The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos
Release: May 28th 2019
Format: Ebook
Publisher: HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray
Source: Amazon
The Wise and the Wicked Synopsis:
Ruby Chernyavsky has been told the stories since she was a child: The women in her family, once possessed of great magical abilities to remake lives and stave off death itself, were forced to flee their Russian home for America in order to escape the fearful men who sought to destroy them. Such has it always been, Ruby’s been told, for powerful women. Today, these stories seem no more real to Ruby than folktales, except for the smallest bit of power left in their blood: when each of them comes of age, she will have a vision of who she will be when she dies—a destiny as inescapable as it is inevitable. Ruby is no exception, and neither is her mother, although she ran from her fate years ago, abandoning Ruby and her sisters. It’s a fool’s errand, because they all know the truth: there is no escaping one’s Time.
Until Ruby’s great-aunt Polina passes away, and, for the first time, a Chernyavsky’s death does not match her vision. Suddenly, things Ruby never thought she’d be allowed to hope for—life, love, time—seem possible. But as she and her cousin Cece begin to dig into the family’s history to find out whether they, too, can change their fates, they learn that nothing comes without a cost. Especially not hope.
Review:
Watch my video review of The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos!
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjJMxfoVLpg[/embedyt]
I initially picked up this book because I loved the cover design of it! It is simplistic, gorgeous and reminds me of the old fairy tales. The plot is unique and interesting and held my interest for the most part. I had heard of the basic tale of Baba Yaga before but did not really know much about Russian folk tales. This book sparked my interest for reading more about Russian folk tales in general.
I think the main aspect I liked about this story was that it was focused more on family and how they protect each other and the secrets they keep, instead of the usual teenage angst and romance. The author shows the problems and hardship that Ruby has with her family members, but how they also love each other at the same time. The author also put in some LGBTQ themes, where one of the characters is transgender, and there is a lesbian couple, making the story more interesting.
All the supporting characters like Cece, Dov and Thalia are likeable and realistic for most part. I really liked Cece’s character more than Ruby. While Ruby comes off as very smart and savvy at times, I did not really find her a great protagonist. She seemed very confused, and was always asking Dov or Cece to help her with her problems. Actually I liked all the supporting cast more than the main character as they seemed to have more depth.
However, there are precisely three things that I did not like about the story.
Number 1: The number of characters in the flashback. There were just too many characters in the flashback stories, and I could not keep track as to who each one was. I feel the author could have just stuck to the three main ones like Polina, Eveline and Annie. But then the author throws in Vladlena, Galina, Vera, Anfisa and other characters, and their names also sound alike. So I had to go back and forth to recollect how each character connects to one another.
Number 2: There were just too many sub-stories within the plot, told in flashbacks. This is still okay if the backstory connects to the main plot right? But, the story contains subplots of a podcast that Ruby listens to, which is interesting, but does not connect to the main plot at all. The author also gives a flashbash of Dov’s life, which again has no relevance to the plot.
Number 3: The ending was just disappointing. The author does not provide any conclusions as to what happens to any of the characters at all. The main theme was for Ruby to learn whether she would die as per her vision, or overcome it. But, the ending has a big question mark, and we have to decipher it ourselves, which was frustrating.
Overall, “The Wise and the Wicked” had its ups and downs, but in the end, it was mediocre.
