Wicked As You Wish by Rin Chupeco is a very interesting story. I felt like it is a bit of a jumbled mess that deals with very important issues. Chupeco tackles issues like immigration and refugee policies, child abuse, family separations, and so many other government issues. I feel like all of these are super important issues but the rest of the story just didn’t keep up with the important topics.

This story felt very much like a witch’s brew. Add a sprinkle of fairy dust, newt’s eye, some frog legs, and whatever else you put into the brew is what I feel like Wicked As You Wish came out to be. It is a mix of magic, fairy tales, urban, fantasy, magical realism, contemporary, I mean it is all in there. I think this is a book that would be great for the right kind of person and I feel like that wasn’t me. There was just too much thrown into this book for me to truly enjoy it.

I did find the characters to be quite entertaining. I felt like Chupeco did such a great job with the characters. They were diverse and fun. I thought they were really able to drive the story. The world building was pretty great too. The books takes place in the real world except that fairy tales are true in the story. This book definitely had its ups and downs but I think it is also fun at the same time.

This started off so slow for me. I ended up liking it, but it really felt like a trunk book that got dusted off and revised. It’s just a hot mess of too much going on and way too many characters. The beginning just murdered me, but then I forced myself through it and it became fun, but still felt like someone watched way too much OUAT. I love Rin’s books, this just felt like such a first book for me, I wish it had gotten trimmed a little tighter. Still, 4 stars because I love her and it entertained me for the last half.

Thank you Netgalley and sourcefire books for giving me an archive of Wicked as you Wish an exchange of a review.

This book was a DNF for me.
At first, I was very, very interested in the book. From the author, to the title, to the description. Unfortunately, the book did not meet my expectations. The overall book and world-building was hard to wrap my head around and it felt very childish. The concept was very interesting and the book had a lot of potential. The writing needed some work, at some points it felt like information was just being thrown at us instead of being integrated.

Thank you to Rin Chupeco, Sourcebook and Netgalley for gifting me this ebook in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

I picked this one out because I thought some magic would make a nice change from my usual favourites - thrillers and mysteries. Unfortunately I was wrong.
I really struggled with this book and I finished it only because I was stubborn and I vowed to myself I won't have any DNF's this year.

The start of the story was hard for me, meaning it took me quite a while to figure out who's who.
I'll admit I'm not that versed in dystopian or fantasy worlds l, but somehow I couldn't decide one was depicted here. Especially because I thought this world would sound quite interesting.
As for the characters... Oh my! Honestly, everything was over the top - different genders, sexualities, races... I started taking notes trying to remember who's who and that's something I don't really like, because it pulls me away from the story...
The one thing I did like was the naming of the chapters - you get a glimpse of what is about to happen in that chapter and I find it refreshing.

All in all, 2 stars from me. I believe this book will find its fans, sadly I am not one of them.

Earth is a realm without magic, which is why the Inn at Havenfall is a safe place to connect worlds that each has unique magic. For many years, the inn has given protection to everyone who enters for refuge. If someone breaks that peace, then they cannot return. Maddie has spent her summers at the inn with her uncle, the Innkeeper. She loves the chance to escape the burdened life she lives on Earth and looks forward to the day when she will take over the inn. This summer is different, though. Her uncle becomes gravely injured and there is a dangerous creature wreaking havoc. Maddie is now the Innkeeper and is responsible for the safety of everyone in Havenfall. As she tries to figure out the truth, she must also determine who she can trust. Is anyone safe?

Havenfall is the first book in the Havenfall series and Holland has done a wonderful job of world-building and character development without it feeling like a second section. Maddie is rushed into a role she knew was coming but thought it was many years away. As she is dealing with being in charge, she is also dealing with a possible romance and trying to determine what secrets her uncle was keeping from her and everyone else. This story is fast-paced and readers will enjoy the secret revealing and backstabbing that is woven throughout. I recommend Havenfall to all fantasy and urban fantasy fans.

Wicked as you Wish builds up the characters slowly and half way through the book it becomes actions packed. It was a good start to the series. There is a little bit of everything in the book. Magic, a traitor, a curse, and love. What I found strange was trying to tie in fairytales in this story. I enjoyed reading it but and I am waiting to see how the books will evolve. I liked it and hope that I will grow to love this series.

Prince Alexei is the sole survivor of the Avalon royal family. Tala and her family are helping the Prince hideout and when the Firebird appears things will be set in motion as the evil Snow Queen will send her people after the prince to stop him from go back to rule his kingdom. The Prince and a group of kids assigned to help protect him and see him get back to kingdom safely. There will be seers along the path and dangers to conquer.

If you want o check out a new series give this one a try and don't let the cold get to you.

Do you see this rating? Yes, I know, I don't like it either.

I really wanted to love this book. I really really did. I love the ideas Chupeco comes up with.
Fairytale countries as real life places?
Spellbreakers?
Filipino folklore?
A diverse group of misfits growing closer?
Sign me the fuck up!

But alas, I may have signed up too early.
It may have to do something with me getting easily bored by road-tripesque stories, and a at least half of this book was people walking/riding places. I grew bored of it at around 66% (and I only got really into it after about a third, so I only REALLY enjoyed the middle of the book, while the beginning was okay).
As far as I understand, this was Chupeco's first book, even when it was released a lot later. It does feel like a first book. The writing is choppy at times (I wasn't a fan of the fight scenes, especially in the latter half of the book).
Some things seemed to be just crammed into this as a nod towards fairy tale x. And believe me, I hate to say that, because I love stories that have multiple fairytales intervine. It's my jam. But this one just didn't work out for me.

But let's have a list of things I liked in this too, because you can't critisize shit without actually mentioning what was well done too:
- I loved the chapter titles. I don't know when chapter titles went out of fashion, but there are some hilarious ones in this!
- the cast is super diverse! Tala, our main, is filipina (and scottish), there's a whole bunch of filipino characters, one of the supporting characters uses they/them pronouns, there's casually gay people, and I'm pretty sure at least one character has some japanese ancestors, but I'm not too sure now that I write my review.
- (I do have to say I don't remember half the cast's physical description though. I am easily lost when faced with more than like three characters)
- the magic system is dope. The whole thing with the segen was very cool
- while we're talking about segen, which is a German word: You guys know how much wrongly used German words ruffle my feathers. The (very few, it's literally just segen and blitzsegen I believe) German was not as bad as I'm used to in American novels.


This book deserves a better rating, it really does, but at the same time, I personally didn't like it enough to rate it better. Which is sad.


@Sourcebook Fire & Netgalley, thanks for the ARC!

The story of the Snow Queen has been increasingly explored in recent years, though is probably one of the more unique takes that I've read. It certainly includes an impressive number of classic tales into the world. Magic combining with technology along with racial and social issues. All of the magic has rules that must be followed; spells that exact costs with few exceptions (and those exceptions seem t o hint more of secrets to be revealed than of genuine rule breaking). There's a vast cast of characters, each with at least a small degree of complexity. It's almost too much, too big and complex. With curses and prophecies all over the place it's easy to lose track of the details. This is not a series to tackle when you're looking to relax, but rather when you have time to mull and absorb and consider.

I'm DNFing this for now, at 65% through. I will probably come back to it, because I was so excited about it. The rep in this book is fantastic, which is why I feel so conflicted about whether to pause this book, but I'm finding it difficult to make myself read at the moment, so feel I should leave it until I hopefully feel ready to come back to it.
The magic system in this book is so confusing, there was a tonne of info-dumping at the beginning of the book, which I found really overwhelming, and I despite that I still don't really understand what's going on. I like the idea of 'spelltech' in theory but I really don't get the rules of it. There are a lot of things that haven't made sense to me, and overall this has meant I can't connect to the story and characters because I can't figure out how the world works at all.
I really want to continue with the series in the future, so will end up finishing this, as I'm sure the confusing world building is because of trying to set everything up quickly, so the other books will be easier to follow.
I definitely think there is a lot to like about this book, and there are some really interesting characters, and some good writing, and I really want to love it, but at the moment I just don't.
I'm hoping this is just a case of it's not you it's me, and I really hope a lot of people really love this, as, like I said, the rep in this book is phenomenal, in terms of poc and queer characters it tops most books I've read recently.

DNF around 10%

I was so excited about this book. The synopsis sounded like something I would devour: an evil Snow Queen waging war, a Prince exiled and sent into hiding, and a strong female lead with the power to nulify magic. It's an urban fantasy with nods to many fairy tales that readers will recognize.

However, I didn't find myself invested in the story, and I'm not quite sure why. The characters were interesting enough, but lacking something that made me cheer for them. There was a lot of dialogue, which was different, as I'm used to fantasy novels with far more description. I know a lot of readers who would love this writing style, but it wasn't for me.

The worldbuilding was also a little confusing; I couldn't figure out where exactly it was supposed to take place? There are references to the real world (songs, countries, etc.), although it clearly doesn't take place in our version of Earth. I know this isn't uncommon in urban fantasies, but it seemed a little all over the place, which is why it couldn't hold my attention.

If anyone is looking for an #ownvoices story by a Chinese-Filipino author, I would recommend this one. Fans of fairy tales may also enjoy this book.

Thank you to the publisher for an electronic copy of this book via NetGalley. Wicked As You Wish came out on March 3, 2020, and can be purchased wherever books are sold.

This is a tale that takes just about every fairy tale under the sun and mashes them into a fantasy adventure unlike any you ever read. With nods to Filipino culture and political intrigue.

This tale takes place in a town that is so boring magic won’t even function their. Sounds like my hometown lets all watch the tumbleweeds fly by. It took me a bit to get into this tale as one i don’t know a lot about Filipino culture and two i kept seeing fairy tales pop up and like how does that work.

Once you get that this is the whole point that your to be drawn in my fairy tales and i one for one really want to try some Filipino food now as the description make it sound so good.

One main thing i like to point out in this novel shows the talent this author in that you can tell the decathlon that she put into this novel as it was one she tried for a very long time to get published. Some stories just need to have the right time for them to see the light. I for one was enthralled with the story all the vast characters and wide variety of characters and she even did an amazing job with Loki. I was not sure how that type of character would work in a novel but i think she pulled it off very well.

If your a fan of fairy tales, and you like seeing them mixed up and mashed together Wicked as You Wish is the perfect tale for you.

Wish! I received an advanced copy of Wicked As You Wish from Netgalley so that I could share my review with you!

The Kingdom of Avalon lost a war many years ago, and it’s descendants are still paying the price. After their kingdom was left encased in ice by the evil Snow Queen, the remaining Avalonians scattered around the map to try and keep living when everyone they loved has been taken from them. One such escapee just happens to be the crown prince of Avalon, Prince Alexei, who has been forced into hiding for his own safety. When he gets transferred to the next location in a long string of safe houses, he finds an ally in Tala, a girl his age who possesses the unique ability of nullifying spells. Tala comes from a family line of warriors, but feels as though she hasn’t gotten to do much so far in her life. When the two come together (along with a ragtag group of friends) the battle for the fate of Avalon will most certainly be remembered for all times!

You can get your copy of Wicked As You Wish today from Sourcebooks Fire!

Rin Chupeco has written a fun and quirky fantasy novel in Wicked As You Wish! I loved the characters and their interactions! I especially appreciated that the tone of the book strayed away from the typical heavy voice of fantasy, choosing instead to have a lighter tone. The queer representation in this book was also fantastic and was what drew me to request it to begin with!

My Recommendation-
If you are in need of a more funny story to break up some of your other fantasy reading, Wicked As You Wish would be a great choice! This story has a detailed magic system that interacts with technology, something which is rather rare in books but is super enjoyable! If you enjoy books by M. K. England or Lindsey Miller, you’ll love Wicked As You Wish!

This was a good magical read, I really enjoyed the characters and the hints to many fairytales throughout. I definitely found the second 50% of the book flowed much better once all the other world building had been completed. All in all a good read

A dnf for me. I'm very particular when it comes to fantasy based books and there are plenty that I have been able to finish even if I didn't find it completely compelling. However, this book quickly became boring and I felt disconnected from the characters and plot.

"No," the old woman said, "cease the deception. People who don't look and act like you is what you hate. Every other excuse is only a pretense."


Wicked As You Wish was a delightful book showcasing the necessity of perseverance and overcoming obstacles, in order to try and shape the world for the better (well, depending on who you ask). Rin Chupeco had my love from the first page of The Bone Witch and she has successfully kept it throughout each and every book of hers that I have read, WAYW is no different.

Urban fantasy is something that I typically struggle to connect with, current day technology mixed in with fantastical elements tends to take me away from the escapism elements that I love from fantasy. Luckily in this book, the addition of fairytale references and folklore interspersed within the story keeps my escapism intact and I can generally overlook real-life elements.

Diversity has always been one of Rin's greatest strengths and this is continued with WAYW, there is an enby character who is correctly referenced throughout the entire book which is beautiful, there is a lead gay character with relevant concerns and worries that is handled well, there is so much beautiful filipino representation that even though I wasn't able to fully understand everything, I felt the authenticity and the ease of which it was written.

The current day issues (ICE, detention, asylum, racism, etc) that are written about in this book added an extra level of impact and emotion that I wasn't expecting. Ryker's "in this essay, i will ..." speech was so incredibly powerful and probably one of my favourite parts of the whole book. I had a suspicion about a certain character, of which I am really looking forward to seeing how this is going to turn out and how some characters are going to work through something, or if they are going to work through it at all (sidenote: I hope they will).

The epilogue left me incredibly intrigued and I am really looking forward to seeing where the story goes.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire, NetGalley and Rin Chupeco for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

It's my second book by Rin Chupeco, and the more I read from her, the more I'm impressed. This book was pure magic. Although it takes a few chapters to grasp the world (think Once Upon A Time x 10000), but once I did, there was no going back. It was absolutely fascinating. I loved Tala as a main character, I adored her family, they're so weird and lovely! But I also loved how this book is a love letter to Filipino culture at times. It's simply beautiful and I cannot recommend it enough!

Wicked As You Wish was one of my most anticipated reads of this year and I am so glad that it lived up to every one of my expectation. Wicked as you wish is a stunning, fun and adventurous contemporary fantasy which has an interesting magic system and a sassy and fun found family.

An Intricate World Building inspired by Fairy tales and Modern World
The favourite part of the book, for me, was its beautiful world building. It was vast and intricate and really intriguing. This is a fantasy which is set in the modern world but with changed names of some places like USA is Royal States of America with other countries such as Beira, Avalon and Wonderland while some names stay the name. There is also a lot of inspiration from fairy tales like Sleeping Beauty and the “Ella of the Cinders” and this was all done so well and it was truly magical.

There is also a lot of themes around the immigrant crisis and the horrors of the ICE and all the socio-economic, cultural and political talks are also very well-written. There is a lot of info-dumping in the start of the book but it explains the whole world and the magic system and the ongoing circumstances really well and it is definitely worth pushing through that.

Different and Diverse Characters
There are a lot of characters in this book but you will never get confused with them because they’re all so different and varied. It’s like seeing a movie with a big cast and it is absolutely endearing to read about them.

The two main characters are Tala and Alex and they’re so different from each other but also their friendship was the best thing to read about. Tala is a Maikling and Alex is the Prince of Avalon and their journey is entwined and the story follows that. There is also a big emphasis on family with Tala’s large family with her mom and Irish dad and the Katipuneros, who are Alex’s protectors and the Bandersnatchers, a team of specialised warriors. Rin talks about the importance of the biological family as well as the found family which consisted of Zoe, Cole, Ken, Loki and West.

The five of them were also super fun and their camaraderie and sassy banter was refreshing and genuinely made the scenes funnier. Their magic and power was interesting to read about and their importance to the plot was also well written.

The antagonist was the Snow Queen and although this book does not explore her in a lot of detail, I am so excited to find out more about her backstory. Whatever small part she played in this book was full of intrigue, deceit and betrayal and surprise. Her magic was powerful and unique and this book shows a glimpse into that.

Solid Plot which gets interesting by the chapter
The plot follows Alex who is the prince of Avalon and is living in hiding because Avalon was frozen over by the Snow Queen 12 years back and he is trying to find a way to get back to his country which has become inaccessible after that incident. Tala’s mother is a Makiling and their lineage is cursed with agimat which means she negates spells and cannot wield it like others. Her family is tasked with protecting Alex and on his eighteenth birthday events happen which leads the plot further.

As I mentioned, the plot thickens as the story moves forward and so does the suspense and intrigue surrounding it. The story blends the characters and their journeys mixed with the storylines of ICE and magic and this all turns out be on hell of an adventure.

Intriguing Magic System
The magic system is inspired from the Full Alchemist as mentioned by Rin. This system works in the way that every person has their own magic power and to get that power they have to sacrifice something in return. This means that every person in this world who has magic has to give up something in return. I found this really intriguing and it always kept you wondering about the story.

The plot also depended on prophecies a lot. A lot of the actions were based on prophecies and there were seers too. The prophecies were very weirdly worded when you first read them but then they start making sense as the story progresses and it totally blows your minds. It makes me smile just thinking about how well prophecies were handled.

Well-written Dialogues, Chapter Titles and Prophecies
This whole book is filled with sassy dialogues with lots of funny instances. The one really unique and creative part of the book is its Chapter Titles. One of my favourites being: In Which Government Agents are Assholes, but What Else Is New. All the chapter titles are this fun and honestly it was fun to read the title and then read about how the chapter captures this title.

The prophecies as I said are also so well-written and I was completely in love with the whole concept of the fairy tales and prophecy tropes used in this book.

A Sassy Bird- The Firebird
There’s a firebird which is an important part of the Avalon history and plays a crucial role in the story and the plot. The scenes with Firebird are fun and the firebird itself is a very unique and fun part of the story. This is a special mention because I loved the way the firebird’s story was depicted and I am so excited to read more about it.

Diverse and Adventurous
The story is very heavily inspired by Filipino culture. There are a diverse characters and a strong storyline about the immigrants and ICE. Alex is gay and one of the characters is also non-binary with the pronouns they/them. The story is adventurous and will definitely give you the movie feel to it.

Overall, Wicked As You Wish is a super fun, adventurous, diverse and intriguing book with a solid plot and stunning world building. I absolutely loved it and would highly recommend it to all. Rin Chupeco is one of my favourite authors and their The Bone Witch trilogy and The Never Tilting World are awesome books. I can never recommend these books enough.

DNF @ 15%

Rin Chupeco came so highly recommended that I couldn't wait to pick this up. This book sounded so perfect on paper. It checked all the boxes, right down to a firebird. I'm so disappointed to say that this book just wasn't for me.

I loved that the heroine is Filipina. The author does such a beautiful job bringing the culture to life. I don't know much about the culture, but it was nice seeing the few things I do recognize, and it was great to learn about new things. I always love seeing new voices and perspectives, especially in young adult, and I thought this was great.

There were some really important themes in here, like racism and xenophobia and classism. It's obvious that the author is trying to do some big things with this narrative, and I didn't get far enough to see how this plays out, unfortunately. The part I read, it seemed like they were handled well, and these are important topics to tackle.

Ultimately, where I really struggled with this book was the world-building. It was just all over the place, and I was so confused and couldn't get into it. The story is set in an alternate contemporary real world, where magic exists and spelltech, but also YouTube and modern inventions such as that. There's the countries we already know, like the Philippines and America, but also Neverland, Wonderland, and Beira. The idea is unique and interesting, but it didn't quite mesh in my mind, and I couldn't piece together this world. To add to that, the beginning was mostly exposition. It didn't try to show us this world, but tell us about it. Including several pages of Wikipedia articles of exposition and some podcast transcriptions. It's just not an effective way for me to learn about a world. It bored me to death.

Wishing for a well told YA fantasy book? Pick this up and prepare to be dazzled. It's so vivid you will think you're part of the group. Don't pass up this gem of a book. Not to be missed. Happy reading!

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy. This did not affect my rating.

*2/5*

Man oh man oh man. This book’s synopsis was so intriguing that I jumped at the change to get the arc. An evil Snow Queen, a magic-less Arizona, spell-breakers, a firebird?!?How does this not sound epic and amazing?

The plot was convoluted and messy. And for a book that had such a cool plot, it was just confusing. The characters were one dimensional, and world-building was confusing. I was hoping that the more I read, the more I would understand but it never happened.

Wicked As You Wish is urban fantasy, fabulism, fables, and fairy-tales all mixed together. Will it work for some people? You bet! And I hope this book finds those readers because it had such potential for me.