Title: Wicked As You Wish (A Hundred Names for Magic #1)
Author: Rin Chupeco
Pub. Date: March 3, 2020
Rating: DNF @ Page 28
Tala Warnock has little use for magic â as a descendant of Maria Makiling, the legendary Filipina heroine, she negates spells, often by accident. But her familyâs old ties to the country of Avalon (frozen, bespelled, and unreachable for almost 12 years) soon finds them guarding its last prince from those who would use his kingdomâs magic for insidious ends.
And with the rise of dangerous spelltech in the Royal States of America; the appearance of the firebird, Avalonâs deadliest weapon, at her doorstep; and the re-emergence of the Snow Queen, powerful but long thought dead, who wants nothing more than to take the firebird’s magic for her own â Talaâs life is about to get even more complicatedâŚ.
This will be a rant-y, possibly spoiler-y review, but I only got to page 28, soâŚ
I wanted to like this book.
Prior to receiving it in the December FairyLoot Box, this book wasnât on my radar as something I wanted to read. I figured that having received an ARC, I should at least attempt to read it. Based on the synopsis, it sounded like something I could possibly and would probably enjoy.
So, I went into the book with an open mind and by page 5 I was confused. Honestly, thatâs not a good sign. I took a breath and tried to focus, but that proved a bit hard the further I got into the storyâŚwhich albeit, wasnât very far.
The world is chaos and without a map (is there even going to be one in the finished copy?) I couldnât make heads or tails of how it was laid out. Iâm a pretty visual person, and I always love a map when it comes to fantasy worlds.
But it was more than just being unable to picture the world, but take every fantasy story, every mythology, lore, and history fact you know, and throw them all in a book and youâd have this. Then add a whole heaping of modern-day world problems and concerns and politics.
It was just kind of a mess, and I felt so loss amongst everything going on in the beginning of this book.
Now, maybe Iâm in the minority here, but I absolutely hate it, and itâs almost always an automatic turn off, when a book includes thinly veiled, media hyped political rants that do nothing but bash the US. I read fantasy books to escape.
Iâm in NO WAY saying that fantasy books shouldnât include real world elements, whether it be political, social issues, etc. They should, because it rounds them out and makes them better. But if youâre just going to rant for rantâs sake because youâre pissed at some media hyped and exploited, parroted political rant, Iâm almost never going to finish your book.
Usually, when books do this, or any variation, I can just roll my eyes and continue reading. I can usually just ignore whatever part and enjoy the book. That is always my goal when I go into ânew to meâ reads. Maybe there is a purpose to the rant, and I just didnât get to it. If thatâs the case, itâs a shame that I have no desire to find out what happens next. I like escapism when it comes to fantasy, and that rant just hit a bit hard and a bit real, and I decided I couldnât continue. Iâm sure we all have one or two things that we adamantly donât like when it comes to reading.
I know I wonât be picking up this book again and Iâm not going to recommend it. I canât.
I also canât recommend it, because I havenât finished it and now, Iâm not going to. I wanted to like this book, because it really does sound like something I could get behind and love. Unfortunately, it just wasnât for me. If you read this, I hope you really enjoy it.
On top of that, I only got 28 pages into this book, I didnât care for the characters, they felt very one dimensional and flat and I could not get behind the writing style.
I know thereâs always going to be the argument of when itâs appropriate to show versus tell, and the opposite, but if youâre going to spend time telling me everything, youâd better make sure I understand whatâs going on.
And guess what?
28 pages, and I still didnât understand the world, the connections, the politics, any of it really. And yes, that could be because I didnât read far enough into the book, thatâs fair, but now weâll never know. I kind of feel bad for maybe not giving this book the time it needs to capture my interest, but honestly, my interest is gone. There was a lot of info dumping, which didnât help my confusion and didnât clarify anything. I also want to state that I was already struggling to stay interested in this book, due to my lack of connection with the characters and issues with the writing style, but I was forcing myself to continue to read it, to give it a chance. I donât like DNFing books, because I want to like every book I pick up. I want it to be my new favorite thing that I can yell about and convince everyone to read. This, unfortunately, just wasnât the book for me, and thatâs okay.
I donât really know what else to sayâŚI only read 28 pages of this book before I stopped. I canât speak for whatever happens in the rest of this book Iâm not going to recommend this book, because I donât feel like I can, but I do urge you to form your own opinions. If you have any interest in this title at all, check it out! Read it! Potentially fall in love with it! This book wasnât for me, but maybe itâs for you. Iâm definitely going to be giving this authorâs other works a go, and Iâve just been urged to read The Bone Witch, so thatâs been moved up my TBR. Hopefully I havenât put you off this book, and I hope you enjoy it if you do/have read it!