Book Review – The Wicked King

The Wicked King by Holly Black

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Trigger warnings: Bullying, death, manipulation, violence
Tropes: Enemies to lovers
Rating: 4 Stars

The second of the series, The Wicked King was a bit of a better read than the first book, in my opinion. This story embarks on the new and developing nature of Jude Duarte’s relationship with Cardan Greenbriar, the king of Faerie. Oak, her brother, is in hiding, and Jude is doing everything possible to keep her world together. Without getting into spoilers, all I will say is that there is a very definite reason that book 1 was rated three stars and book two is rated 4 Stars. And that is the amazing character development for Jude and the applause worthy plot twists.

I know everyone is going to hate me for this, but I just don’t think Cardan is that great. I was never a fan of Nicasia or Locke, and so there was no love lost there as the book played out. I did read the Lost Sisters, which I think was intended to try to get readers to garner some sort of affinity or sympathy with Taryn, but it just didn’t happen for me.

All in all, I think Holly Black crafted a highly creative and impressive second book of her series that had me smiling for Jude’s success and failures and all. The Wicked King was a much easier read for me than The Cruel Prince, largely because I knew what to expect going into this book. But even with the expectations, Holly Black surprised me in good ways this time, and that is why I conclusively rated this book four stars out of five.




View all my reviews