All Hail The King...

The Wicker King (The Wicker King #1)

by K. Ancrum

Hardcover, 320 pages

Published October 31st 2017 by Imprint

ISBN 9781250101549

Checked Out From Library

About:

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

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. (Goodreads)

Rating: 4 Stars

Review:

This was definitely a different type of read. Hard core mental health and child neglect. You really get follow the characters into the imaginary world that Jack’s illness creates and at some parts, even though you know it’s all in his head, I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe what he was seeing is real and maybe the book was going to have a fantasy twist to it. At times I almost got a “Bridge To Terrabithia” vibe. Imaginary rulers and fighting off the bad creatures. There’s even a scene by the river where someone almost drowns. Only in the end of this book no one dies, the boys are in High School, and the hallucinations are not part of a game. 

The way the book is formatted with the pages getting darker in color until they are completely black as the hallucinations get worse and worse is genius. It really makes you follow the dark spiral that Jack and August are experiencing. I also liked how the story was from August’s point of view. He’s been neglected for most of his life, and so has Jack. August becomes almost like a parent to Jack (even though they’re the same age), and believes it’s his job to take care of Jack no matter what. That’s why when Jack starts having hallucinations they try to solve the problem on their own. Even though they have friends who offer help or tell them to find outside help our two main characters seem to have trouble trusting outside help. 

I found myself feeling bad for the boys and rooting for them to figure out some way to fix their problem and find a way to a better life. I did not like that the chapters are only a page or two long. I ended up ignoring all the headings and just read the story text straight through. It made more sense to me that way. I loved that the author added document photos (like detention slips, medical forms, etc.), drawings, playlists for characters, and scribbled on photos of the boys. It gave the story a special extra something. While at times the story was confusing, I feel like that was done porously so that we as readers could get the same feelings as the characters. 

This book was a very different take on mental health and what those not afflicted with the “illness” will do to stand by their loved ones. I loved the friendship between the boys, that leads to more in the end. Older teens who are into the mental health read trend will gobble this book up. Younger teens might be turned off by the drug dealing, sex, and swearing. 

I’m going to leave this review with two photos from part of the author’s note to the readers. I don’t think I could say it better than they did: