The Wicker King

This book is bizarre and that's making it hard for me to shelve it. It takes place in an (albeit far-fetched) version of the “real world” but, due to a specific type of mental illness, there are a lot of fantastical elements.

August and Jack are lifelong friends but when Jack starts experiencing hallucinations that gradually get worse and more encompassing, August chooses to play along out of a grandiose sense of obligation, instead of thinking that Jack would instead benefit from some actual medical help. August ignoring all the signs that Jack is actually ill finally coalesce to them being sentenced to criminal psych ward separated by order, though while there Jack finally gets the treatment he needed.

I ended up really enjoying the story because of how weird it is but also really enjoyed August and Jack as characters as well as their own friendship. There were several moments where it seemed a little too far flung from reality but I think that added to the charm of the story as a whole. This book isn't going to be for everyone but it's one that I won't be forgetting soon.

This book was messy. It was messy in the way that you felt a knot tighten in your chest just hoping for someone, anyone, to step in and help these characters. I had been looking for a book that I could devour and Ancrum delivered.

I was really worried that this book was going to be a long drawn out queerbait. Instead it was about neglect on multiple levels from those who should've shown up for Jack and August. It was about neglect even within their own relationship because of the weight that both boys had to carry.

It did end up feeling more like a journal with the added touches of the mixtapes, notes, and detention slips.

If any of this book interested in I would say just try it out. It did not leave me disappointed.