The Wicker King by K. Ancrum REVIEW

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Started:13/09/19

Finished: 20/09/19

Spoilers: No

"You burn things all the time these days," Jack said softly. "Would you burn for me?"

Haunting, dark, eerie and utterly weird. Every so often, I'm lucky enough to find strange, twisted little gems like this completely by accident.

This is an incredibly unconventional book, in every sense of the word, and won't be to everyone's taste, I can ganruntee it. But for those brave and daring few readers out there who decide to explore this weird and unsettling little book, you're in for a treat.

I want my review to accurately reflect what this book is about and how it reads, so apologies if things get a little arty and abstract.

Now, first off this book is all about mental health, neglect and dependency, and may be triggering for some readers. Bare that in mind before going in.

Characters Jack and August are best friends from childhood. They're relationship is intense, loyal, unconditional, unapologetic and borderline abusive. They have this sort of love dancing on the line between brothers and lovers. They're both incredibly possessive of one another, but they both like it that way. They sometimes hurt each other physically and emotionally, but this only seems to bring them closer.

Interestingly, Jack's behaviour seems erratic in the beginning, but as the story goes on and his psychosis gets worse, he seems almost to calm down. I think this is due to opening up to August about his condition. Not having to hide it, and just the fact that August is willing to believe him, seems to help him deal with it for a time.

The love these boys share, on every level, is deep, touching and somewhat sadistic. Yet at the same time there's something so pure about it. It was a pleasure to watch the rollercoastering arcs of these characters from their lowest lows to their highest highs.

Plot As I mentioned above; arty and abstract. It's literally the perfect way to describe this book. If this book was a painting, it would be a serealism piece; dark and a little scary to look at, but one that would stay with you for a very long time. It would also be the kind of painting that you either stare at in awe or shrug at because you simply don't get it. And if this book were a piece of music, it would be a discordant version of Moonlight Sonata, recognisable for the qualities that make it art, but with something noticeably off and unsettling.

And it's exactly that, tbh. When someone plays a detuned piano you can hear straight away that it's out of tune and not right. That's out I feel about this book. It's like it's written out of tune and I can hear the dissonance within the words. But fortunately, I've always been a lover of dark serealism and the atmospheric tone of a discordant piano.

This is a non-linear story with short, brief chapters. Not all chapters follow each other directly which gives the narrative an outside-of-time feeling, like it's floating within it's own little pocket of reality, separate to the real world. Intentional or not, this style of story telling works perfectly for a book like this.

The basic premise of this book is this: August and Jack have beem best friends since childhood. Jack has a hallucinatory disorder in which he sees an entire world that isn't there. As Jack's condition worsens, August decides that believing Jack and helping him fulfil a prophecy in his imaginary world is the only way to help him dealn with his psychosis, but in tryinf to help Jack find himself, he slowly loses himself instead.

This book is so raw and visceral, it's like an open wound. It's like a punch to the chest that shatters the ribs and obliterates the heart.

"They could take everything away and leave us with nothing, and I would still love you."

Oh god, the feels.

Setting The setting is essentially two different worlds. What August perceives as reality and what Jack perceives as reality. Both worlds are very different, but both very real to the both of them. We never actually see Jack's world, but he describes it at times to August and it appears very different to the world we know.

It was fascinating to first explore August's real world and then to journey deeper into the dark depths of Jack's world, and how the lines between the two begin to blur. It was also fascinating to witness both boys question what is real, and, as a reader, realise the moment in the book where Jack's world begins to make sense and we also question what's real. It really runs you through the phycological ringer, this one.

Writing Style The writing is remarkable for several reasons. It's intense with a disticnt feeling of building tension. Written in such a way that makes you question your own perception in regard to the things happening in the book.

August and Jack have an incredibly intense relationship. Visceral and possessive. Tension builds between them in such a subtle way that the very moment you begin to question whether there's feelings between them, the plot moves on so quickly, the moment is forgoten and you question you ever perceived it at all. Very cleverly done.

The writing itself is staccato and blunt, just vauge snapshots of August and Jack's frienship before things take a decidedly dark turn. The chapters are short and the transition from one to another is also vauge and somewhat fragmentented. It shouldn't work, this disjointed writing style, and yet it so absolutely does.

The way this book is presented is nothing less than stunning. I love an unconventional read, with more than just words on a page. This book is a visual treat. As we journey deeper and deeper into Jack's psychosis, the pages slowly turn blacker with each page. There's a definite forboding feeling. It's a certain feeling of unease, knowing that things are getting darker for the characters and more intense in the story, knowing you're slowly and willingly slipping down a rabbit hole of doom, and knowing that you're in too deep to go back now.

Everything about this book is intense, wonderfully subtle and brings a distinct nuance to the New Weird genre.

Final Impression This book has brought out a pretentious, artiness in my review and I'm not even sorry for it.

I almost feel like this is the kind of book kids should read in school, because there's so much to analyse and Jack's metal illness can be perceived in so many ways. I really feel like I could delve into the psychology of this book and talk about it for hours.

Like I said before, this book absolutely won't be for everyone, but it's a quick and easy read and if you're up for a trippy and sereal challenge, then may I introduce you to August Bateman and Jack Rossi.