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| The Wickerlight |
Review
‘Wickerlight is when time cracks, when magic gets in. It’s a rare star alignment, or maybe a blue or blood moon [...] Sometimes, for a few intense seconds, you know time feels different. Like you’ve stepped into pure magic.
The Wickerlight by Mary Watson is a fantastic book and one that can either
be read as a standalone or as a sequel to the first book The Wren Hunt.
I personally read it as the sequel having read the first book a few years back
and was super excited to return to the world and characters that Watson had
created. In The Wickerlight we learn more about David, who in the first
book was the major antagonist, but in this sequel he has become the joint
narrator and protagonist alongside a new character, Zara. I absolutely loved
Watson’s development both of David, from the previous book, and the world’s
mythology too. Without giving too much away there are two magical communities,
known as the Augurs and Judges, who are equally connected to nature but clash
on how it should be treated and used for their magic. Alongside the mythology
of the two magic bearing communities is a murder mystery involving the new
joint narrator Zara, who’s sister has recently died of unknown causes, and it
is for this reason that The Wickerlight could be read as a standalone.
Because even though we are given a development of David we are not given a
development of the previous protagonist from the first book The Wren Hunt.
What I loved majorly about this book was the further
development of David. It’s been a while since I read The Wren Hunt but
from what I remember David was not a very nice guy and the reasons for this
were never that clearly stated. However, The Wickerlight certainly
develops and explains why David is the young man that he is and gives a
satisfying resolution to the readers of both books. Like many protagonists in
YA fiction David has not had an easy start to life he has been raised with
family pressures and expectations that have lead to becoming a rather cruel and
unkind young man, ‘...it’s been drilled
in me from birth that strength and ambition are more important than kindness.
That feelings are something to be overcome.’
David has been raised as a Judge and the very world itself is unkind and
unforgiving. The tone and themes of The Wickerlight are much darker than
the first book. There are some short scenes involving torture and although for
some these may not be too explicit for others it might well be too much (I
would advise some caution for all readers). Though I will not give anything
away about the ending we see David begin to question and doubt the ways in
which he has been raised and challenges the worlds ideologies that he has been
taught are absolute. And by the end I was hugely satisfied with David’s
development and in finally being given an insight into understanding this young
man, who for me I felt was actually a rather sad and lonely as well as
misunderstood young person.
‘Dad’s always been a weird mirror of the future for me. In him, I see the man I’m meant to become. I’ve been taught to idolise his strength, his way with weapons. To be gruff, blunt, abrupt. Relentless. Without mercy or remorse.’
If
you enjoy a bit of romance and murder mystery then The Wickerlight
certainly provides both of these. Unlike The Wren Hunt the main
propelling story arc is the new girl's attempts to solve the mystery of her
sisters death. And in trying to solve this mystery she is of course drawn into
the world of the Augurs and Judges and finds herself falling in love too. Zara
herself undergoes her own personal development as the joint protagonist, but
unlike David, her development is linked to the processing of her grief and loss
of a dead sister. Grief is expressed in many different ways by all sorts of
people and Zara is no different. However, Zara is not only grieving she is
infuriated by the lack of knowing what really happened and therefore she
expresses her grief through frustration during the earlier part of the book. For
example, during a scene between herself and her mum she accuses her of
abandoning herself and her remaining brother whilst their mum struggles through
her own grief saying cruel and unkind words that leave Zara feeling guilty and
frustrated, ‘I stand in the drive, filled with this hollow, guilty pain. I
am an empty girl, with gaping cavities inside.’ As the book progresses and
Zara begins to process and find resolution her grief turns away from
frustration towards acceptance and understanding. Importantly, though her grief
never disappears it does evolve through stages. In some ways death and grief
determine the person that Zara becomes and the actions that she takes. In
some ways its unavoidable because what happens to a person will always
determine who they will become and what actions they will take in response. Although, grief and trying to resolve her sisters murder is a huge driving force of her
part in the story but alongside this is also a developing romance. For me, I did
enjoy the romance and especially the way that it allowed the characters to
develop as individuals in relation to their own struggles, I could very easily
have read this book without the romance in it too though. Where in other way YA books the intrigue comes from the romance,
for me, it came from the murder mystery in The Wickerlight.
“I’ll be here, among the ghosts of the living, with the dust of the dead.”
Synopsis (From Goodreads)
It's been two months since Laila was found lifeless on Kilshamble village green, not a mark on her. Rumour says she died of an overdose. Or maybe it was suicide? The autopsy found nothing, but somebody must know what happened.
Key Quotes
‘There are monsters in these woods. Dangerous creatures wait and watch. The villagers warn of fearsome tree people, with bark-covered skin and thick roping muscle. Beautiful and deadly, they lure boys and girls into the deepest parts of the forest. The victims fall in love with these exquisite monsters, and this is what destroys them. Every kiss is a feed, every touch a drain, until they are nothing more than shells. Or dead [...] Here’s the thing about the monsters in my world: they’re normal people living at a knife’s edge, poised between decent and depraved.’
'I’ve spent my whole life wanting nothing more than to be the Shackle. I am a therapist's dream.’
'But words are power, and any judge's worth is determined by how many words they’ve turned to law.’
‘The Badb Catha is a harbinger of death. She is a battle goddess, who would mess with the minds of the enemy on the battlefield, sending awful visions to distract and destroy. So, I’m guessing she’s most pleased by death and destruction.’
'Mom wants to fix things. It’s why she’s a doctor. And she can’t fix this. Worse, she doesn’t even know how it all broke.'
‘I trust charming boys least of all.’
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Afterthoughts
If you were raised believing that pain and torture were the
only way of life and the expression of power than could you be expected to be
anything other than unfeeling and uncaring, to be anything other than a
horrible immoral person?
How far would you go to find out the answers to a mystery surrounding the death of a loved one?
Grief can have different effects on everyone, and it does not always make people very nice to those still surrounding them.
Family struggles and expectations, we all have them. Some are more manageable than others, but there are those burdens that are inescapable and destructive.
Have you read The Wickerlight or The Wren Hunt, what did you think? If not will you give it a try?
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