The second in Holly Black's Folk of the Air series, this book picks up five months after the end of The Cruel Prince. Cardan is officially the High King and Jude is his most trusted advisor, but in reality it's Jude who runs the kingdom. Now they just have to keep up the charade until Jude's brother can ascend to the throne. This book deals with violence, death, torture, and child abuse, although nothing too graphic.
When we left Jude in The Cruel Prince, Jude had made a deal with her worst enemy, Cardan, and then betrayed him by making him the High King. Now he's going to make her life miserable, motivated by his anger at her duplicity as well as his fascination with her, and his disgust with himself. Now Jude has to deal with Cardan, rule the kingdom, keep her brother safe, and deal with all of the backhanded dealings of the Faeries. As if she doesn't have enough to deal with, she's warned that someone close to her has already betrayed her. Who is it, and what have they done? She and Cardan have to find a way to work together for the good of, well, everyone. The other option is a war they cannot win.
After I read the first book in this series, I was hoping for a little more character growth in the subsequent novels. I'm happy to announce that this book delivered. Not as much as I would have liked, but we are getting there. We learn more about Cardan's childhood, which was bleak, and we get to see him step up without the shadows of his father or siblings looming over him. On the other hand, Jude's life has completely been thrown up side down by the end of this novel, in a twist ending that shocked me. I'm excited to see what the final book has in store for her, and where Jude and Cardan's relationship goes from here. I do hope for a little maturity in the two of them as we go forward, I'm optimistic that I won't be let down.
I'm giving The Wicked King by Holly Black 4 out of 5 stars. I enjoyed it and it left me wanting more, I'm excited to read the last installment of this series. Spice level is a nice, easy 1 out of 5. There's a little more action than the Cruel Prince, but not much and nothing graphic.
Keep up with Holly Black at https://blackholly.com/
Pairs well with a midnight diner meeting and fried pickles.
If you're looking for a review of the first book in the series, you can click here, or if you'd rather catch up on all the goings on before starting the finale in the series, read our summary of the Folk of the Air series.
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