Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: The Wicker King
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S): Ancrum, K.
BIRTHDATE: 1989?
WEBSITE: http://kancrum.com/
CITY: Andersonville
STATE: IL
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2017034628
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/n2017034628
HEADING: Ancrum, Kayla
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670 __ |a The wicker king, 2017: |b ECIP title page (K. Ancrum)
670 __ |a The wicker king, 2017: |b ECIP data sheet (Kayla Ancrum)
PERSONAL
Born c. 1992.
EDUCATION:Dominican University, B.A., 2013.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, novelist, editor, essayist, and public speaker. Dominican University, River Forest, IL, freelance editor, 2010-13; Avant, customer service representative, 2013-14; GoHealth, insurance broker, 2014-15; Echo Global Logistics, Chicago, IL, compliance officer, 2015—.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Kayla Ancrum is a writer, novelist, editor, and essayist based in Andersonville, Illinois. She serves as a compliance officer at Echo Global Logistics, a transportation and supply chain management company in Chicago. She has also worked in customer service, in the insurance industry, and as a freelance editor. She was originally interested in fashion merchandising, but was “lured into getting an English degree after spending too many nights experimenting with hard literary criticism and hanging out with unsavory types, like poetry students,” commented a writer on the Kayla Ancrum Website. She graduated from Dominican University.
“I generally write vaguely paranormal YA fiction about teenage horrors,” Ancrum stated on her website. Her debut book, The Wicker King, is a young adult novel combining elements of psychological horror, fantasy, and interpersonal relationships. The main characters, August and Jack, are “not designed to be liked. They’re more designed to be cared about or worried about. My goal was to make readers feel protective of them—regardless of their faults,” Ancrum noted in an interview with Joshua Gabriel on the website Highlit.
August and Jack, two high schoolers, have been very close friends since childhood. Their friendship endures even though they are “from opposite ends of the social spectrum,” noted a Kirkus Reviews contributor. Jack is a popular athlete while August is a poor young man who often resorts to selling drugs to make extra money. Both of them, however, are from troubled families where parents are neglectful at best or completely absent at worst. Their relationship is strong, “deeper than friendship and more intense” than their other friendships or romantic connections, the Kirkus Reviews writer noted.
The friendship between August and Jack is tested when Jack begins to spiral into what seems like mental illness. He starts to hallucinate a parallel world that exists alongside everyday reality, a kingdom with many of the trappings of modern fantasy. Jack, however, believes this world is real. He receives messages from residents of the world and sees objects and beings associated with it. Much like a quest fantasy, Jack eventually realizes the world will require his assistance to save it. With few outside resources to rely on, August decides he has to help Jack overcome this issue, even when it leads both of them to dangerous activities that threaten both their safety and their friendship.
A Kirkus Reviews writer called The Wicker King a “haunting story that bravely explores friendship and mental illness.” Sarah Hunter, writing in Booklist, concluded, “Teen fans of moody psychological horror will be entranced.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, September 15, 2017, Sarah Hunter, review of The Wicker King, p. 54.
Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2017, review of The Wicker King.
ONLINE
Highlit, http://www.highliterature.com/ (August 3, 2017), Joshua Gabriel, “Q&A with K. Ancrum.”
Kayla Ancrum Website, http://www.kancrum.com (May 14, 2017).
Royal Polar Bear Reads Blog, http://theroyalpolarbearreads.wordpress.com/ (October 23, 201), “Interview with K. Ancrum!”
Teenreads, https://www.teenreads.com/ (December 13, 2017), review of The Wicker King.
ABOUT
K. Ancrum grew up in Chicago Illinois. She attended Dominican University to study Fashion Merchandizing, but was lured into getting an English degree after spending too many nights experimenting with hard literary criticism and hanging out with unsavory types, like poetry students. Currently, she lives in Andersonville and writes books at work when no one is looking.
EXPERIENCE
As a super new author, I'm honestly just trying to survive out here. If you send me a thing about liking my work, or make fanart of it, I will definitely burst into tears and print it out or something embarrassing like that.
My debut novel 'The Wicker King' came out October 31st 2017 and I am very excited and nervous about it. People keep telling me it will be fine, but I can't hear them over the horrified internal screaming.
My next novel The Weight of Stars will be available March 19th 2019 and its about gayyyyyyyyys in love with each other and also in love with s p a c e.
If you want me to talk at an event about Mental Health, Abandonment and Co-dependancy in 'The Wicker King', and/or how I became an author, feel free to ask. I promise I'll show up.
ABOUT ME
Who I am:
My name is Kayla. I’m a 26 year old author from Chicago. I’ve been writing books for about 12 years now. The Wicker King is my debut novel. I used to write a couple of serials on tumblr, though, so if you find any of my stuff floating around out there, feel free to enjoy it.
What I am doing here: I run this blog for a couple of reasons:
1. Networking: I love meeting people who work in the publishing industry in a no-pressure fun environment. Making connections with other novelists is also really important to me. It’s always good to have good friends.
2. Holding an open view of my journey into mainstream publishing: There are only a couple places online where one can watch someone go through every little instance of insecurity and advancement in regards to publishing a book. I wanted to share this journey with everybody— but especially with my fellow young aspiring writers who are really curious and a little more fragile than other novelists. I was in a position where I could probably have self published and been quite happy with that. But, i’m going to stay the course, because I have time and I have so many people who’ve put a ton of time and effort into believing in my ability to make it, that not trying at all feels like a violent disservice to everyone involved.
3. Providing Publishing/Lit/Book Market information: I’m not nearly as illustrious as the wonderful booksandpublishing, but I try my best.
4. Supporting other writers: As my followership grows and becomes more impressive, I find myself becoming more and more interested in pimping other self published/aspiring writers on my site. I’m followed by around 15 major publishers (Little Brown, Simon and Schuster, etc) and more than 50 agents and editors. If someone manages to find someone to take their work seriously through my humble blog, I would be over the fucking moon. Everyone needs all the help and happenstance they can afford in this industry.
My Work:
I generally write vaguely paranormal YA fiction about teenage horrors.
I have quite a few projects up in the air right now.
Currently I am working on:
Novels:
The Weight of Stars A multimedia novel about a girl trying to catch transmissions sent to the him by his father in space.
Bill the Abomination: A romantic tragedy about a time traveler set in the 1980s. You can read the beginning of it *here*.
I also write essays about diversity. Most of them are about race, but I feel really strongly about LGBTQAI representation and feminism so I have a couple about those topics as well.
But all in all, I’m really just here to scream about Arthurian shit, make friends and talk to people about books we all love.
<3
Kayla Ancrum
Kayla Ancrum
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Kayla is also the author of the 2017 YA thriller THE WICKER KING the 2019 YA sci-fi THE WEIGHT OF THE STARS."
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Kayla Ancrum
Compliance Admini…
Experience
Echo Global Logistics
Compliance Officer
Company NameEcho Global Logistics
Dates EmployedMay 2015 – Present Employment Duration3 yrs
LocationChicago
I coordinate and review the necessary legal documents required to haul freight in the US. I am responsible for managing the requests of over 500 sales representatives as well as making vital judgment calls in regards to company policy and legal compliance.
GoHealth
Insurance Broker
Company NameGoHealth
Dates EmployedNov 2013 – Apr 2015 Employment Duration1 yr 6 mos
LocationGreater Chicago Area
I worked with Blue Cross and Blue Shield to sell and process health insurance applications for open enrollment. This was a sales job that entailed handling sensitive banking and personal identification information, as well as keeping and monitoring an active client list. This is a seasonal position that coordinates with the health insurance exchange open registration period.
Avant
Customer Service Representative
Company NameAvant
Dates Employed2013 – 2014 Employment Duration1 yr
LocationChicago, Illinois
I conducted both inbound and outbound calls concerning loan acquisition, as well as basic application troubleshooting dealing with sensitive personal financial information. I also developed a web based tool to help increase and ease back-end productivity for my fellow individual call center workers, in my free time.
Dominican University
Freelance Editor
Company NameDominican University
Dates EmployedSep 2010 – May 2013 Employment Duration2 yrs 9 mos
I edit professional documents to make connections and get editing experience. I predominantly edit reports and honors theses. But have worked on personal statements, cover letters, creative writing (poetry, short stories, novels), articles, case studies and a submission rejection letter.
Education
Dominican University
Dominican University
Degree NameEnglish Field Of StudyCreative Writing Grade12
Dates attended or expected graduation 2009 – 2013
Activities and Societies: Novel Writing, Freelance Editing
Tag Archives: The Wicker King
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Q & A with K. Ancrum
AUGUST 3, 2017
JOSHUA GABRIEL
ARC, BOOK BLOGGER, BOOKBLOG, BOOKISH EVENTS, BOOKS, BOOKWORM, CONTEMPORARY, K. ANCRUM, MACMILLAN, QUEER, THE WICKER KING
1 COMMENT
Happy Thursday, booknerds! Today is kinda special because this post is my 10th author interview. I’m so happy because I continue to meet amiable and talented authors in the YA community. Today’s post features K. Ancrum, debut author of The Wicker King. I found this book to be so weird, but it was not in a bad way. If you want to know more about my thoughts on it, check out my review. The Wicker King comes out this fall (October 31), and I hope that you will enjoy reading it. 🙂
IMG_20170703_084506
Mental health is a prevalent theme in YA books nowadays. With that in mind, what made you decide to write a book about codependency?
“It’s an incredibly under-discussed phenomenon. When we think about toxic relationships, we nearly always categorize someone as the aggressor and someone else as the victim. With codependency, both parties contribute to the issue—acting as aggressor and victim simultaneously—both inflicting damage, whether intentional or accidental. With August and Jack, a primary aspect of the book is the neglect that both of them suffer and their attempt to resolve their emotional needs in each other. They spiral into codependency because they are both taking from one another in volumes that the other cannot satisfy without destroying himself. They take from one another because they are lacking the traditional sources for their needs, and they make poor decisions because there is no real authority around to guide them not to. It’s a sad and dangerous situation and its entirely too common to be as under-discussed as it is.”
August and Jack are not necessarily likable characters. Were they intentionally crafted to be that way?
“Yes. They’re not designed to be liked. They’re more designed to be cared about or worried about. My goal was to make readers feel protective of them—regardless of their faults.
Also, upon finishing the book, I wanted readers to view them with a sort of wary caution and feel more reflective about their circumstances and the topic at hand, than have a ‘favorite’ between them. That unbalanced emotionally conflicted mood you felt after finishing the book was entirely intentional.”
How did your knowledge in literary theory/criticism influence your writing process? (i.e. Did it make it more unique or meticulous?)
“I—as you’ve probably guessed— greatly enjoy queer theory. When I first drafted the manuscript, the relationship between August and Jack was even more subtle because I enjoyed the ambiguity of the situation (as well as its comparison to old queer coded text, in a way that echoes the fairy tale feel of the story). The only hints of interest originally came from secondary characters who verbally assert their observations that August has feelings for Jack to his face—a fact that he’s not ready to recognize until the end of the book. However, as the manuscript grew and matured, I began to value representation over artistic subtlety. I originally wrote it as a meticulous, queer-coded ode to older braver stories (Like Marie de France’s Bisclavret). But refined it into something that would resonate much stronger with my intended audience. Not everyone has sat through Uni level Arthurian literature and as I’ve gotten older, I’ve grown to respect and value that.”
With whom do you identify the most, August or Jack? Do you love them equally?
“This is so hard.Well. I care about August a lot, but by god, my heart beats for Jack. The manuscript is written from August’s perspective of course—but he’s an unreliable narrator. If you have time to re-read the book from Jack’s perspective (or take a gander at the e-novella which is written in Jack’s perspective which is to be sold separately) the amount of love and sheer terror that he hides behind his teeth, even while he’s shouting demands, is stunning. Even as he twists himself into something terrible to suit August’s terrible needs, you can see him shivering in fear. There is not a second in this book where Jack is not looking at August and begging to be loved. There is a feral-ness to that kind of hope that absolutely makes my veins sing.”
What message do you want to impart to your research, particularly in regards to mental health, abusive relationships, and sexuality?
“The themes that I wanted to cover are: The negative effects of parental neglect, the devastation as a result of ignoring offered help when you need it, the importance of mental healthcare being appropriately suited to the needs of the patient, the wretchedness of our policing system when dealing with mental health fallout, and how students can slip through the cracks when their school cares more about their grades and classroom behavior than their overall wellbeing.
“As for sexuality, I feel a tenderness towards the ‘Questioning’ stage many people go through when navigating their identity. Jack is just a bi kid being bi. August, on the other hand, takes ages to correctly identify attraction: trying to fit that square block into round holes of ‘responsibility’ ‘duty’ ‘allegiance’ and ‘ownership’, before settling into a wordless yearning Meanwhile, he denies other people’s subtle suggestions the whole way. Sometimes it takes a bit of time and that’s okay. I also wanted the resolution of the feelings they had for each other to be the one good thing they got out of their wretched journey. I’m a sucker for happy endings.”
Between August and Jack, whom would you pick to be your boyfriend/best friend/husband?
“August would be a fun boyfriend. Jack would be steadfast in a way that would make him a good husband. However, I think that separately they are both lacking and in order to have good balance they need to be together. Which, consequently, is exactly what happens: In my next book THE WEIGHT OF STARS (which is set in the same small town, 25 years in the future, about a different group of seniors attending the same school) the Main character’s best friend is Rina, August and Jack’s child. So you’ll get to see a taste of what healthy Polyamory looks like, as well as meeting August and Jack as adults.”
7. What are the perfect songs to listen to while reading The Wicker King?
IM A HUGE NERD AND MADE A SOUNDTRACK AGES BEFORE THE ARCs WENT OUT SO HERE YOU GO.
You can also find the CD playlists that each of the characters have in the book HERE
About the author:
16371347
K. Ancrum grew up in Chicago Illinois. She attended Dominican University to study Fashion Merchandizing, but was lured into getting an English degree after spending too many nights experimenting with hard literary criticism and hanging out with unsavory types, like poetry students. Currently, she lives in Andersonville and writes books at work when no one is looking.
Visit K. Ancrum’s website
Interview with K. Ancrum!
OCTOBER 23, 2017 THE ROYAL POLAR BEARLEAVE A COMMENT
33158541The Wicker King is a psychological young adult thriller that follows two friends struggling as one spirals into madness.
When August learns that his best friend, Jack, shows signs of degenerative hallucinatory disorder, he is determined to help Jack cope. Jack’s vivid and long-term visions take the form of an elaborate fantasy world layered over our own—a world ruled by the Wicker King. As Jack leads them on a quest to fulfill a dark prophecy in this alternate world, even August begins to question what is real or not.
August and Jack struggle to keep afloat as they teeter between fantasy and their own emotions. In the end, each must choose his own truth.
What inspires you or made you write The Wicker King?
It was my discovery of the specific hallucinatory disorder that Jack has that inspired me to write a story around it. Jack has a condition called Peduncular Hallucinosis. PH is very interesting because people who get it only see happy/neutral/creative things. The hallucinations are aggressively vivid, but the sufferer notably is aware of the fact that they are hallucinations. People who have it also rarely degenerate in other ways mentally, unless from other causes. It’s utterly fascinating. It made for a great catalyst that allowed for Jack to maintain his mental health in spite of the visions, while August subtly (then dramatically) lost his.
Also, was it your idea on how to edit your book with lots of arts and fancy artworks? The color of the pages as the story concluded, I loved it! Can you tell us about how the book ended up aesthetically pleasing to the eyes?
It was my idea to fill the book with art, and I actually designed a decent amount of the art myself- some of which Macmillan recreated more professionally. However, the gorgeous ombre pages and doodles all over the book were the brainchild of the designers at my imprint Imprint. I had no idea they were going to do that and I literally burst into tears when I received the ARC because it was so beautiful.
Among Jack and August, who is harder to write? Why?
Jack was harder. August, as you may know, is an unreliable narrator. He is unable to see or process a lot of what’s going on around him—including Jack’s feelings for him. Writing Jack through the eyes of August was difficult because Jack would be doing and feeling things and August would react to them densely. Maintaining Jack as so vulnerable and so hopelessly desiring of August, while August himself is unable to see it was challenging.
Random Question: Given the chance to teach the world one lesson, what lesson would you teach us?
“You don’t know what you don’t know and there was a time when you didn’t know what you know now. There will always be things you don’t know, and what you do know, you learned from somewhere that others may not have been. Be patient when educating others.”
If you are going to give your 10-year old self an advice, what advice would you give?
Please take your ADHD medication. You can’t remember anything and homework does actually help you understand the material.
What do you think is the biggest challenge of YA Authors today?
Marketing. The market is aggressively saturated right now and I think its starting to get difficult to stand out. Thankfully, technology is starting to make it easier for people to find books that they like. But it is a difficulty.
Mental Illness is one of the highlights in The Wicker King. Of all the Mental Illness that you could put emphasis on a book, why did you choose that particular illness?
This is a heavy question so I wanted to give it a long answer.
On co-dependency specifically: “It’s an incredibly under-discussed phenomenon. When we think about toxic relationships, we nearly always categorize someone as the aggressor and someone else as the victim. With codependency, both parties contribute to the issue—acting as aggressor and victim simultaneously—both inflicting damage, whether intentional or accidental. With August and Jack, a primary aspect of the book is the neglect that both of them suffer and their attempt to resolve their emotional needs in each other. They spiral into codependency because they are both taking from one another in volumes that the other cannot satisfy without destroying himself. They take from one another because they are lacking the traditional sources for their needs, and they make poor decisions because there is no real authority around to guide them not to. It’s a sad and dangerous situation and it’s entirely too common to be as under-discussed as it is.”
August’s pyromania is just one of the multiple indicators that August isn’t faring well mentally. He also develops stress fueled anorexia, isolates himself from his friends and behaves violently. I did a lot of research about childhood neglect because I wanted to form a complete picture of two individuals who deal with the stresses and neglect they are given very differently. Jack gets physically ill and co-dependent with August who–in addition to the codependency begins developing mental illness and acting out. I have very strong feelings about all of these topics and in the final addition coming out in October, I’ve written a small essay about this at the end.
As for Jack, I took pains to maintain his personality, social awareness, and temperament throughout the book because his issue is a physical issue, not a psychological degradation. His hallucinations are described as “affecting his vision”, and he always reacts reasonably to things he sees. When background characters worry about Jack, they are worried because he is making uncharacteristic decisions or affecting August in some way they don’t understand. By contrast, when background characters worry about August, they are worried about his health in general and multiple people try to feed him. It’s such a subtle difference that I’m not sure if it will go over peoples’ heads or not. But it was definitely intentional. Jack is not the primary example of mental illness, August is.
Was it your dream to become a writer? If you are not a writer today, what career do you think you’ll end up with?
I’ve been writing novels since I was 14. Its always been my preferred artistic medium. If I wasn’t into writing, I think I would have chosen to pursue a career in the fashion industry. I actually went to Uni for fashion merchandizing, but wound up switching majors.
Can you share your future plans after The Wicker King?
I have another book coming out that is set in the same town about 20 years in the future. August, Jack, and Rina are in this book as well, even though the main characters are another group of teenagers.
What realization do you want your readers to understand after reading The Wicker King?
I want them to have serious thoughts about the environment that helped create this situation. None of this occurred in isolation, and pretty much all of it would have been avoidable if the adults in the book spent any time whatsoever caring for these children. There were so many opportunities in place where someone other than another teen could have stepped in, but all of the adults either got mad at them, punished them for their actions, or ignored the issue completely. That’s a problem in real life and we need to make sure it happens less.
One of the amazing scenes in the book is where classmates of August try to reach to him unexpectedly. And I think it is amazing that people are taking some time to help a person. What message you want to deliver by writing that scene?
I strongly believe that teenagers tend to do their best to help each other when things seem to be going wrong. Even when their suggestions cause more problems, or fail to solve the issue completely. I think they haven’t fully developed the whole “It’s not my problem, why should I get involved” thing, which makes for some sweet– but sometimes chaotic– situations. They’re also prone to forming found families, which is by far my favorite relationship structure. I didn’t really have a message to deliver by portraying that, I was more trying for accuracy.
Describe The Wicker King in ten words!
“The Book I Wrote While I Should Have Been Studying.” Because I wrote this in my senior year of college and barely managed to squeak by with a 3.02 GPA because of it.
Can you give us some facts about The Wicker King?
It’s written like a fairytale: The main characters are fated to be together. All side characters have a mission or lesson they’re teaching. Everything about everyone is told rather than shown. There is a clear King/Knight parallel and lofty princess character (Rina). The goal (coming home/what is the meaning of home) is echoed through the text and it’s the final resolution and happy ending of the book. It’s written this way because it has an accompanying fairytale that illustrates all aspects of the storyline in context of what Jack spent the whole book seeing. This fairytale will be made available as an e-book that will be released shortly before the novel’s publication.
What was your favorite part of your book?
I absolutely love when August confronts Jack’s dad about his absence and the following chapter where he runs to Jack seeking approval regarding that. It’s such a painful mixture of August behaving in a way that indicates the true source of the problems they’re both suffering, followed quickly by a full-blown expression of the depth of his disconnect with reality and desire for fantasy. It’s also the first time that Jack is shown to clearly be overwhelmed by August and how deep he’s into this.
My favorite question! What is your favorite quote in your book and why is it your favorite among the rest?
“They were only seventeen. The world was so big and they were very small and there was no one around to stop terrible things from happening.”
Because it’s such a ubiquitous and socially relevant statement as well as being a solid summary of the book.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
16371347K. Ancrum grew up in Chicago Illinois. She attended Dominican University to study Fashion Merchandizing, but was lured into getting an English degree after spending too many nights experimenting with hard literary criticism and hanging out with unsavory types, like poetry students. Currently, she lives in Andersonville and writes books at work when no one is looking.
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Print Marked Items
Ancrum, K.: THE WICKER KING
Kirkus Reviews.
(Aug. 15, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Ancrum, K. THE WICKER KING Imprint (Children's Fiction) $17.99 10, 31 ISBN: 978-1-250-10154-9
Love and friendship are severely tested by mental illness tinged with fantasy.August and Jack are the very
definition of opposites attracting. Jack, a popular, golden-haired white varsity rugby player, seems to have a
perfect life, while August is a poor kid of mixed race who runs drugs in their high school to make extra
money. The boys are from opposite ends of the social spectrum, but their connection is deeper than
friendship and more intense than the relationships either one has with members of the opposite sex. Their
bromance, which enables both teens to survive parental neglect and absence, has a decidedly destructive
bent that leads to their breaking into a toy factory together and also tattooing their names on each other.
When Jack begins hallucinating, convinced that he sees into a parallel world in need of saving, August
decides to believe him, charting a course that tests their friendship and their sanity. Ancrum's first novel, set
in 2003, is an eerie piece of realistic fiction whose characters revel in intense emotions that will feel very
authentic to high school teenagers. Their story is presented in extremely short chapters punctuated by
pictorial elements such as arrest reports, snapshots, and maps. As the story proceeds, the pages darken until
the final acts play out in white type on black. The fragmented style of the narrative keeps the action moving
but undercuts character development, causing details about the main characters to be told to readers rather
than shown. A haunting story that bravely explores friendship and mental illness. (Historical fiction. 14-18)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Ancrum, K.: THE WICKER KING." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2017. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A500364866/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=47207a93.
Accessed 13 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A500364866
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The Wicker King
Sarah Hunter
Booklist.
114.2 (Sept. 15, 2017): p54.
COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
The Wicker King.
By K. Ancrum.
Oct. 2017. 320p. illus. Macmillan/Imprint, $17.99 (9781250101549). Gr. 9-12.
Told in flashes of microfiction and progressively darkening pages of evocative doodles and hand-scrawled
notes, Ancrum's debut explores the simmering, troubling, codependent relationship between two teen boys,
as one becomes plagued by hallucinations of another world, and the other goes to self-destructive lengths to
protect him. August and Jack have been friends since they were kids, but they travel in radically different
orbits at school. When Jack starts seeing odd objects and receiving strange messages from a world layered
on top of their own, August drops everything to help him fulfill a quest. While the structure necessarily, and
sometimes to the detriment of the narrative, glides over a lot of background and character development,
those missing moments largely serve to amp up the deeply unsettling nature of the boys' friendship--the
sexually charged relationship between August and Jack treads a fine line at the beginning, but it gradually
grows into a more sinister power play made eerier by what's left out. Teen fans of moody psychological
horror will be entranced.--Sarah Hunter
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Hunter, Sarah. "The Wicker King." Booklist, 15 Sept. 2017, p. 54. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A507359969/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=2cc8c69a.
Accessed 13 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A507359969
Review
The Wicker King
by K. Ancrum
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K. Ancrum’s debut novel, THE WICKER KING, was a unique interpretation on mental health, filled to the brim with raw emotions as two boys fall into the brink of madness.
August and Jack have been best friends since they were children living lives harder than the average teen. August’s father is out of the picture, leaving his mother a ghost in his own home, while Jack’s parents are never present in his life, always traveling around for other things. August and Jack ultimately turn to one another for emotional support and form a bond that is pushed to its limits once Jack begins to see images that aren’t real. August only wants Jack to be okay again, so he does everything he can to keep both of them afloat in reality; even if the after effects are dangerous for not only Jack, but himself.
"With a stand-out writing style and a wonderful talent for creating intriguing character development, K. Ancrum is an author I am thrilled to read more from."
A main topic that kept popping up while reading this novel was codependency. The relationship between August and Jack became very toxic as the story grew on and as Jack got sicker they seemed to eat, sleep and breathe the steps each one made. It was my first time being introduced to the subject and from what I read, I thought it was handled amazingly. Just hearing of codependency, people most likely don’t understand how you can become so attached to another human, but through Ancrum’s writing I completely understood the deep connection formed and felt empathetic for both characters.
One thing I adored about this novel was the way it was set up. The pages were a gradient change from (in the beginning) white, then, as the story continued, the pages became darker and darker before becoming completely black. The transformation really helped to set up a tone of desperation and madness reflected off of the characters’ minds in the novel.
Speaking of the characters, I found myself loving our two protagonists. August was stubborn and a bit of a pyromaniac, but at the same time it was so interesting to read from his perspective. Jack was compassionate and as the pages got darker, it pained me to see his sickness transform him into a completely new person. I think the boys handled the situation in the best way that they could with the resources they had considering both were deprived of any parental figures. They basically raised themselves in the presence of one another which is why I think their bond formed as strongly as it did.
The novel had very short chapters (1-2 pages each) which, on one hand, I liked, because it made for a faster reading process, but at the same time it proved difficult to keep up with some of the things going on in the storyline. I’ve also heard people say that the book was “queer-baiting” the relationship between August and Jack but, in actuality, I believe it to be just a slow burn friendship-to-love scenario between the two.
In the end, THE WICKER KING was a pleasant surprise, definitely becoming an addition to my list of favorite books. I recommend this read to anyone interested in mental health novels with a bit of a twist and to fans of Shaun David Hutchinson. With a stand-out writing style and a wonderful talent for creating intriguing character development, K. Ancrum is an author I am thrilled to read more from.
Reviewed by Taylor F., Teen Board Member on December 13, 2017
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The Wicker King
by K. Ancrum
Publication Date: October 31, 2017
Genres: Fiction, Friendship, Gay & Lesbian, Mental Health, Mystery, Social Issues, Thriller, Young Adult 12+
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Imprint
ISBN-10: 1250101549
ISBN-13: 9781250101549