The Wicker King

This novel destroyed me. I sobbed for the last 50-75 pages. Sobbed. 

But it was soooooo fuuuuucking goooood. Like I don't know why I put off reading it for so long. Like I don't know how I almost donated this book without reading it. Like I don't know what I've been missing (a serious piece of my heart and all of last night's sleep--thank you weird-ass dreams).

["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."]

It was what I needed to read (LGBT, an almost mystery, and something that toes the line of conventional--each chapter is no more than 2 pages; the entire novel reads more as a series of prose poetry more than a traditional novel). It helped me get a grasp of what a borderline toxic (or fully toxic or barely toxic--depending on how you look at it) relationship looks like. And through K. Ancrum (the author), I found another interesting looking Peter Pan spin-off to read soon (when her next book comes out next summer).

"The Legend of the Golden Raven" is the same story (in novella form) but told from Jack's point of view instead. Which I had to wait 24 hours to read so give myself a break, to give my tear ducts a break, to give my headache/heartache/own mental health a break (this book might mess with your mind, just an fyi--please see the trigger warnings below).

Plus the cover is gorgeous, and the inside illustrations are amazing, and the pages (GOD the PAGES) are all symbolic on how they get darker and darker as the boys descend into their own madness.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: negligence, drowning, arson, PTSD, mental illnesses, suicidal thoughts, drug distribution, rough sexual situations, slightly toxic relationships (and seriously toxic relationships), institutionalized medicine/hospitalization

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