The Wicked King by Holly Black
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publish Date: January 8th 2019
Synopsis: 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.
This review will be as spoiler-free as possible. Because it is a second book in the series, there may be spoilers that leak through. Please read at your own caution.
Holly Black definitely mesmerizes with a highly riveting sequel, The Wicked King. She explores through the emotions and nuances of “black and white” and the “muddled gray” areas of words and feelings. I devoured The Cruel Prince, and when I received The Wicked King at San Diego Comic Con, I nearly died. The amount of love I have this book is just as large as my love for Holly Black’s writing. I’ve been a fan of hers since her early work, and while Holly’s writing is familiar, The Wicked King just transcends my expectations.
The Wicked King feels so intimate, like I was witnessing a first-hand look into a personal conversation or memory of Jude and Cardan. At times I felt sorrow, to then feel elated at other certain events. Most of the time I felt familiar with the story line, having just read The Cruel Prince. But the best part is not knowing for sure, because Black reinvents, recaptures, and renews the world, the characters, and definitely knows how to engage the reader.
The characters are so well defined, that you would think, as a reader, they are set in stone. But Black brings out the best and the worst in these traits, especially when faced with the decisions that they all had to make. There was a moment when I thought the story was going to go one way, and it didn’t. And then when I thought I had figured out Black’s style of writing and thought that way, and it went this way instead.
You’ll have to throw away every preconceived notion that you have built from reading The Cruel Prince. Black doesn’t hold any punches, and I’m sure our tears are used as fuel for her muse.
I absolutely loved The Wicked King! I can’t wait for the rest of the world to feel the same way.
*Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.*