Wicked As You Wish

First thing you need to know about Wicked As You Wish is that it is a big mash-up of fairytales and folklore legends in a retelling, and has them part of history in a modern urban fantasy setting. So, magic has existed in the world and the kingdom of Avalon is one of the sources of the glyphs that power magic aside from those born with innate abilities. Avalon itself is a mix from Arthurian legends to Russian ones, and it is currently frozen under enchantment resulting from the breach that the kingdom of Beira, ruled by the Snow Queen, conducted more than a decade ago, leaving its prince, Alex, to be under witness protection, basically. The story starts with him arriving in Invernio, Tala's town, to be under the protection of her extended family, who were part of Avalon's regiment, and then skips ahead to a year later, when the prophecy concerning him and Tala is set in motion. Part of the story takes place in the Royal States of America (yep, you heard that right) where a despot king has implemented racist policies (sounds like someone we know) against refugees, particularly magical ones and especially those from Avalon, and the attitude towards harnessing magic is capitalistic, which drives most of the political issues in the book. Rest of the book is Tala and Alex and the Order of the Bandersnatch team led by Zoe, trying to reach Maidenkeep, the royal stronghold of Avalon, to hope to undo the curse that has it frozen. This part feels a bit divorced from the first part, because it is more of an adventure quest, with Tala not warrior-trained like the Order team, but her spellbreaking abilities that come with her being Makiling are quite a benefit in some situations and a liability in another. There's a lot of prophecy swirling around, with each character having something for them, and obviously a lot of them don't get fulfilled in this book, but it was quite interesting to see the ones that did. The book, as a whole, is engaging and entertaining, while also making modern issues stand out in its plot; it also takes care to build up a world where magic has been a part of history, so it alters historical events and folds them into magic-fueled events, too. However, I must also say, that initially it felt like all this was coming at you very fast - there's a lot to absorb from the world, even magic-wise, and then there were these little nuggets of details thrown in constantly to include the various fairytales, and, well, it basically became overwhelming for a while until we get to Avalon, where the chaos settles down a bit for us to actually enjoy their story.

I thought this book was incredible! The plot was so complicated and really interesting. I sat up till almost 2:00 am trying to finish it; this book grabbed my attention and was so exciting. Thanks to the author for such a good book!