The Wicked King

Title: The Wicked King

Series: The Folk of Air

Author: Holly Black

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Publication Date: 2018

Final Verdict:

Summary:

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.

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VERDICT:

The second book starts off exactly where the first book ends. I also like Holly Black’s style of writing. Its definitely my type. **SPOILERS FOR FIRST BOOK AHEAD**

Jude Duarte had successfully managed to trick Prince Cardan into becoming the High King of Elfhame until Oak comes of age. With complete control over him, she is appointed as the seneschal^[1], who has a say in almost all decisions that he makes. But, that does not mean that he favours her. Bitter about his fall to his once most hated enemy, Jude learns that Cardan could be much more dangerous than she had thought.

The disturbing thing about Cardan is how well he plays the fool to disguise his own cleverness.

Jude duarte

What I like about this series is the amount of clever scheming. Pages are not wasted on useless substance or pure romance. Everything has a purpose. Not every book can manage to be written this way, considering that Faeries in this universe can’t lie.

What I disliked about this book is that I guessed the villain mentioned in the synopsis within the first 100 pages – and accurately. Its a surprise that Jude didn’t, considering that her feelings about everyone’s reaction is described to perfection.

One of the most overused trope in the Book World, it left me feeling down for the rest of it. I would have loved it if it had been someone completely surprise worthy and not the first person whom I suspected.

Jude is her usual self as in the first book, but here, she has to think multiple times about the various decisions she makes. Cardan rarely tells her what exactly is in his mind either. The only clue that she gets is that someone close to her had betrayed her after a stiff exchange with Nicasia, one of Cardan’s previous… *friends. Madoc, her adopted father is still seething about how he lost his chance to rule the throne through his own bloody measures and seems to be plotting even a bigger plan behind her back.

With Taryn’s wedding approaching and Oak’s arrival, Jude has to find out the betrayer and also make sure that Oak is never harmed. Moreover, the Queen of the Undersea is discovered to be plotting with the deposed Prince Balekin.

I rated this book four stars for the way it managed to capture 100% of my attention. I never felt bored even once. Unfortunately, I do not understand the overwhelming hype for the main couple, Cardan and Jude. The Enemies to lovers trope is loved worldwide, but I did not feel the same urge to ship them together. Cardan to me, is the typical YA hero that everyone loves to read about. Cruel and hiding several hidden scars. I don’t even find him that special, except for his intelligence. Heck, even the Goodreads most liked quote for this book is about them.

The people of the Court of Shadows and Vivienne are the redeeming characters. Jude escaped half the time due to the geas^[2] that Prince Dain had placed on her. Otherwise, the entire story would have gone some other way. I would have loved if the author had given Jude the power to overcome glamour by her own sincere wish instead of what feels like a cope out.

By the way, incase I forget to type – I hate Taryn. I absolutely despise her and can’t stand a second of her speaking to Jude. I can’t believe how quickly she just believes whatever Taryn does. For someone brought up in Faerie and wanting to be one of them, Taryn had done things that one must never do to her own blood and is pretty much a puppet for Locke and others.

The book ends beautifully. I actually want Jude to get stuck in the mortal world for a while. She herself comes to face the ugly fact that endless power leads to greed. I do not know why she so desperately wants to best the faeries. I felt bad for being a normal human being several times whenever I read the first two books. I thought that faeries went out of fashion a long while back…

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SUPERSCRIPTS

1. the steward or major-domo [a head servant who acts on behalf of the owner of a large or significant residence] of a medieval great house
2. (in Irish folklore) an obligation or prohibition magically imposed on a person.

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Sincerely, Squeaky Blogger