The Wicked King by Holly Black | 5 Star Review
The Wicked King by Holly Black | 5 Star Review
Hello friends! Today I bring you a review of one of the best books I’ve read in a long while. The Wicked King by Holly Black killed me and buried me under. I… I read this a while ago and still haven’t recovered. The wait for the next on, Queen of Nothing, is going to be impossible. Also – THERE WILL BE NO ARCS. So yeah, we’ve all got a long time to wait. Check out my review of the first in the series, The Cruel Prince, if you haven’t already!
This review is going to be spoiler free, so will be brief and probably just full of me fan girling.
“power is much easier to acquire than it is too hold on to”
The Wicked King by Holly Black Series: The Folk of the Air #2
on January 8th 2019
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 336
Goodreads
You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring.
The first lesson is to make yourself strong.
After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her younger brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.
When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.
Okay so this book is SPECTACULAR. Holly mentioned on Twitter that there’s two weddings so I feel safe to tell you that, THERE’S TWO WEDDINGS. Let that sink in. Who is getting married? Well you’ll just have to wait and see won’t you!
“Kiss me until I’m sick of it”
First off lets just address the fact that we all know what Cardan and Jude have is toxic, and that I DON’T CARE. I’m not here for a role model or realistic relationships (seriosuly though if someone treats you like Cardan treats Jude, RUN!) I JUST WANT THEM TO GET IT ON. Do they? Well who knows…. READ IT.
The Wicked King really is spectacular. It fills your heart with warm squishies then breaks it to a million pieces. I spent the majority of the book feeling mild anxiety because I just KNEW things were going to happen that I wouldn’t like. I mean it is called The Wicked King after all..
Holly Black toys with your emotions in this epic fae fantasy which subverts your expectations and breaks your heart.
I also just want to say how much I love the little illustrations on the pages of The Wicked King, I have to seriously resist the urge to colour them in!
The Wicked King opens up to a prologue where we learn a bit more of Jude and the girls early days in faerie. I really loved the way it is written. The comparisons between the real world and faerie are brilliant and stark. Holly holds no punches with her writing, there’s a sort of bluntness to it that I really enjoy. Both Jude and Taryn learnt a lot of hard lessons early on in their lives, and I love how it affected each of the twins differently. We get to see more of that in The Wicked King.
We then get into the meat of the story, told from Jude’s POV. I love her voice as she tells us the tale, it’s so real and believable and adds an element to it that draws you in further. Life in faerie is never simple, and it especially isn’t when you’ve involved yourself in court intrigue and grand schemes… Jude you only have yourself to blame really.
I really love the development of the characters. It’s so hard to talk about it without spoiling so I’ll be vague.
I love Jude so much. I loved her in The Cruel Prince and in The Wicked King she REALLY surpasses that love. She’s gotten herself into some really deep waters, succeeding in stealing the crown for Oak in The Cruel Prince, now she has to keep it safe for him. She’s grown up in faerie but I don’t think that’s really prepared her for navigating the politics at such a level. I found it really interesting seeing how she handled complex situations and tried to keep her cool, and often failed. I can’t WAIT to see her growth in the next one!
Cardan oh Cardan. I just… there’s so much to un package about him that I don’t think I’ll ever be done if I try. Also I don’t want to spoil anything… he grows a lot in This Wicked King. We see him have compassion, cruelty, disregard, foolishness, calculating… he is the most complex character that I hate to love, or love to hate? I’m not sure which it is. Anyway, yes. You’ll still love Cardan (even if you shouldn’t) in this one. Even if he breaks your heart, again. And again.
I won’t say much about Taryn other than she’s just the worst twin, isn’t she? This is mainly coming from The Cruel Prince, but honestly, what kind of sister does that to their sister? Sigh.
I also love the developments of Vivi’s love life with Heather (yay for LGBTQ+ rep!). It’s a fictional situation but honestly the characters feel so real, and I genuinely feel for Heather having to deal with it all. I won’t say more.
I hope you enjoyed this review! It was super hard to write because I loved this book so much and I also didn’t want to spoil it. Let me know if you’ve read it and your thoughts?
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25 Comments
I haven’t read a book by Holly Black yet but this series sounds interesting!
Xoox
Shirley | https://shirleycuypers.blogspot.com
You really need to read The Cruel Prince!! It’s so so good. Her writing is amazing
I just finished it and couldn’t agree more with review! I don’t know how i’m going to wait for the next book!
I have no idea. I read it MONTHS ago and it’s been killing me waaaah!
and now we wait another 12 months for the Queen of Nothing
*cries forever*
I’ve seen so much buzz about this book. I guess I now need to read that series!
YES YOU DO! They’ve had some great buzz for this one and it’s accurate, it blew me away!
I added it to my list.
I got copy and I am starting it tonight. I can’t wait to read it…thanks for sharing a spoiler free review!
You’re welcome! I hope you enjoy, let me know what you think!
Terrific review!
Thank you so much!!
Ah I still need to read the first! Even though I’m buying this at the weekend! Haha! I’m terrible but the latest books and don’t read them! Ha!
Oh my gosh read it!!! Or listen to it, because it’s sooooo good on Audiobook!
So what you are telling me is that I should read this series? 😀 lol great review Jenn! Dont mind me as I add this to my TBR 😀
YES YES YES. Haha I’m glad you enjoyed the review!! I’m glad you’re adding it to your TBR!
I’m so excited for this book! Can’t wait to read it!
You’re totally going to love it 💜
Literally in the middle of reading this right now! So great!
It’s so good right?!
Literally can’t wait to get out of work (where, as you can see, I’m being very busy and productive and not on WordPress AT ALL) and finish it!!
Wonderful review! I’m looking forward to read this one.
I’m so glad to hear how much you enjoyed it, I can’t wait to get started on it!
lovely review, ive enjoyed our twiitter screams about this book :’) now rthat u mentionit i wouldreally like to read more aboutr Heather, she rly fdid pull the short straw in this story