Uptown Oracle Reads… Wicked As You Wish

Wicked as You Wish by Rin Chupeco

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When a hidden prince, a girl with secrets, a ragtag group of unlikely heroes, and a legendary firebird come together…something wicked is going down.

Many years ago, the magical Kingdom of Avalon was left encased in ice when the Snow Queen waged war. 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 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.

A new hope for their abandoned homeland reignites when a famous creature of legend, the Firebird, appears for the first time in decades. Alex and Tala must 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.

Wicked as You Wish follows a young half-Filipina, Tala, as our main character and shows the strength of her warrior family that escaped the magical lost kingdom (and kept it from her). The book starts off fairly slow until we figure out what the goal is for our character, but once we start to find out more about Avalon it gets more exciting and engaging. 

The world building is based a lot in the real world, with “Royal States of America” the place we start off in. However, it also incorporates fantasy elements by using world building from a variety of fairy tales including Arthurian Legends, Alice in Wonderland and the Snow Queen. These have been magically woven together to create the fictional lands and kingdoms that draw our characters together. 

There was also just enough information of the stories that you can understand them without knowing the original tales, although sometimes at the detriment of the flow of the story as the history is explored in larger paragraphs of text. It does remind me slightly of Once Upon A Time, with the amount of stories and references included. 

Wicked as You Wish has a fantastic cast of characters, with representation for gay, non-binary, Jewish and Chinese people. Plus this diversity is closely woven into these characters to give them depth and backstory alongside their story arcs as they work towards their goal. I particularly liked the representation of Loki, who is non-binary and refered to as they/them throughout the entire book from their introduction, without the need to point it out more explicitly or repeatedly. 

A big issue I had whilst reading the book was that I kept getting more caught up in the fairytale backgrounds, like what happened to Neverland and what other stories from Avalon are there? The world building and backstories kept me intrigued maybe more than our plot with Tala, which I don’t think is awful (I still enjoyed the book!) but I do think some people may not be as invested in the book because of that. 

Rin Chupeco writes with astounding accuracy where you feel like the story has been planned out, then planned again. It means that when things happen like plot twists, they’re not completely out of the blue. I could read this again just to pick out all the little details that Rin has clearly spent so much time on to make sure the book is perfected. 

The book tackles themes around racist immigration policies, refugee mistreatment, and deterioration of cultures on top of the fantasy story. These strong themes alongside the cast of teen characters willing to save the day mirrors the modern world in a way that’s easily understandable for any reader. 

I’ve only read The Bone Witch series by Rin Chupeco before and I would say the tone of Wicked As You Wish is extremely different. I did enjoy both books, but I would recommend you manage your expectations if you’re looking for a book similar to The Bone Witch. 

Positives of Wicked As You Wish

• Fun mix of fairytales
• Diverse characters

Negatives of Wicked As You Wish

• Slow pace and more interesting backstories

I received Wicked As You Wish By Rin Chupeco from the publisher. This is an unbiased and honest review

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