The Wicked Instead

Twisted Tree #1

by Avery Teoda

Cary and Lindsay Delaney have always known they were special. Warriors for God, their father said, meant to bring about the Rapture, and every moment in their family’s isolated Ozarks compound was spent preparing for that day. Cary’s paraplegic injury put an end to that dream, however, and the brothers, now estranged from the father who once exalted them, find a different kind of magic in the streets of Springfield, Missouri.

Dubiously blessed with the title prince and heirs to powerful táltos magic, the brothers find themselves embroiled in a struggle for the health of the World Tree, the structure that supports not only their world, but every world. The Tree is rotting, and it’s only a matter of time before the corruption reaches its heart. Can Cary and Lindsay make their own way and heal the Tree, despite those who would use them for their often shadowy ends?

A coming of age urban fantasy with a twist, The Wicked Instead combines the voice of a redneck haint tale with an unerring modern sensibility and sensitivity. As much about struggling to survive and the bonds forged between unlikely friends as it is about fantasy, The Wicked Instead will change the way you think about the genre.

Genres: Fantasy, LGBT

300 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 15, 2012

About the author

Avery Teoda is a Seattle author who writes about rednecks and magic because he has an affection for both. He was born on the West Coast and raised in Arkansas before bouncing all over the country, eventually landing in the Pacific Northwest. In his travels he realized he had to give a twisted homage to the place where he spent his formative years, the Ozarks. He writes because he has things to say and because he believes fiction can be transformative.

Any resemblance to persons living or dead is on purpose, but don’t worry, it probably isn’t you.

Reviews

[Kate Anders · Rating 4 out of 5]

To read this review and more like it, please check out my site www.ufreviews.com

When I accept a book for review, almost always there is at least one element in the synopsis that gets me excited to read the book (after all if I was reviewing books I didn't find a little bit exciting I would start to hate reviewing). For this book it was the concept of siblings. I love the idea of bring family into the fantasy realm. A lot of time in fantasy books a characters family is the people they meet along the way, the people that have gone through the journey with them; seldom is it actually someone who shares a blood relation to them. And siblings can have one of the strongest bonds in a family, so a story about brothers definitely peaked my interests.

One of the first things I liked really had to do with the sibling bond, both of the brothers have many aspects of themselves that are challenging. Cary is a paraplegic and while that kind of injury could end up being a strain on not only the person but the caregiver, these brothers stay together and are willing to do anything it takes to make sure the two of them are taken care of. I also appreciated that the author didn't just put the focus on the character with the disability, Lindsay has just as much depth and challenges in his life to make him a true character within the book. It's really easy to like both of these boys. They have clearly lived a hard life, so it's not hard for a reader to not only like them early on in the book but also to pull for them, to want them to succeed. It seems like a simple thing, getting a reader to pull for a character, to like a character, but it really isn't. This book accomplished it and accomplished it very well.

Another thing I really appreciated within this book is the world building. The author had to establish not only the life that the boys lived in before coming into a supernatural world, and then go on and paint the picture of the supernatural world that these boys come to be a part of. It was easy to picture both environments in my head, and the descriptions were not only good descriptions, but they were well written. I have to say the whole novel itself was very well written, especially the dialogue.

I like that the boys come into the taltos world with no knowledge, so I got to go along with their journey along side them, learning everything they were learning at the same time. It made it so much easier to understand the characters emotions. The boys have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders with trying to make sure the World Tree is kept in healthy and by proxy the taltos world staying intact.

Overall, I found this book to very a very unique and interesting read. I loved the sibling bond more than anything though. I think readers of both urban and epic fantasy would enjoy this book, because quite frankly I feel like the author incorporated aspects/traits of both genres into one book; but in a way that worked really well and was quite an enjoyable read.

[Indie Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating - 3.5 Stars

The Wicked Instead by debut author Vivien Weaver is the first book in the Twisted Tree series and the flagship publication for the recently launched Hard Limits Press. It is an urban fantasy that combines Ozark redneck “haint” culture with ancient Hungarian mythology and folklore to tell the uncommon coming of age story of brothers Cary and Lindsay Delaney.

There are many aspects of this story that I thoroughly enjoyed. First, it is off the beaten path, even for speculative fiction, in terms of the bringing together of otherwise divergent worlds and cultures and a host of unconventional primary and secondary characters to unfold the story. Another strong aspect of this story is the author's intimate understanding and sincere depiction of Ozark culture, whether through Gray's nuancing of its pragmatism, its ties to the land and the importance of loyalty toward loved ones; the dialogue which authentically captures the manner of the vernacular “haint” language; or the author’s depiction of the more unsavoury aspects of the culture – its inherent insularity and disdain of differences and often blatant racism and homophobia.

By far however, it is the characterization of Cary and Lindsay that I consider to be one of the key strengths of this novel. As a character-driven reader it was extremely easy to not only like these characters but also to become invested in them and their story from the very beginning of the book. I attribute this to the author’s honest portrayal of both men - their complexities, dreams, strengths, vulnerabilities and imperfections - and the exploration of the pervasive influence the culture in which they were raised had in shaping their worldview and how this worldview begins to change as a result of their journey.

As part of its stated mission Hard Limits Press wants to challenge convention by testing boundaries in speculative fiction. The Wicked Instead falls into this category and offers a refreshingly different approach through the intersection of not only disparate worlds, in this instance the fusion of Ozark culture with ancient Hungarian mythology, but also the bringing together uncommon protagonists and a diverse group of secondary characters.

Read the complete review of The Wicked Instead by Vivien Weaver at Indie Reviews.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I enjoyed about this novel was the development of the characters. Although the novel is a modern fantasy, the characters have relatable conflicts: family, religion, relationships, etc. I very much appreciated what the World Tree symbolizes and that the main characters, being who they are, are the protectors of it.

Reading a novel that is set in the Ozarks was also refreshing, as it’s a setting readers don’t often see, and there are some exceptionally poignant passages, as well—in particular the flashback. It is a book that definitely made me think!