The Wicked King by Holly Black

 

Book Blurb:

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 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.

The Schwartz Review:

After devouring The Cruel Prince, that ending left no choice but to speedily begin The Wicked King. I have come to realize something about Holly Black's writing of which I am definitely a fan. She makes excellent use of the cliff hanger. I know this now, having finished two of her books, as I am eagerly writing this review so that I can jump right into the third book in this series: The Queen of Nothing.

"We need to watch the Queen of the Undersea, too," I say. "She's got a plan and is going to move against us."

We follow Jude's adventure a few months after the moment she shocked us all at the end of The Cruel Prince, and she is definitely stressed. There's a multitude of things that are keeping her mind occupied, and what seems to be the least of her worries is this war between the land and the sea. 

Kiss me until I am sick of it, he said, and now he has most certainly gorged on my kisses. Now he is most certainly sick of them.

The romance we glanced at develops a bit more in this book. It's one of those slow burn romances that leaves you wanting more. I happen to love those; they seem more realistic and believable. As I've been steadily reading through the series, this slow burn romance has been keeping me rooting the characters forward. I found myself squealing with delight one chapter, only to be dropping my jaw in shock the next. 

"As I said before, a lot can happen in a year and a day. Much has happened in half that time."

The cliff hanger worked its charm. I'm off to grab book three and dive right in. I can't wait to see where this is taking Jude. 

The Recommendation:

If you love fantasy stories, faeries, a world full of danger, 

and a possible enemies to lovers tale, 

then this is a read you don't want to miss.