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A review by thebakersbooks
The Wickerlight by Mary Watson
5.0
4.5/5 stars — a dreamy yet dangerous tale of magic, grief, and self-discovery
Following the lives of teenagers Zara and David as they grapple with magic and tragedy, The Wickerlight is an introspective, lightly atmospheric novel that sneakily builds to a breathtaking finale.
Zara's readiness to accept the magical world she discovers might have strained credulity except that Mary Watson's dreamlike writing style and Zara's sister's recent death establish a world where the line between real and unreal feels easily crossed. Using Maggie Stiefvater's Raven Cycle as comp titles is so overdone at this point as to be basically meaningless, but The Wickerlight is one (possibly the only) case in which I found the comparison accurate, at least insofar as setting and atmosphere are concerned. Zara's concern with (comparatively) mundane troubles serves to highlight the stakes and unreality of the magical conflict while simultaneously imparting a sense of the dissociation that accompanies deep grief.
I'm not doing this book justice, but I absolutely recommend it to fans of the Raven Cycle and/or Cinda Williams Chima's Heir Chronicles, which I remember having a similar feel to The Wickerlight. This is an adventure, but in a dark, emotional way. Zara and David find each other, and they also start to work out their own places in the world. I'm excited to see where the story goes after this!
content warnings: death of a family member, on-page torture
** I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. **
Note: If other reviews are any indication, I'm one of several readers/reviewers who didn't realize The Wickerlight is the sequel to The Wren Hunt. Not having read the previous book didn't in any way diminish my understanding or enjoyment of this one; the only thing I noticed was that Wren, a minor character in this book, wasn't thoroughly introduced even though her presence was clearly meant to carry emotional weight. That makes sense if the previous book centered her story! I enjoyed Watson's writing and I'll definitely pick up The Wren Hunt soon.
Following the lives of teenagers Zara and David as they grapple with magic and tragedy, The Wickerlight is an introspective, lightly atmospheric novel that sneakily builds to a breathtaking finale.
Zara's readiness to accept the magical world she discovers might have strained credulity except that Mary Watson's dreamlike writing style and Zara's sister's recent death establish a world where the line between real and unreal feels easily crossed. Using Maggie Stiefvater's Raven Cycle as comp titles is so overdone at this point as to be basically meaningless, but The Wickerlight is one (possibly the only) case in which I found the comparison accurate, at least insofar as setting and atmosphere are concerned. Zara's concern with (comparatively) mundane troubles serves to highlight the stakes and unreality of the magical conflict while simultaneously imparting a sense of the dissociation that accompanies deep grief.
I'm not doing this book justice, but I absolutely recommend it to fans of the Raven Cycle and/or Cinda Williams Chima's Heir Chronicles, which I remember having a similar feel to The Wickerlight. This is an adventure, but in a dark, emotional way. Zara and David find each other, and they also start to work out their own places in the world. I'm excited to see where the story goes after this!
content warnings: death of a family member, on-page torture
** I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. **
Note: If other reviews are any indication, I'm one of several readers/reviewers who didn't realize The Wickerlight is the sequel to The Wren Hunt. Not having read the previous book didn't in any way diminish my understanding or enjoyment of this one; the only thing I noticed was that Wren, a minor character in this book, wasn't thoroughly introduced even though her presence was clearly meant to carry emotional weight. That makes sense if the previous book centered her story! I enjoyed Watson's writing and I'll definitely pick up The Wren Hunt soon.