The Wicked King by Holly Black: Book Review

Hello fellow book nerds! Yes, of course I read The Wicked King. Yes, of course I thought it was amazing. Honestly, this blew The Cruel Prince completely out of the water. This book was engaging from page 1. This was my first 2019 book and what a way to start the year.

What do you think?

Please note this is the second book in the series. If you have not read the first one, there may be spoilers. The review for The Wicked King is spoiler free, as always.

Check out my reviews of the earlier books here:

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black: Book Review (book 1)

The Lost Sisters by Holly Black: Book Review (book 1.5)

Happy Reading!

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Rating according to Goodreads:
5-It was amazing
4- Really liked it
3- Liked it
2- It was okay
1- Did not like it

I hear the glamour enter his voice, heady and seductive and more powerful than I expected. “Crawl to me,” he says with a grin.

The Wicked King

by

Holly Black

5 out of 5 stars

Summary

Taken from 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.

 

Feedback

Let the incoherent babbling begin. This is everything a sequel should be. While The Cruel Prince took me a little more than halfway to become invested, I was immediately sucked into this story. This was such a great follow up to the first book. The plot was so dense without it being too complicating. I loved that there was so much distrust because it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. We were able to get more of the islands which was great because it really felt like I knew exactly what it was like to grow up there. There was more secrets, betrayal, and angsty build-up romance. Everything I loved about the first story filled the pages in this book.

While the plot was absolutely amazing, it was the characters that really make this world. I liked Jude in the first book but I loved her in this one. Everything she does is to prove to herself that she truly belongs in this world. What I like most about her character in this book is that she uses her humanity. In the first one it seemed like she was ashamed of being a human. However, in this book she used the benefits of her humanity to her advantage and I really liked that. While she still made some mistakes, she was way more clever and cunning. To be completely honest, I wasn’t sold on Cardan in the first book. He was okay but he didn’t really stand out to me as much as the other characters did. This book completely changed my opinion on him. I really enjoyed his character and his complexity. There was a lot more interaction with him and we were able to get some of his personality. The best part about him is that he keeps you guessing on what he is thinking or planning. We never really know and that’s what is so appealing about his character. Then there is Jude and Cardan’s relationship which was so much more epic and interesting in this book. I’m glad we got more of the Bomb also. There was so much character growth in this book and it really drove the story

 

Final Thoughts

Overall, The Wicked King by Holly Black surpassed The Cruel Prince to become a fantastic sequel. The plot was so much more dense but done in such a compelling way that it was hard to put down this book. While the plotting, backstabbing, and power struggle created a great story, it was the characters that drove this story. Jude and Cardan’s characters were absolutely astounding and perfect for this story. I was so happy to get more of Cardan’s personality and interactions with Jude. I highly recommend this book to anyone – especially those who are looking to continue the story. I highly recommend picking up this series from the beginning if you love all things fae including power, plotting, and backstabbing done by beautiful deadly characters.

 

Buy It Here