Review and Author Interview: Wicked as you Wish by Rin Chupeco

This post will contain some spoilers for WAYW so please be cautious! The author interview will be after my review!

Synopsis:

Many years ago, the magical Kingdom of Avalon was left desolate and encased in ice when the evil Snow Queen waged war on the powerful country. 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 in 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. Tala doesn’t mind—she has secrets of her own. Namely, that she’s a spellbreaker, someone who negates magic.
Then hope for their abandoned homeland reignites when a famous creature of legend, and Avalon’s most powerful weapon, the Firebird, appears for the first time in decades. Alex and Tala 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.

My Review:

5/5 ⭐️

A truly amazing, diverse read. I can’t get over this book and honestly love it. Rin did such a fantastic job bringing this quirky fantasy to life!!! I really loved Alex, he’s my favorite character. I was captured by this story from the beginning and read it in two sittings. Truly fantastic!! The pacing of the plot was great and the chapter titles were so cute and funny!!

Me just absolutely enjoying this read and wanting more!

Author Interview:

BE WARNED THAT THERE WILL BE MINOR SPOILERS!

Thank you again to Rin for agreeing to do an interview with me, I truly appreciate it and loved all of your answers 💕

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K: How did you come up with such fun titles for each chapter in Wicked As You Wish?

RC: I love Conan O’Brien, and when I’m feeling depleted I look to him a lot for inspiration. Conan reruns really help me dip into that well for funny titles, especially because I grew up watching him and sort of got that same kind of self-deprecating humor!

K: What has it been like moving from The Suffering and Girl from the Well, to the Bone Witch series, to Never Tilting World, to now Wicked As You Wish? Has it been fun jumping into all of these different worlds with different elements?

RC: My other books have a similar atmosphere, the most intense being THE GIRL FROM THE WELL, I think. WICKED AS YOU WISH is absolutely different in mood from the rest. It’s a lot more upbeat and optimistic even though the issues I talk about are pretty serious, and it’s got more of that teenage vibe present than my other books series. WAYW is my most recent release, but of all the other books I was at my youngest when I first started writing that, and I think some of the can-do attitude that’s a big theme in the book was a direct result of me being who I was back then!

K: Was it hard juggling two projects that come out within months of each other?

RC: I do not recommend it, especially when I was also pregnant and had my kid in between deadlines for those books. I think that’s part of the writer burnout, where you’re worried that it only takes a month or so for your most recent book to become irrelevant in publishing industry time, and then you have to go through the crunch of writing and promoting another all over again. I had a bit of a breakdown writing WAYW actually, and I decided that I’m going to pace myself and treat myself a little better after I turn in everything I owe for this round!

K: If you could pick one song each to describe each of your books what songs would you choose?

RC: The Girl from the Well: Mr. Death, from a very old game OST called The 11th Hour)The Suffering: I am Light, by India Arie

The Bone Witch: Real People, by HozierThe Heartforger: Cherry Wine by Hozier
The Shadowglass: Work song by Hozier
(I am Hozier trash)

The Never Tilting World: Waiting (Save Your Life) by OmnisoulThe Ever Cruel Kingdom (November 10, 2020): 10,000 by Elliot Root

Wicked as You Wish: Raise Your Glass, by Pink

K: How did you come up with the concept for Wicked As You Wish?

RC: I was really into fairy tales as a kid, and unlike a lot of people I grew up learning fairy tales and mythologies from different cultures all at once – Maria Makiling and Ibong Adarna from the Philippines, Investiture of the Gods and Journey to the West from China, Western fairy tales, etc. – so it all sort of confusingly blended to me like a shared alternate universe. I’ve never really let go of that idea even as an adult, and so when I was trying to think of my childhood that was the first thing to come to mind!

K: What’s next for the world of Wicked As You Wish? Not to spoil anything but that ending had me reeling!

RC: I think the ending to the sequel might have you reeling, too! Without going into too much detail – the war is only just beginning, but now there are capitalists meddling, wanting to build bigger and better spelltech at the rest of the world’s expense, and everyone on the Banders team needs to deal with their own personal screw ups first, as well as the personal prophecies predicted for each of them that seem to imply a few might not make it out of the war alive.
And also, the Nameless Sword in the stone shows up again, and a worldwide search has been announced to find its true wielder – but it’s not going to end in the way Tala hopes it will….

About the Author:

Despite an unsettling resemblance to Japanese revenants, Rin always maintains her sense of hummus. Born and raised in Manila, Philippines, she keeps four pets: a dog, two birds, and a husband. Dances like the neighbors are watching.

She is represented by Rebecca Podos of the Helen Rees Agency. She is also fond of speaking in the third person, and may as well finish this short bio in this manner.