**I received an ARC from a trade. In no way was I compensated for my review, and these are my honest opinions.**
The Wicked King by Holly Black
Release Date: January 8, 2019
My Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The enchanting and bloodthirsty sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel The Cruel Prince.
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.
If you've read The Cruel Prince, I'm sure you're dying for the sequel like I was. I was lucky enough to be able to trade for an ARC, so of course I read it as soon as I could! However, this review will be really general because I don't want to spoil anything, so sorry if you're looking for anything really specific.
I'm just going to start by saying: if you thought The Cruel Prince was good, The Wicked King is better. The plot, the characters, the romance, just everything. I've seen some people say that the first book was too slow in the beginning, and I actually liked that, but for those people, I will say that this one has a steady pace of things being thrown at you. Which, honestly I'm not sure if that's what I needed after the series of plot twists on plot twists.
The characters are fleshed out more, as some background is revealed. We also get to see Jude grow into her position of power as she struggles to maintain control of everything and everyone. And the amount of parallelism between her and Cardan! There's so much to talk about there, but I can't spoil anything sooooo.
And the romance. Ugh, I can't stop thinking about it (and a certain scene . . . ). This is a true enemies-to-lovers trope, and I'm so glad that Holly Black is writing it. To me, we so rarely get this trope without the ship being toxic, and I wouldn't call this ship toxic so much as mutually destructive, although that might not be any better, particularly for my feelings.
You know how I said The Wicked King is better than the first book? It's mostly because it takes everything and turns it up to eleven. Especially the ending! Honestly, I regret reading this ARC so early because we're so far away from the publication of the third book, and I'm not sure how I'll make it till then. Right now, I'm having trouble even reading or thinking about something else because my mind just goes right back to this book. RIP to my reading challenge.
The Wicked King does not suffer from second-book syndrome; no, instead it overpasses its predecessor. The amount of tension, both political and sexual, threaded throughout the book is at a peak, so much so that I'm not even sure how Holly Black will top this in The Queen of Nothing, only that I know for sure she will. Now to start a countdown to 2020. . .
About the Author: Holly Black is the bestselling author of fantasy novels including Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, and The Darkest Part of the Forest. She lives in western Massachusetts in a house with a secret door.
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