A review by pastelwriter
The Wicked and the Willing by Lianyu Tan

dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Let me be real with y’all. This book was A LOT. I had to take breaks sometimes because of all the upsetting things that were going on. At the end of the day, however, I adored this book!

First and foremost, in this house we appreciate well rounded characters. This includes Verity. One of the most compelling characters in this novel was Verity. I absolutely abhorred her—to the point that I was delighted I had the choice as a reader to kill her—but she was fascinating. She was a racist and abusive partner, and yet she went beyond a stereotypical portrayal of this. Sure, she embodied that perfectly, but you could also understand parts of her beyond that. You understood her dreams and fears. You understood the world as she saw it. Truly phenomenal work. I can’t deny, though, that the moment she “renamed” Gean Choo was the moment she died for me. I wasn’t sure at first if I would pick the ending where Po Lam or Verity survived, but it increasingly became easier to make that choice after she started calling Gean Choo “Pearl.” 

Speaking of Gean Choo. What an amazing job the writer did portraying the experience of a survivor. You could see why she was compelled to stay and want to be with Verity. You could see how she rationalized Verity’s behavior to survive. It was so nuanced and well done. Including the bit about using kink as a way to process trauma! Just. Truly phenomenal. I don’t even have words to appropriately describe it. 

Po Lam, on the other hand, is the “morally gray” butch of my dreams. God. I loved her so much. We didn’t get as much of her as I would have liked, but I love me a tormented love interest. You can blame the era I started reading in. Nevertheless, her vibes were everything. Her “little vest”? Her happiness being able to get away with being
seen as the husband of a happy family with Gean Choo and the baby? Even if only for a short time?
I weep. 

Truly. The only flaw of this book is its length. I don’t think this needed to be over 400 pages long, but this mostly boils down to personal preference. I don’t think most books have any real reason to be over 400 pages long. 

All in all, I’m so glad I screamed at one of my friends about how much I loved the cover of this book, and he ended up buying it for me. Truly a blessing in disguise. 

P.S. The contents of this book can be extremely triggering. I would suggest going to the author’s website for an extensive list of triggers.