say I really enjoyed it the different formats, the characters, the relationships, how mental and physical health is tackled. How far can imagination travel, that was a book to read!

I just- wow. I flew through this and my whole reading experience was really emotionally charged. I ugly cried, felt despair, and just, learned more about myself through August's pain. I wish I could gift my younger self this book and tell her that she's not alone and that she need not hold all the burden on her own.

This..... was a lot and I don't exactly know how I feel about it.

It is an emotionally real story. I laughed, cried, and raged. I have a feeling this will stick with me for a while. There was a lot to digest. I enjoyed the mixed media format, it made it a hard hitting reading experience.
Highlights
