Well I’ve already found my favourite book of 2019…how can anything surpass The Wicked King?! It was cruelly brilliant.
My first reaction on finishing was basically just: WHY DON’T YOU JUST PICK UP MY LIMP CARCASS AND TOSS IT 50FT INTO THE SEA TOO. The story is excellent in the most beautiful, clever, and perfectly poisonous way. I am reeling and also want to s c r e a m myself into the next dimension because
I
need
book
3
afjdksald I’ve lost my mind. I am not used to being so suffocatingly in love with a series that I can think of nothing else ahhhh.
This is a SPOILER FREE review for The Wicked King…however it may contain spoilers for the first book, The Cruel Prince! Proceed with caution. (And also read my The Cruel Prince review!)
➸ Again I put forth the fact that these are the MOST Slytherin books.
They are about mind games and plot twists. They are about characters outwitting and undermining each other, and not just Jude. We have Madoc playing his own games. And Cardan starts to stop being a veritable flopped over fern and grows into his sullen mouth and power as the high king. Then add in the other courts who have agendas and wishes (aka this book features Orlagh, the queen of the sea, who is making her move against the throne and playing her own murder games). And I just !!! when you think you know who is plotting against who — there is a dECOY FOR THE DECOY and plot twist within a twist. I can’t even.
I am thRIVING on this.
➸ Cardan and Jude? I am dead. fUlly fully dead.
Their relationship is complicated and definitely toxic, but they know it. And it makes for a very interesting dynamic. I mean — from the moment Cardan sleight-of-hand steals Jude’s ring and then wears it, I KNOW HE IS FLIRTING WITH HER. They are both manipulated and overlooked teenagers, they are kids drowning in a pretty world with no footholds. So they understand each other, but they hate each other…do they? The question of: “IS HE WORKING WITH HER, PROTECTING HER, OR MANIPULATING HER” is gonna kill me. I swear. But seriously, the murder-flirting, the kisses, the twists with their relationship….omg. These two are vicious and entrancing. Hate-to-love (?? is it love??) at its finest.
➸ Also the stakes grow staggeringly higher.
Wherein Jude learns that claiming power is much easier than keeping it. She seriously needs a nap though! It’s 5 months after The Cruel Prince and this gIRL HAS NOT SLEPT. I really ached for her, because she’s so along playing this game of control and crowns and magic and schemes. (Jude needs a soft pretzel and a nap, fite me if you disagree.) I love her character to pieces. Her anxiety and vulnerability is perfectly balanced with the craving of power and control.
➸ We already know Holly Black is a writing QUEEN.
Her descriptions have me falling head-over-heels in love with the faerie world. Yes, hopeless mortal here *waves languidly* I don’t even care. I just love the descriptions, the faerie culture, how she weaves in other courts and their games and japes and terrors.
…am I going to stop gushing soon??? I DON’T KNOW, AM I?!? I freaking adored this book. I knew I would but like holy wow it sets the bar so high for 2019.
But what I like best is that (a) it’s surprising and maddening and addictive, (b) it takes you on an adventure that is like dancing on silver knife blades, (c) it gives you a sliver of what you want and then snatches it away, and (d) THAT CLIFFHANGER. THAT ENDING. JUDE. CARDAN. I LOVE THEM AND MY WHOLE SELF HURTS.
it is a story of murder, betrayal, mind-games, lust and love and entrancing kisses, and friendships you want to trust but oh oh can you possibly trust anything or anyone??
thank you allen and unwin for the review-copy! THE WICKED KING (Folk Of The Air #2) by Holly Black came out January 2019
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.
Goodreads | Book Depository | Allen & Unwin | review of book 1, The Cruel Prince
➸ similar titles to try…
THE TRAGEDY HERE IS THAT I PRE-ORDERED, BUT MY COPY GOT LOST IN THE MAIL. And it has snowed quite a bit here that delivery will probably be delayed a week even if I order again. Out of all books, why this one?!?! WHY. I can’t wait to see what happens with Jude and her sisters/father. I’m so invested in Jude’s relationship with them (secretly hoping that Taryn does something vaguely redeeming, even though that probably not likely). But the wait is probably going to kill me before I can read it. *sobs dramatically*.
THIS STORY OFFICIALLY HAS A HAPPY ENDING BECAUSE I GOT THE BOOK IN THE MAIL TODAY. I CANNOT WAIT TO READ IT (EVEN THOUGH I HAVE MIDTERMS THAT I REALLY NEED TO STUDY FOR. SHHH). The only downside is that someone didn’t properly mark a spoiler when talking about the ending (it was spoilery enough to be botherful, but vague enough to not actually give much away). Butttt that’s ok because I also got a TWK bookmark and pin(!!), ALSO WOW I ACTUALLY HAVE THE WICKED KING IN MY HANDS. YAY. *throws confetti*
omggg THAT IS A CRUELTY MOST UNFAIR?! I would be crying too. And yes, OF ALL THE BOOKS. 😭Sometimes the post doesn’t care about our happiness, I swear.
Did you read the Taryn novella?? I still don’t like her ahhaah sob.
I LOVE A DECOY FOR THE DECOY. I am only on page 70 of this but I can’t WAIT for this evening when I finally have time to sit back down with it. First day back at university tomorrow but prep work for that can take a backseat, because, PRIORITIES. Every single person has been gushing about this beautifully cruel Slytherin book and I am so ready to do it too. ORLAGH COME AT ME.
(my fave review of this so far btw and I have read A LOT)
AHHH I hope you’ve finished it now and are just locked in the eternal scream with me because: SAME. HOW DO WE COPE AFJDKSLAD.
(Also omg I’m so glad you like my review!! That makes me SO happy.)
This book destroyed me. I was welling up with tears while reading the ending and numb through the epilogue because of all the feels. Jude and Cardan are THE Slytherin power couple, though I’m trying to figure out if he was actually being evil or if he was protecting her? Which honestly do they even need to protect Jude? They don’t even need an army they could just send Jude out with a spoon and win
This and The Spiderwick Chronicles are the only Holly Black series I’ve read but one of my 2019 goals is to read more of her books, I especially want to try Tithe because I feel like there are a tone of references in this I’m missing and The Curse Workers since I’ve heard such good things about it
I KNOW RIGHT?! I’m reeling trying to figure it out. Apparently the banishment was very specific wording which means something (I saw someone tweet about this) so I need to go back and analyse…to be honest I want to reread immediately. I’m suffering. It is such a CLEVER book and I’m in awe of Holly Black’s brain.
(I kind of want to think Cardan actually does love Jude bUT I DON’T KNOW. I TRULY DONNNNN’T.)
I just looked at what Cardan said and in it be says that she may only return if pardoned by the crown so Cardan COULD get her back, here’s hoping
IF HE’S NOT MANIPULATING HER 😭😭😭 I mean he IS. But like it depends on if he’s protecting her vs seriously just knocking her off the gameboard. (Also I would give much for a book from his perspective afjdkslad.)
I had you freaking about this while you were reading it, and another blogger friend reading the Cruel Prince at the same time and a) for the longest time I was confused because the covers and titles are only slightly similar but also similar enough that I got confused and b) NOW I NEED TO READ THE SERIES AGH
YES YES THIS SERIES CALLS TO YOU!! Honestly I get this confused when I type between The Wicker King (my fav last year) and The WickeD King (my fave this year). 😂I’m so doomed.
omg omg omg omg omg I DID NOT KNOW THIS EXISTED
I have requested it from my library IMMEDIATELY
thank you so much for bringing this to my attention
AHHHH I HOPE YOU LOVE IT!! *flails in excitement for you to discover it*
Sometimes I feel like the only person on this planet–no, in this UNIVERSE–who hasn’t read The Cruel Prince yet!!! I don’t know why, it sounds so perfect and has been on my TBR since it came out. Plus, I love Holly Black’s The Darkest Part of the Forest. I’m just going to attribute this one to the severe lack of time in my schedule. I need to make this one a priority this year because all the hype and great reviews about The Wicked King has resparked my excitement to read this. And if it’s anything like Lady Midnight?? I know I’ll love it.
Honestly it drives me mad how many books I totally should’ve read by now but haven’t.😂So I feel you!! And jfadklsd it’s just…so so good. It’s literally incredible and I’m obsessed. 😍😍and traumatised but pfft. Normal things for bookworms.
JUDE AND CARDAN are on a whole other level of OTP…because they’re not really one true pairing? THEY’RE LIKE…messed up teens who are obsessed with each other, who are both cruel and cunning, and SOMEHOW THEY HAVE THE BEST TENSION EVER…i can’t even with them like eghdsgfhdsgfhdshfhsdfhdsgf TRASH FOR BOTH THEIR CHARACTERS SEPARATELY AND THEIR SHIP SAILING.
i’m re-reading the cruel prince right now, and then i’m gonna re-read the wicked king because i’m Trash(tm) but I don’t find that writing that superb. Sometimes, especially in a book,1 it’s so simple. BUT I LOVE AND HATE ALL THE CHARACTERS AND THE POLITICS OF THE WORLD JUST MESS ME WITH MY BRAIn.
I KNOW I KNOW I CAN’T FREAKING FIGURE THEM OUT?? Like at the end…did he protect her or just outplay her and that’s what he wanted all along?! I would absolutely sell the sun if Holly Black offered this books but in Cardan’s perspective too *screams forever* My real question is: is it too early to rereaaaaad.
Your review is perfect! I was literally screaming throughout the whole book like Jude he flirting with you hello?!? Holly Black just stabbed us in the heart with a dagger in the ending. I didn’t think I could like a sequel more than the beginning of a series, but the relationship dynamic within the second book has me obsessed!
omg she DID absolutely stab us and tbh I think she’s probably laughing in her author den about it aND WE ARE THANKING HER. WHAT IS THIS.
I know! I’ve seen nothing but praise and the ending was straight out of a fairy book playing a cruel joke on us. I was not prepared for the emotional train wreck but I do have to say she has an amazing way of making a reader emotionally invested in the outcome lol
SO!!!!!!!!!!!! I only recently finished THE CRUEL PRINCE and now I’m just like anxiously biting my nails and staring off into space waiting for THE WICKED KING to get delivered and 100% EXCITED and on EDGE and furiously ready to be DESTROYED in a fun/quirky way, you know? And your review has me all, yep, I need this book right now BEFORE I SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUST.
I swear I’m not making grabby hands again at my computer screen that would be, like, so totally weird and I’M NORMAL I SWEAR.
I TOTALLY GET THESE FEELINGS!! This was me when the ARCs were out early and I didn’t get one lmaoooo sob. I haven’t been so desperate for a book for a long time!!
Ahahah if I had ALL the characters besides Vivienne and Oak put on the Sorting Hat, it’d be shrieking “Slytherin” for ages I’m SURE OF THAT. I’m so excited for The Wicked King anyways!!!!
Absolutely yes, right?! It’s THE most Slytherin book ever 😍😍
I’m so excited for this book!! My friend gave me a copy and I cant believe I haven’t read it yet??? I’m just trying to wait for the appropriate time to um. destroy my life.
I actually relate a lot 😂 sometimes you have to emotionally steady yourself for things like this
My goodness this is so ME sometimes
Oh my god I already want to read the wicked king SO BAD and this review just made me more excited??? I love all of Holly Black’s books except Coldest Girl in Coldtown (DNF) and Iron Trial.
I admit I wasn’t the biggest fan of The Iron Trial either 😂 but I’ve loved all her other books too!!
Okay, I need to get my hands on this book IMMEDIATELY.
YESSS YOU DO!! It’s gonna hurt bUT IT’S WORTH IT.
I will welcome the pain with my arms wide open!
I LOOOOOOOOOVE this series. Also, this is had me crying on the floor in the foetal position because that ending ripped my heart out. So often I was all ‘I think he seriously loves her’, ‘look, he’s trying to protect her’, ‘OMG WHY WON’T SHE JUST TRUST HIM?’, and then that thing at the end happened and now I’m in hospital having sharp blades removed from my insides. I also love the teensy snippets of the other courts, like we hear about Kaye, and Roiben is in this one a little, and the word play on things is just… I don’t have words to describe.
(But seriously, now that Jude is where she is, can we go find Ravus and Val and hang with them because I definitely need more hot-troll in my life. Also, when did hot-troll become a thing I needed? Also Severin and Ben and Hazel and Jake… basically ALL OF THEM.)
I RELATE SO MUCH. LIKE IS THERE ANYWAY TO GO ON FROM THIS OR DO WE JUST SCREAM FOR THE NEXT 12 MONTHS??? bc I freaking swear I am nOT ok. Was he protecting her at the end or was that his move to outwit her??? Like she TOLD him to seduce Nicasia…so did he turn that back on Jude?! jfakdlsafd I want them to actually love each other in a stabby way bUt now I’m dying omg
YES YES YES!! Also, I don’t think I can wait 12 months. Surely we could fly to the US, find Holly Black and BEG FOR book 3? I feel like that might work?
I just finished this! And now I guess I’ll just… sit here… unmoving… until Queen of Nothing comes out. I was really struck (to a lesser extent in The Cruel Prince as well, but I think more so in The Wicked King) by how Holly Black managed to create characters who are… kind of terrible little menaces (MENACES, I TELL YOU), but that you still TOTALLY root for. To succeed. In whatever 14-dimensional plan Jude has concocted over toaster waffles or whatever.
same tbh. Like is that what we’re expected to do??? jUST NOT EXIST UNTIL THE LAST BOOK BECAUSE AFJKDLSA I SWEAR. I’M A MESS. WHERE IS MY MIND. I LOST IT.
Ahh Cait!! This was such a fantastic review. You have me at the edge of my seat! I am both surprised yet not surprised that this book is going to end in a cliffhanger. 👀 Still, I can’t wait to see how Holly Black pulls it off! I definitely agree that she’s such a fantastic writer, so I’m excited for further development in the plotline. I really liked how you acknowledge that Cardan and Jude’s relationship is somewhat toxic, yet at the same time, they both know it :O ASDFGHJKL I can’t wait to read this book, and I know I definitely need to pick it up ASAP <3
She’s definitely going all in for the cliffhanger endings for each book! And YES it is all toxic and stabby and absolutely terrible at times, but that’s like the POINT and I appreciate that Cardan and Jude are all mind-gaming each other and like..>??? Does he love her? DOES HE??? *dead*
Your review made me curious and want to read this book *argh my TBR* Great review Cait!
There are too many books to read, right?!😂
AHH THIS SOUNDS AMAZING!! I wasn’t super impressed with the Cruel Prince for the first half, but then the second half blew my mind, and I am SO READY for The Wicked King. AHHH.
I admit I was totally biased to be obsessed with it the whole time lmao 😂 but OMG the plot is just clever perfection!!
I have very complicated thoughts about this series, I just finished the first one a few days ago and haven’t picked up the second one. yet. I don’t know if I will? Because I loved the stabby-stabby plotting-against-everyone thing but I freaking hate Jude and Cardan. Maybe I’m too cynical but the I-hate-you-because-I-love-you thing is going to be the death of me. Does that part get better (read: die once and for all) in the second book?
Aw I guess not every book works for everyone! And I mean, I literally just gushed for 100% of my review, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I loved the Wicked King so much! The ending definitely murdered me in the worst way possible. I am begging for book 3, I just can’t believe Holly Black left up completely hanging. I never thought I would love such a Slytherin book SO MUCH!
IT THREW US SO HARD OFF A CLIFF *wild sobbing* I love it ajfkdslad.
I’ve joined a sort of support group in fb for people who are not okay after reading The Wicked King. It’s been weeks, we are still not okay. Hahaha
I can imagine it’d be a very used group.😂
Every time I start saying something about The Wicked King, there’s just this ball of exclamation points and frantic hand gestures stopping my brain from forming actual coherent sentences bc AHHHHHH.
I ADORED THIS BOOK SO MUCH. Everyone is plotting and killing and stabbing but also there’s some angsty hate (or love??) fuelled kisses and some of tHAT DIALOGUE DEAR GOD- I mean, “Kiss me till I’m sick of it”????? ARE YOU TRYINF TO KILL ME. EVEN MORE THAN I ALREADY AM AFTER TJIS BOOK????
Jesus.
Cardan’s character came off as the most surprising in this book, esp after the ending. Also, by the way, did you figure out the loop hole that Cardan left in his exile statement???? I’ve been literally screaming about it ever since I guessed it. But, like, is he trying to protect Jude?? Did he do that bc he was genuinely mad about B’s murder?? Or is he scheming something greater? WHO KNOWS.
Also, Taryn is still a flaming trashcan and Locke is going to suffer ™ in this next book and I cannot wait to see it.
omgggg I completely agree. It’s like this book just WANTED us dead and expiring on the ground, smh, it didn’t even try when Cardan and Jude are just being little spiky beasts who also kiss on occasion and claim they don’t like it. Little STUPID GORGEOUS CREATURES. AFJDKLSAD. I’m so dead.
And yes I don’t know what Cardan’s game plan is here???? HE’S PROTECTING HER ISN’T HE??? I want it so bad, but she DID tell him to go seduce Nicasia, so maybe he turned that back on her and is just seducing her to get what he wants?! 😭I would freaking sell a soul (mine, someone else’s, idk) for a book by Cardan’s perspective.
I’m just guessing in the dark here and I don’t think I’m right but Cardan explicitly stated that Jude would be exiled until she is pardoned by the Crown and, I mean, SHE is the Crown too, right? Does that mean she can pardon herself? I’M SO CONFUSED AND I CANNOT WAIT TILL THE NEXT BOOK COMES OUT OH MY GOD.
Hey, Cait! I know it’s been a while, but I tagged you in my original “The Folk of the AIr” tag on my blog, just in case you want to do it! No pressure, though 🙂 Here’s the link: https://starryskybooks.wordpress.com/2019/01/29/folk-of-the-air-book-tag/
Aw thanks for the tag! I’ll come check it out!
Omg, your description of the Jude and Cardan relationship is so on point! I always wondered why the fact that these two were toxic for each other never came up, but I totally agree I think it adds somehow to their characterization and relationship. I like the fact that in this book Jude and Cardan’s are more balanced in terms of their power over each other.