This book was not as polished as I would have liked, and the worldbuilding could be better explained because there’s still some aspects of it I don’t really understand.

Honestly though… the characters were cool, the premise was interesting, and the mix of fantasy & modern tech was right up my alley. I’m hoping we get more worldbuilding in the next book, but I’m along for the ride no matter what.

I had really high hopes for this one. The description sounded great and I previously read and really enjoyed The Girl From the Well books by Chupeco. I wish I could say I enjoyed Wicked As You Wish but it just never really grabbed me and if I'm being completely honest it ended up feeling like a chore to finish it. This is one of those times that I wish I was more of the DNF camp because it would have saved me weeks of dragging my heels through this book.

I'm trying to think of way to adequately describe what this story felt like, and the best I can come up with is it reminded me of leftover surprise. You know that ramshackle meal you throw together when you really need to go shopping or you're feeling kinda lazy and you just grab a bunch of random ingredients that are still good and you have on hand and throw them in a pot with broth or a casserole and call it dinner. This book was like that to me. Insert a handful of fairytale characters, a dash of legends and mythology, a pinch of hot topic social issues, a sprinkle of different cultures, and a side of LGBTQ. Voila, dinner is served! All of these on their own are wonderful ingredients, brought together they can make one incredibly tasty dish, but in this case it just didn't work for me as a cohesive recipe. Nothing quite married or really brought it all together.

It ended up feeling like instead of bringing these elements together in a new exciting way pieces of them were just mashed together but never quite fit as a whole. Getting thrown into the fantasy world blind at the beginning was jarring, which could have been ok for me if I understood it more as we went on, but honestly even after the end I'm still confused by it.

When the fantasy end falls short a reader can sometimes turn to the characters to carry them through, some cool peeps to get behind, or someone to root for. When I inevitably turned there I also felt like something was lacking. None of these characters were stand out for me. Maybe the most interesting to me was 'the Scourge of Buyan' which seemed unfortunately used more to try and make Tala somewhat interesting rather than an intriguing character on its own. Ryker maybe being a younger version of that could have been something but we really didn't see much of him, especially not much beyond the surface level of his high school crushiness that dominated the beginning.

All in all this was just not for me, as much as I wish that wasn't the case. Definitely not something I'd be interested in continuing as a series.

3 for neutral, this book is not for me. If at later date I enjoy, which I don’t think this one it will happen with as I was completely confused and frustrated on what I did read, I will update my review.

I am officially dnf-ing this after struggling with it the past week. I feel really bad about doing so, considering its an arc but I cannot ignore the fact that I don't think this book will get more than a 2 star from me. Usually I try to push through because maybe there will be something for me, but this story just is not it. After 200 pages, I still did not understand the world, the characters, their motivations - it felt really messy and all over the place. I really tried to ignore these things and focus on the plot of the story, as it does follow colonialism/racism/immigration in the States but I cannot deny that Cupeco felt like a debut author in this book (I saw on Twitter that this was one of the first books Chupeco wrote before being published). There was just too much in this story that everything felt really, really confusing. I hope this book finds its audience and they enjoy reading it far more than me.

I received an eARC copy from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

DNF'd @ 15%

I loved the description of this novel, but the execution of it was just not for me. Too many things within that span got me out of the story - it probably started with Carly Rae Jepsen.

I adored The Bone Witch and was so excited for Rin’s next few books. Unfortunately, much like The Never Tilting World, this book wasn’t for me. But really, that’s a personal preference! There were aspects that I liked. Wicked As You Wish transports you to an alternate universe, one that has magic yet feels so viscerally real.

Immigration is definitely at the forefront of this book, which the author has been very open about. In this book, we have ICE agents being used as agents of evil, a parallel to the world we are living in today. Wicked As You Wish depicts their cruelty so succinctly but so effectively.

I really liked the characters; the cast of teenagers was so great. We have Tala, Alex, Zoe, Cole, Ken, Loki, and later, Nya. They all added a lot of liveliness to the story. There’s also a lot of casual diversity: Loki is ownvoices nonbinary, uses they/them pronouns, and is Chinese; Alex is gay; Tala is ownvoices Filipina; Ken is Japanese; and so much more.

The worldbuilding was interesting, to say the least. This book combines all of the myths and fairy tales and stories you’ve ever heard into magical kingdoms, such as Avalon and Beira. It was fascinating to see Rin pull in Alice in Wonderland, Koschei the Deathless, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and more stories from other cultures around the world into reality.

Unfortunately, the worldbuilding is so dense that it’s hard to follow at first. That was my real issue with the book; I grew used to it halfway through, but I was so bored during the first half that it was hard to focus in the second. Also, I feel like once we got to know the rest of the characters other than Alex and Tala, we sacrificed knowing Alex and Tala. That was a little strange, following them for at least a third of the book and then suddenly being shunted to the side, Alex especially.

In the end, Wicked As You Wish was just not for me personally, but I do think many people will enjoy this. Give it a chance if you’re at all interested by the summary!

Rating: DNF @ Page 28

This will be a rant-y, possibly spoiler-y review, but I only got to page 28, so…

I wanted to like this book.
Prior to receiving it in the December FairyLoot Box, this book wasn’t on my radar as something I wanted to read. I figured that having received an ARC, I should at least attempt to read it. Based on the synopsis, it sounded like something I could possibly and would probably enjoy.
So, I went into the book with an open mind and by page 5 I was confused. Honestly, that’s not a good sign. I took a breath and tried to focus, but that proved a bit hard the further I got into the story…which albeit, wasn’t very far.
The world is chaos and without a map (is there even going to be one in the finished copy?) I couldn’t make heads or tails of how it was laid out. I’m a pretty visual person, and I always love a map when it comes to fantasy worlds.
But it was more than just being unable to picture the world, but take every fantasy story, every mythology, lore, and history fact you know, and throw them all in a book and you’d have this. Then add a whole heaping of modern-day world problems and concerns and politics.
It was just kind of a mess, and I felt so loss amongst everything going on in the beginning of this book.
Now, maybe I’m in the minority here, but I absolutely hate it, and it’s almost always an automatic turn off, when a book includes thinly veiled, media hyped political rants that do nothing but bash the US. I read fantasy books to escape.
I’m in NO WAY saying that fantasy books shouldn’t include real world elements, whether it be political, social issues, etc. They should, because it rounds them out and makes them better. But if you’re just going to rant for rant’s sake because you’re pissed at some media hyped and exploited, parroted political rant, I’m almost never going to finish your book.
Usually, when books do this, or any variation, I can just roll my eyes and continue reading. I can usually just ignore whatever part and enjoy the book. That is always my goal when I go into ‘new to me’ reads. Maybe there is a purpose to the rant, and I just didn’t get to it. If that’s the case, it’s a shame that I have no desire to find out what happens next. I like escapism when it comes to fantasy, and that rant just hit a bit hard and a bit real, and I decided I couldn’t continue. I’m sure we all have one or two things that we adamantly don’t like when it comes to reading.
I know I won’t be picking up this book again and I’m not going to recommend it. I can’t.
I also can’t recommend it, because I haven’t finished it and now, I’m not going to. I wanted to like this book, because it really does sound like something I could get behind and love. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t for me. If you read this, I hope you really enjoy it.
On top of all that crap, and I only got 28 pages into this book, I didn’t care for the characters, they felt very one dimensional and flat and I could not get behind the writing style.
I know there’s always going to be the argument of when it’s appropriate to show versus tell, and the opposite, but if you’re going to spend time telling me everything, you’d better make sure I understand what’s going on.
And guess what?
28 pages, and I still didn’t understand the world, the connections, the politics, any of it really. And yes, that could be because I didn’t read far enough into the book, that’s fair, but now we’ll never know. I kind of feel bad for maybe not giving this book the time it needs to capture my interest, but honestly, my interest is gone. There was a lot of info dumping, which didn’t help my confusion and didn’t clarify anything. I also want to state that I was already struggling to stay interested in this book, due to my lack of connection with the characters and issues with the writing style, but I was forcing myself to continue to read it, to give it a chance. I don’t like DNFing books, because I want to like every book I pick up. I want it to be my new favorite thing that I can yell about and convince everyone to read. This, unfortunately, just wasn’t the book for me, and that’s okay.
I don’t really know what else to say…I only read 28 pages of this book before I stopped. I can’t speak for whatever happens in the rest of this book I’m not going to recommend this book, because I don’t feel like I can, but I do urge you to form your own opinions. If you have any interest in this title at all, check it out! Read it! Potentially fall in love with it! This book wasn’t for me, but maybe it’s for you. I’m definitely going to be giving this author’s other works a go, and I’ve just been urged to read The Bone Witch, so that’s been moved up my TBR. Hopefully I haven’t put you off this book, and I hope you enjoy it if you do/have read it!

So I had mixed feelings about this book. Wicked As You Wish has A LOT of things going on with it. It's both a blessing and a curse. It follows Tala, a girl who has the ability to break spells in an alternative magic-filled version of our world. As she tries to hone her abilities, she finds herself on a quest to restore Prince Alexei to the throne of the frozen world of Avalon, who just so happens to be her best friend. Wicked As You Wish is a magical and whimsical journey across worlds not very far off from our own, an amaglam of all of your favorite fairytales, legends and myths that will leave you enchanted. I really enjoyed the family atomosphere of this book. The people in Tala's life, her friends and her family, were all so wonderfully supportive of each other, which is refreshing to see because not a lot of YA books feature that. I also was fascinated by lore and the way fairytales intersect with real-world elements. The world Chupeco has created is wonderfully vibrant and colorful, as are many of the characters.
I had a couple of issues with this book that made it more of a 3.5 instead of 4 rating. As I said, there is a lot going on in this book. The world and magic system had a lot of detail to them, too much at times. So much so I felt really lost in some places. I also didn't care for the character of Alex at all. He's the king, great, but he treats people who care about him like crap and while Tala calls him out for it, it isn't something that is made right by the end of the book.
So I did like Wicked As You Wish, but honestly, the world's complexity just overwhelmed me at times since there is a lot going on with it. At the same time, Wicked As You Wish is a vibrant story about family, friendship, and fulfilling one's destiny. It is worth the read to avid fans of fairytales and is a solid YA fantasy.

I am… very confused. I love Rin Chupeco’s writing so much, as well as the ways she shifts her fantasy writing away from the typical Western approaches. However, this book just didn’t hook me, and I’m not totally sure why. I think my main source of confusion is the world building, which is central to the story but somehow never fully fleshed out. There’s Alice in Wonderland inspiration, “spelltech” (what?), as well as the Slavic Firebird myth and an Ice Queen. What do these stories have in common? How are they somehow combined and real?

The best part of the book is clearly the characters. Tala is cool—she’s a bit of a chosen one, but there’s a reasonable explanation so I don’t have a problem with this. She’s Filipina, living in the US (where there’s a royal family, but many aspects of our IRL government are still in place), and has a tight-knit family around her neighborhood, who are all affiliated with Avalon.

Alex, the Prince of Avalon, is kind and dorky and I just! want! him! to be! SAFE! I love him so much, if anything happened to him I would reach inside of this book and resuscitate him myself. Well… that’s an exaggeration. However, he and Tala are the best characters in this novel, so my love is justified. Two things about Alex that I like: first, he’s gay (queer rep, yay! see my list of 2020’s hottest LGBTQ+ YA here!) and he’s not given a tragic story because of that. Yes to having queer characters in fantasy novels! No to the bury-your-gays trope! Second, he’s got an angsty backstory and new curse to live with, (a la Rhen from A Curse so Dark and Lonely), a trope I love.

A hallmark of Chupeco’s books is the diverse cast, which includes characters of many ethnicities, gender identities, and sexualities. So many people will be able to find themselves in this novel, and I can definitely get on board with that.

I appreciate how much attention Chupeco gives to the plot, so each character has clear goals and motives. Even the side characters had purpose, which helped me remember them. Two of my favorites are Lola Urduja and Tala’s mom, who are both fierce warriors. They had some truly awesome fight scenes in the book. Even through my confusion, I didn’t want to put the book down, just so I could find out what happens to Tala, Alex, and Avalon. In the beginning, I worried that I wouldn’t feel connected to Tala’s quest because I couldn’t understand the world, but that fear faded as I kept reading. I wouldn’t say that everything makes sense at the end, but I am surprised by some of the different plot points and excited for their potential in future books.

As always, the writing is perfect. I’m a big fan of Chupeco’s prose; I find it deft and adaptable, which serves all of her novels well. I will be anticipating the second book in the series, in the hopes that it fleshes out more of the world building and characters. 3/5 stars. I am still confused about the ways fairytales and the real world intersect here, but the pace picks up in the second half of the book, so I didn’t want to stop reading. Perhaps other readers will be able to unlock the secrets of this book’s magic, but until the sequel comes out, I will say it’s just not for me.

I'm really torn about this book because on the one hand it's got a fast-paced plot, plenty of action, twists, and a lot of fun banter between a large yet manageable cast of characters. Also, big props to the diversity in this book!

On the other hand, the world is so confusing. I actually had to check to make sure I wasn't accidentally reading a series out of order because it felt like we were supposed to understand this strange blend of modern world meets fairytale and magic. I didn't start to get it until the end, and even now I'm not completely sure what's going on. The premise of this world is definitely interesting, I just wish it had been better explained or just less confusing to begin with.

I'll still be keeping my eye out for the second book, I just can't say I loved this book.

*Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Wicked As You Wish was a breathtaking and unique alternate history fantasy. I loved the diverse and distinct ensemble cast with their quirks and camaraderie. Tala was a badass and likable heroine who showed incredible bravery and resilience, despite her flaws. I think the way magic was constructed was interesting and creative and liked that it spanned across cultures. There was plenty of action and adventure to keep me entertained as well as thoughtful political intrigue and commentary on real-world issues of immigration and refugee crises. The themes of family, loyalty, forgiveness, and redemption were both heartwarming and heartwrenching, explored in depth after the revelation of the secrets about Tala's father and his past. The ending was quite a shocking twist and left me desperate to read the sequel.

I spent the whole book confused and disconnected from all of the characters. It felt like I was dropped into the middle of the story with very little explanation. There was very little world-building and the magic system did not make sense to me whatsoever. One thing I did appreciate about this book was its diverse cast of characters.

I had seen lots about this one and thought it sounded right up my street. While I liked the premise, I just found it really hard to feel engaged with the story. I think this was more a case of me being the issue, not the book. That being said, I would happily read more from this author.

This was the ARC included with the December FairyLoot book box. It was definitely not the ARC I had thought it was going to be [nor was it the ARC I was hoping against hope it would be], but I decided to give it a go anyway.

This book was definitely different than I anticipated it being.

Let me start off by saying this book is modern. Like modern modern. I'm not saying this as a detriment to it, but more as a heads-up. If you like your fantasy novels to be set in some unspecified time or some time in the past, this book isn't for you. We're talking homo/bisexual love interests, gender-neutral pronouns, the works. Now, not every character falls into some "modern" category. But they do exist, and fairly predominantly, so, if that isn't your thing - this book isn't for you. The author's attempt to add these characters and make it feel smooth falls a little short. There was at least one chapter where the mixture of gender-neutral pronouns and everyone else in the scene led to confusion. Make sure to keep that in mind as you go into this read.

That being said, this book is definitely unique, even outside the modern modern feel of it. It plays with a lot of expected stereotypes - but it doesn't feel maybe as smooth as it should. A lot of times, people say something like, "It does [this thing that's not normal] but you almost didn't realize it was doing that, it felt so smooth/natural/etc. that you barely noticed." That is not true for this book. This book feels very much like the modern modern feel of it was shoved in your face and almost smothers you with it. It's not necessarily unpleasant or bad, but it is present. The modern feel is something you're constantly aware of.

This book also plays with the history of the world a bit. It adds countries, adds magic to historical events, changes and adds historical events by way of the presence of magic, and the world is a mixture of familiar and foreign. The introduction to this knowledge, while not exactly smooth or clear, isn't done brutally or badly, exactly. It definitely reads like a YA novel, which isn't a bad thing, but it isn't a more mature YA novel, even though it has some slightly more mature YA content.

This book is hard to explain to anyone, especially without spoilers to explain the differences from your typical YA fantasy book.

Alright, so, recommendation: if you're looking for a unique, very modern YA fantasy novel, I'd say this is one worth trying out. If not, though, I highly suggest steering clear.

While I wouldn't say this book was bad, by any means, I don't know that I'll pick up the sequel. Or, if I do, I doubt I'll be pre-ordering it, or snagging it shortly after release. This might be a book I try to check out of a library, if they have it, or borrowing some other way rather than owning it for myself.

Why not? Because it didn't grip me. It's not making me feel dying to know what happens next. I'm not demanding the next book like I have with The Nevernight Chronicles or Serpent & Dove or Ninth House or Aurora Rising or a handful of other YA and adult books. That being said, if I knew someone who read it and wanted me to read it so they could chat about it, I might be up to doing that.

**SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT. DON’T READ FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS. IF YOU READ FURTHER AND ARE SURPRISED BY SPOILERS, YOU AREN'T PAYING ATTENTION. LIKE, AT ALL.**

I have nothing against the gender-neutral pronoun use [nor the fun, nerdy reference to their name being Loki], but the execution leaves something to be desired. It led to confusion on more than one occasion, and I frequently found myself getting Ken and Loki confused. I don't know if that was due to their personality/dialogue being similar or the weird way in which Ken and Loki were introduced or what. The introduction of West, Loki, and Ken was confusing, West mainly sticking out because of how different he is from literally everyone else. West is hard to confuse with anyone else.

I like the drama that's caused by their being a common love interest between two characters - mainly because it isn't your typical love triangle. It's a shared love interest of the same boy - but between a girl and a boy rather than two girls. That might be the only thing about the sequel I'm interested in. I want to know if the shared love interest is a closeted gay or closeted bi-sexual guy and how that all plays out. But that's about it, honestly. I have very little vested interest in the actual plot line, the future of the [semi-] saved kingdom, and most of the characters. The love interest of the main character feels rather cliché - the mis-understood, traumatized, sad-story boy that the main character can't help but be drawn to. It's not a trope I haven't enjoyed in the past - nor is it a trope I think I'll dislike going forward. But, this time, it doesn't feel well executed. I don't particularly care what happens to that boy, broken or not.

I don't mean to make this book sound awful. There were definitely spots I enjoyed, and times I wanted to keep reading and see what happened next. But those moments weren't frequent, nor were they strong enough, at the end, to make me look up if the next release date was announced yet or make a note to keep my eye on it in the future.

Wicked As You Wish is a fun quest/adventure story that blends modern history and culture with fairytales and legends. There are knights and traveling by horse, but also cars, internet and Carly Rae Jepsen—and then there are glyphs and spelltech. Real countries are referenced, but there are also kingdoms like Avalon. Initially, this can be difficult to adjust to, as an overwhelming number of names are dropped. But if you love mysterious prophesies and seeing how they unfold, this book has plenty of those!

The main character, Tala, is Filipino and I loved the aspects of Filipino culture and language that were incorporated in the story. The supporting characters are also diverse in various ways, and I loved learning about which fairytale stories they were each related to. Family and friendship are both key themes of the book, and the seeds for a few romance storylines were been planted. However, there were so many characters that there wasn't enough time to develop them all as well as I would have liked.

I felt like this book will appeal to younger readers in the YA age range - preteens and younger teens. If I were in that age range, I think I would have really enjoyed this book, the same way I would've enjoyed a watching a Disney Channel Original Movie.

Well this book was one of my most anticipated books for next month. Sadly I couldn't get into the world. I couldn't picture everything that was going on. I found the characters one dimensional and I had to force myself to finish it. I'm giving it a three star because of the ending.

I wanted to love this. I feel like I start too many reviews that way. But here we are. I didn’t hate this and I think I WILL continue with the rest of the series, but I found myself confused through most of this.

I think that Rin Chupeco did incredible with her world building and the amount of different characters she has created in this book. But with so many, I found that a lot of them we one dimensional and a bit dull. I found myself sadly bored through a lot of this.

I was confused throughout so much because you are basically thrown into the magical system and with so much going on all the time, it was a bit overwhelming.

What I loved was the writing. I will give myself some time and maybe try a reread of this to see if I am not giving it the five star chance that I could be giving it. I’m giving this a four star instead of a three star only because I am curious if it was me. Like I am reading this at the wrong time and if I had more focus on it, I would better be able to understand the characters and the goings on.

I am so thankful to @sourcebooks and @NetGalley for the arc provided in exchange for my honest review.

Im sorry to say i was SO bored 😭😭 i love Rin but this one just did not work for. me at all.

Thank you Netgalley for the review copy

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars.

While I already own a book by Rin Chupeco, this is the first book I’ve read by her and it will honestly not be the last.

This story combines real life with the fairy-tales that we all know and love. This story did take me a little while to get in to and at the beginning the whole magic system really confused me but I’m glad I stuck with the book and kept an open mind. I ended up unable to put the book down once I hit the second half of the book.

I found myself really like the group of characters who embark on this journey, especially Tala who has completely been thrown out of her element but still remains strong. Her whole life has been toppled over and she’s struggling to come to terms with the new information she’s been given but she fights on to protect Alex.

I had my issues with Alex. I understand that he is going through a lot in this book, but I ended up getting incredibly frustrated with him and his attitude towards the group when their main mission is to keep him safe. He’s incredibly reckless and I just wanted to scream at him every time he showed up in a scene.

Overall this was an enjoyable read once I got passed the confusing world building and the magic system. Rin Chupeco has created a captivating, vivid and imaginative world that I cannot wait to delve back into.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I tried very hard to push myself through this book. It had a lot of great concepts and potential, but it ultimately fell flat for me. The characters were really under-developed and the novel drops you in the middle of a setting and continues on like you're supposed to know what's going on. The only thing I enjoyed was the blend of fantasy and magical realism. Try as I might, I was unable to continue the book with my growing disinterest in it.