I took a chance on a Rin Chupeco book (The Bone Witch) a while ago and didn't end up enjoying it. And then I read The Girl From the Well and fell in love with her work! I don't even know how to describe how much I ended up loving Wicked As You Wish. Rin Chupeco has a way of drawing you into the worlds that she has created and doesn't let go until the final page. I am so glad I had the opportunity to read this and count me in for anything Rin Chupeco writes in the future!

Unfortunately I had to DFN the book...I was unable to read any further then Chapter 3. It wasn't what I was expecting and I couldn't get into the story. I might revisit reading it again at later time

Unfortunately, this book did not meet my expectations. I really wanted to love it because the synopsis sounded like it will be a good fast-paced YA fantasy but it was a little too slow-paced for my liking. There were certain parts of the book that I struggled to read because it was a little dry and so I had to skim through the pages and this often led to some confusion when the plot progresses.

I was really excited to have a character of colour, especially one I haven't read about in books. Overall, I did like the characters but I was not particularly connected to them which is sad because like I mentioned, I was excited for them. But, the characters are the strong point in this book and it is really nice to see Filipino culture in a YA story.

I think the author was trying to build the world to be really complex, somewhat similar to the Shadowhunters world, but the execution fell flat to me. It was complex but in a way that it made me a little puzzled at times and this again, disappointed me since the magical sounded really interesting.

Overall, this book was a miss for me despite my initial expectations. However, you are looking for a YA story with a character of colour and is interested in getting to know about Filipino culture, this would be for you.

Wicked As You Wish was a tale of family, friendship and a fight for freedom that was fun and full of creativity. The start of the book was very full on with a lot of information to process but it really is worth sticking with until the end.

It was set in a world similar to ours only there was the Royal States of America and a few extra countries: Wonderland, Avalon and Neverland, not to mention an entirely different history inspired by fairy tales such as Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood and much more, all cleverly incorporated into a magical world. I also loved the representation as there were characters of many different races, genders and sexualities and I especially loved how Filipino culture was so intricately woven throughout the book. All the detailed descriptions of Filipino food made me hungry!

The magic followed a give-and-take system which I thought was really interesting. For example, if you wanted fire power you’d have to endure a tolerance to cold so low that standing in front of a freezer would be too much. However, that could be overcome through spelltech: objects already imbued with magic by someone else.

Tala Warnock was a Makiling, which meant she negated magic of all forms. Her family were charged with protecting Prince Alexei of Avalon, the sole survivor of his royal family, but they ended up going on an eccentric quest to reclaim their homeland and Alexei’s rightful throne. Tala’s journey was one of understanding herself and her goals. She had to deal with some truths that upended her world, but she always had people around her to support her. That was probably one of the best parts of this book: the tight bonds of family and friendship that held everyone together unconditionally

I found Alex very annoying. I could understand why he was frustrated but I couldn’t understand why he continually took it out on the people who were trying to help him. That being said, I did like how his friendship with Tala was portrayed. It was rocky at times but they were always there for each other when it mattered. I loved Tala’s family especially her titos and titas and Lola Urduja. In terms of the rest of the characters… there were too many for them all to be well developed and likeable. However, I did like Zoe (how could I not like someone who appreciates skirts with pockets?!) and also Loki but quite a few of the characters were easily forgettable.

I generally quite liked the plot although there were some plot twists near the end that needed more explanation. There were lots of ominous prophecies dotted throughout the book foreshadowing a lot more strife to come in the sequel which I am excited to read as I think it has the potential to be better than the first.

This book took me forever to read. The characters fell a little flat, pacing felt off, and the world-building was very confusing. In the end I have to conclude that this book just isn’t for me.

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S OVER.

Tala Warnock has never had use for magic. As a Makiling, she's always been able to negate spells, typically by accident. When she meets Alex, the prince in exile of Avalon, they become immediate friends. As the Royal States of America becomes increasingly against magic, an old enemy rises, and a firebird appears, Tala & Alex will have to rely on each other much more than they ever thought they would need to. If they wish to unfreeze Avalon from it's icy imprisonment of 12 years, they'll find new friends and enemies and find out more about themselves and their families than they could've imagined.

Rin Chupeco has done it again. I was sucked into this world immediately. It was intricately built, like Shadowhunters but with fairytales rather than angels. You will recognize so many characters and countries from various fairytales. The magic of the world was fascinating and I loved that everyone had a curse and a doom. There were so many moving pieces to the magic and it almost always came with a price.

Chupeco also brings in her Filipino roots full force. I loved seeing this representation and getting a glimpse into what it's like to have a Filipino family. I absolutely loved Tala's parents and her extended family of titas and titos. Plus the food!! Tala's family has a party in the beginning and the food descriptions made my mouth water. I need some ASAP.

This story was so enchanting. After about the first 50 pages, it was utterly impossible to put this down. One thing that would've helped my overall visualization of the world would've been a map. There are so many new countries and I would've loved to see where they were in respect to countries I do know. Especially Avalon and Wonderland. It sounded like they were near the UK, but I was never 100% sure. Overall, it wasn't enough to take away from my enjoyment of this story.

The ending was amazing, but oh my god!! I can't believe I have to wait over a year for the next book. I NEED ANSWERS.

This wasn't the best of Rin's books, it lacked her beautiful descriptive writing, but its strength really lay in its characters. Those really worked well in this book (I loved Loki).

"To be a hero, you need a bad guy. And when there are no bad guys available, you wind up forcing that role on something or someone people already irrationally fear. If you need a villain, sometimes all you need is a good long look in the mirror--but most people aren't that self-aware."

This book is the best treat to readers who grew up with fairytales, myths and legends as a major part in their childhood. I am so thankful to Sourcebooks Fire for gifting me this e-arc through NetGalley. I will be using the official description because I doubt that I might slip a spoiler or two.

Many years ago, the magical Kingdom of Avalon was left desolate and encased in ice when the evil Snow Queen waged war on the powerful country. Its former citizens are now refugees in a world mostly devoid of magic. Which is why the crown prince and his protectors are stuck in…Arizona.
Prince Alexei, the sole survivor of the Avalon royal family, is in hiding in a town so boring, magic doesn’t even work there. Few know his secret identity, but his friend Tala is one of them. Tala doesn’t mind—she has secrets of her own. Namely, that she’s a spell breaker, someone who negates magic.
Then hope for their abandoned homeland reignites when a famous creature of legend, and Avalon’s most powerful weapon, the Firebird, appears for the first time in decades. Alex and Tala unite with a ragtag group of new friends to journey back to Avalon for a showdown that will change the world as they know it.

As utterly fascinating with a touch of ethereal poetic undertone in the narration, 'Wicked As You Wish' is a whole new blend of the folklore genre with urban fantasy serving to be an exceptional treat to all the fantasy and folklore lovers. Characters, who are culturally and sexually diversified, are drawn from well-known myths, legends, fairytales and adapted into our world perfectly: the world is built with our history, in addition to the adaptation of the mythical and fictional worlds. The plot is explored well and the pace feels realistic as the plot moves on. One can never guess what happens next but I just knew something was about to go down. Whatever that went down was highly unexpected by me!
Chupeco's writing style is applause-worthy: I will not be able to get enough of it. And that just made this whole book for me a 5 star read!

Sadly, this book has a lot of potentials to be underrated. Here are some of them:
1. The transition from the urban fantasy to traditional fantasy and so forth might turn out to be perplexing and tough for readers to get into and keep up with.
2. The world-building will come off confusing due to the lack of understanding created by the adaptation of fairy tales, myths and legends read as kids.
3. Lots of characters will be hard to track along with what is happening in the plot.

But if you are someone who knows your history, myths & legends and fairytales well, this would be an outstanding and mindblowing read for you! It's been a couple of weeks since I read this one and I still cannot believe that Chupeco pulled this off so deftly! It triggered nostalgia for me and it did wonders to my 'mercury retrograde' blues by shooing it away. I fell in love with the main characters and I am currently shipping two of them. The child-like happiness bestowed upon me by this book is appreciated with the whole of my being! I cannot thank Chupeco enough for ending this with a cliffhanger. I am being sarcastic and no, give me the second book RIGHT NOW!

As a kid, I always used to dream about a world in this book (minus the evil) and I am so happy that as an adult I have the opportunity to read this! Dreams do come true and I cannot wait for the books in this series to release... ugh, the only aspect that I hate about this book is that I have to wait for a year or so to read the next one. I hope it is going to be worth all the wait in the world!

This just wasn't for me. I didn't like the writing style, it felt clunky. I DNF'ed about 10% into the story. I was too confused and I just didn't want to put much effort into a book that felt like it was going to be a 2 star read. Hopefully, I'll pick this up again someday and feel ridiculous for judging a book so soon. I'm just feeling too slumpy to give a book that chance at this point.

This is a hard review to write, because I love Rin Chupeco and her books so dearly, but this book was a miss for me.
The concept was so intriguing. A prince from a magical land sent to Arizona to live in hiding? I was so excited! I loved the inclusion of the Filipino culture-all of the family aspects were so funny and heartwarming, and the food descriptions made me so hungry. I also really loved all of the queer aspects of the book. We love that representation!
However, the world of this book was a big miss for me. I love what Chupeco was going for here, but I felt like it was just too much. Literally every fairy tale and fantasy story you could think of was included in this world, and it was so hard to keep up with all of it. I also just couldn't understand how Avalon, Wonderland, and other worlds were somehow a part of our world.
I will absolutely keep reading Chupeco's works in the future, because like I said, I love her books so much, but unfortunately this one just wasn't for me.

*eARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I also received a physical ARC from Fairyloot.*

Hmm. What to say about this book? A few pages in and I didn't want to read it anymore. I read the majority of it in one day, yes, but it's a short book and all I did was just read this slow book.

The plot is basic: help the lost prince return to his kingdom so that he can conquer the enemy that killed his parents. The characters are never really delved into, a little bit of backstory for each but nothing too complex. Everything that I wanted to know about them is wrapped in layers of secrecy, plot tokens that the author has squirreled away for the sequel. The conflict is straight-forward. Yes, there are battle scenes, but those are a bit confusing to read and they are all the conflict that we get. Otherwise, the characters are uninhibited as they move from place to place, everything falling neatly into their laps.

The world itself could have been fascinating, Chupeco shoves all of these fairy tales into the real world, she mentions Wonderland, Neverland, Avalon, yet she never really delves into anything more than briefly mentioning them. On one hand, I almost appreciate this approach. Her characters live in this world that has these countries as fact, so they can just mention them casually in a conversation. On the other hand, a world with tons of magical countries sounds awesome, and I want tor read more about it.

In the end, and it ends with a major twist, all of the things I truly wanted to know are not yet revealed. NOTHING IS EVER REALLY EXPLAIN, just the first layer. Like the character info, I assume it will come in book two, but I won't be reading it.

Bland. 2.5 stars

This book took me weeks to read and honestly it wasn't that much fun. It had a lot of things I liked but there was too much. Too many characters with complicated backstories and prophecies and family histories, too much world building, a world that was both very different with a very different history from our own yet almost exactly the same. It was so overwhelming I gave up trying to keep track or try to make sense of it that I sort of let the story happen to me.
I cared less about the plot and characters the more I read and didn't find the ending worthwhile or satisfying.

I was so excited to read Rin’s new book because I loved ‘The Girl in the Well’ but this was not what I expected at all. This book was a DNF for me at around 20%. I tried but I just could not get into it. There were wayyyyy too many world building info dumps and I got so confused real fast. I wanted to read more because, as a half Filipino myself, I loved her inclusion of Filipino culture in the book but no matter what I couldn’t get invested in reading more.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were interesting and the plot was original. I would recommend it to an older teen or adult.

First and foremost I would like to thank SourcebooksFire, Netgalley, and Rin Chupeco for providing me this arc in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affects my review as all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Wicked as You Wish is a compelling novel full of folk-lore, fairy-tales, and world-building within this urban fantasy. I feel as if Chupeco is really nailing it with her imagination and style of writing for the young adult audience. The magic system was unique and and I felt like I connected well with the characters. They were diverse, interesting, and the story arcs carried them through the novel.

I struggled a little at the beginning to piece all of the story together, but I am so thankful that I stuck with it. I was pleasantly surprised with the how deeply rooted the Filipino culture was within this book (including my favorite... FOOD!) I love Chupeco's representation within this novel. It felt so natural. I feel that this is so important as a Korean American reader.

Thank you so much for writing a book I can connect with.

Thank you to Rin Chupeco,Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC 

This was my first book by Rin Chupeco and I was not disappointed! 

This book follows Tala as she and her family protect and hide Prince Alex of Avalon.  Tala is a spellbreaker who negates magic.Avalon is encased in ice and we follow as they journey back to Avalon with their new friends to try  and break the spell.

I had a hard time getting into this book at the start. I found it to be a bit slow but once I read past a certain part,I was flying through it. From then,it had a fast moving plot and I wanted to carry on reading to find out what happened next!This is told in a third person narrative that mostly follows Tala. I found it to be very effective because we were also shown glimpses of other parts but not too much. 

I loved the world building in this! All the fairy tales in this took part in one universe so there were always references to the different princess and I enjoyed that immensely! It was such a unique take and it was done very well. All of the information was told throughout the story and it was not info dumpy. It was very easy to keep up with. America is now the Royal States of America and it was interesting to learn about .

The magic system was very well done and it included the fairy tale element in it.I found Tala's ability to negate magic very interesting.It's a complex magic system and I'm looking forward to learning more about it. 

This didn't have much romance in it which I enjoyed. I did find myself shipping some characters so I'll have to wait for the next book to see if that plays out. I didn't like the romance between Tala and an earlier character and I'm happy that didn't pan out.

I really liked reading about all the characters and I'm especially interested in seeing Cole's backstory.I'm sure there's more than meets the eye. I liked Alex and Tala's friendship at the start and was upset that it soured a little but I hope they fix that in the next book.

The ending was very well done and I'm really looking forward to reading the next book when it comes out next year!

All in all, I really loved this book! I highly recommend this if you like fantasy and fairy tale retellings,

4.5/5

Wicked As You Wish is a contemporary fantasy that reminded me of those signpost charms you see on Etsy. They ostensibly point you in the direction of various fairytale worlds from the same place. There are so many different fairy tales used in this story that it made it seem like there were a few too many choices as to where Chupeco would take it.


Wicked As You Wish COverTala Warnock has little use for magic – as a descendant of Maria Makiling, the legendary Filipina heroine, she negates spells, often by accident. But her family’s old ties to the country of Avalon (frozen, bespelled, and unreachable for almost 12 years) soon finds them guarding its last prince from those who would use his kingdom’s magic for insidious ends.

And with the rise of dangerous spelltech in the Royal States of America; the appearance of the firebird, Avalon’s deadliest weapon, at her doorstep; and the re-emergence of the Snow Queen, powerful but long thought dead, who wants nothing more than to take the firebird’s magic for her own – Tala’s life is about to get even more complicated….
Goodreads

I received an eARC of Wicked As You Wish in exchange for an honest review. I am also a member of the author’s street team.
I did not take notes on the trigger warnings for Wicked As You Wish and don’t remember it clearly enough to write them as I’m writing this review a while later. I hope you’ll forgive me.



There was a lot to love about Wicked As You Wish for me, but it got a little overwhelming at times. There were so many mythologies and fairy tales in play, in addition to a very large main cast that made things a little bit harder to understand. We’re thrown straight into the action which makes it hard for readers to catch their bearings. However, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The main character is Filipina, just like the author, and there is quite a bit of diversity in the cast. One of the main characters is a gay man, while another is nonbinary. I loved that, and I loved the glimpses we got into other worlds. I think that we’ll get even more clarity as we continue reading this series, and I can’t wait to see how Chupeco does it. Overall, I would solidly recommend this book, with the caveat that it can be a little confusing and may not be for everyone.

Oh boy. I really, really wanted to like this one. The premise sounded much better than it actually was. I almost DNF but I pushed through...painfully. I couldn't relate to any of the characters, the world building was strange and the writing just didn't do it for me. I probably won't continue on with the series.

This book is a hot mess. I'm sorry but this book was so poorly written that it was genuinely painful to read.

As readers we’re not given a moment to settle into the world or become acquainted with the main character. We’re bombarded with facts and names and definitions to the point that every sentence made my eyes glaze over. It reads like a textbook. The exposition doesn't even stop when the characters head out on their adventure; every single person takes pages upon pages to explain their life story, their parents’ life story, their countries’ history, the detailed magic system surrounded their special magic object. And you want to know how much I took in? Absolutely nothing.

Let's tackle the worldbuilding. I have no idea what this book wants to be. It takes place in an alternate timeline where Earth as we know it also contains magical lands such as Avalon, Wonderland, etc., yet Earth’s history remains the exact same. Already this is horrible worldbuilding. This could be a separate review in-and-of itself but the idea that magical countries could co-exist with our world without having a drastic impact on our history is just absurd and lazy. The few things this book does change about our modern world are nonsensical. Both America and Russia are kingdoms and yet the cold war still happened. The cold war was a clash of capitalist and communist ideologies how could this have happened if they were both operating under a monarchy-based system of government??

Now if the book just wanted to use this world as a backdrop and not delve into its mechanics then I could accept that the author doesn't want this to be an exercise in worldbuilding. That's still not good worldbuilding but at least it knows that the focus of the book shouldn’t be on the setting. Yet that’s not what this book is. Why oh why would there be endless pages re-writing Earth’s history, endless pages explaining the most incomprehensible magic system I’ve ever had the misfortune to read, if the author didn’t want us to focus on the worldbuilding?

The magic system makes absolutely no sense because it feels like the author just threw every idea she ever had into this book without trying to make it cohesive. As an author you need to be selective about how much exposition is in a book because there is only so much a reader can take. If they’re overwhelmed with info they will retain none of it.

At this point the plot barely matters because it is so difficult to concentrate on it, yet I'll discuss it. Now not every book needs to have a message but considering the number of topical issues this book covers it clearly wants to make a statement. What is the statement? Well at first I thought it was a critique of capitalism because it starts to talk about pharmaceutical lobbyists and unethical corporations but that plotline lasts all of two chapters. Then it seems to be about LGBT discrimination but that lasts one chapter. Then it goes into racially targeted police brutality and abuses by ICE which lasts maybe three chapters. I’m not saying there is a quota of social issues you can discuss but if you only bring them up long enough to say thing = bad then what’s the point of writing a whole novel? You have the space to delve into these topics with nuance and weave them throughout the entire story yet instead you discuss them with all the depth of a tweet.

Why not flesh out at least one of topics such as ICE and make an impactful statement about it? Instead the ICE officers felt almost cartoonishly evil so even though they are supposed to reflect real problems, it is hard to take it seriously. It doesn’t help that the dialogue is incredibly bad. We get a big moment when a character stands up to them and delivers this line: “No, cease the deception. People who don’t look and act like you is what you hate. Every other excuse is only a pretense.” Please try to work “cease the deception” into any conversation. There are real issues that can be addressed but if you don't incorporate it into a meaningful arc then it's not going to have an emotional impact on the reader.

Honestly this book is a tonal mess. You would think from chapter titles such as “In Which Carly Rae Jepsen Songs Make Excellent Training Tools / In Which There Is a Very Good Reason Why Someone’s Head Is on Fire / In Which Tala Dunks on an Ice Maiden” that our main character is sassy but she isn’t. What on Earth are these chapter titles doing in Wicked as You Wish? I don’t think Tala made one joke in the entire book. You might be wondering just who is Tala? Let me put it this way there were multiple times in the first third that I genuinely forgot who the protagonist was. She feels like a side character in her own novel because so much of the book is her just listening to other characters delivering exposition.

It doesn’t get any better with the side characters. There are apparently three characters called Ken, West, and Cole yet most of the time I thought there were only two: sometimes I though there was a character Ken West, sometimes I thought there was a character Cole West. I’m still not convinced West exists. It doesn’t help that the author seems to go out of her way to make it more confusing for the readers. My earlier befuddlement happened because sometimes she’ll refer to characters by their first name, other times by their last name. This novel is already confusing enough! Also only twice in the entire novel – and in different chapters – she randomly used “the prince” instead of “Alex” for no reason. I.e. “…the prince snapped…Nya opened her mouth to protest, but Alex barreled on relentlessly”. Why? It only happens randomly for no reason.

For a novel that is so dense when it comes to exposition, it surprisingly minces its words when it comes to descriptions. What does the world look like? What does it feel like when they are walking through Avalon? Does the ice crunch under their feet? There is no atmosphere to this story; just take out the unnecessary exposition and put those words towards creating an immersive environment.

You know what else those words could be put towards? Character development! The back of the book claims it's about "finding the place you belong" but it isn't! It barely factors into the story. It could have been about that and it would have made a lot of sense. If the author contrasted Alex's feeling of inadequacy because he is set to inherit the throne of Avalon but he spent most of his life away from Avalon, with Tala's search to find belonging as the first generation daughter of immigrants that could have been a great story. But that's not what happened in this book.

I was surprised that this author had previously published novels but then I read this was technically the first novel she’d ever completed, which makes so much more sense. She talks about how publishers had initially rejected her work and asked if she would write about a white protagonist instead. That is obviously horrible and I can’t imagine how degrading that felt. Yet unfortunately that doesn’t change the fact that this is a terrible book. The reason I get so frustrated at poorly written books is because they don’t exist in isolation; they literally take a spot away from a talented author. It is so difficult to get a book published and publishers could have promoted someone who had a story to tell. You can’t honestly tell me there aren’t talented authors with novels about the immigrant experience. Why not give them a platform to tell their story?

I know this one has a lot of differing opinions in that you either like this one or you hate it. For me, it was kind of in-between.

While I liked the concept of a world where all the fairytales merge into one, I think that there was a bit too much going on to where it took a little while to really dive into the story.

The writing really created a complex, intricate world where there was something new around every corner. There is diversity also spread throughout the story, so if you like fantasies with a bit of a kick to it, this one may be one to pick up.

I gave it a 4 out of 5 star rating. It’s a story that is set apart from the others and really explores more from what the genre can give!