Book Review: The Wicked King by Holly Black

Rating: 9/10

 Hello and thanks for joining!

Here we are again. I’m back in the Kingdom of Elfhame and I’m loving it. This book opens with an assassination attempt and is there a better way to open a book? No. No there is not. If there is please let me know. Ahem. Moving on. Five months have passed since the end of the first book in the trilogy and you can feel that in the way all the characters act. Jude has definitely grown into herself but she is more unsure of herself and her actions than ever. She wants to be in control, that girl, but you can't always be in control of life. You especially can't be in control when you're trying to deal with fay and their antics.

The great thing about this book was the progression of relationships. You all know I’m all about those relationships. Everyone felt as comfortable with each other as you’d expect after the end of the last book. Everyone is walking on eggshells around each other to the extent that I could feel the tension in the dialogue. Jude and Taryn are not talking, which is a good thing for Jude from the outside perspective of me, but Jude absolutely hates it. She keeps swinging between blaming herself and blaming Taryn. But with Taryn’s wedding to Locke approaching, There is pressure to reunite the whole family. Things don't go well. Jude almost gets murdered by Locke so everything is clearly under control and not dysfunctional at all. Locke also openly cheats on Taryn, to no one's surprise but Taryn’s, he tried to sleep with your twin girl, take a hint. 

We get to see Vivianne and Oak again, and while it’s lovely to see that Oak is thriving in the human world and becoming a much nicer child, I hated what Vivianne was doing. It's been six months of them living together and she doesn't tell her girlfriend the truth or prepare her for the shock of magic and Faerie at all. There is obviously some trauma there but also a deep disregard for the effect this will have on the person she claims to love. That whole fiasco made me so angry. Jude was the one doing her best to protect Heather while Vivi just assumed things would go her way. When they don't she glamours her girlfriend! This is not okay. You don't brainwash your loved ones. That’s not what love is. So I’m a little worried there. This may be my true crime obsession talking but this has signs of psychopathy. 

Now we come to my favorite faerie high king. Carden, oh Carden, you sweet roll of contradictions, you. We get some major character development for him, and that makes me so happy. I felt like his character was not fully utilized in the first book, but here this was definitely corrected. By necessity, Jude spends much more time with Carden than ever before and her perceptions of him are forced to shift accordingly because Carden is much more complicated than Jude allowed herself to think he is, as she says “The disturbing thing about Cardan is how well he plays the fool to disguise his own cleverness.” He both hates being High King and loves it. He’s pretty good at it when he puts the work in, but he doesn't put the work in. Jude keeps forgetting what she wants him to do exactly. It’s intriguing to see this kind of push and pull in a relationship. The scene of their make-out is one of the hottest things I've read lately, and you can feel the confusion and fascination of both the characters. I wasn’t nearly as surprised as Jude was that Carden made a deal for her with the Undersea. Jude had never fully learned to read Carden, and he definitely didn't know how to read her. 

Then the book ends and I’m left gaping like the rest of the world. I didn't see that ending coming. Once again, good job Holly Black blindsiding your poor readers with feelings and then stabbing them in said feelings. I will be reading the next book very soon. I need to KNOW. I need to know what happens. I want to see Jude punch Carden for what he did and then I want them to make out for seven pages. I definitely want someone to stab Locke and Taryn. I want to know if Vivianne gets it through her head that she needs to think about the feelings of others. I want to know how the Madoc storyline turns out because it's not looking good. Actually nothing is looking good. 

So, Anna, I hear you ask, if you loved this book so much why didn't you give it ten stars? What’s that all about>Well you see I feel like this book would have been pushed into amazingness territory if it was about a hundred pages longer. I like to see development and character arcs progress. This book has it, but it’s done in a way that doesn't allow for savoring the changes. Everything is action and reaction and we never truly get to just exist with the characters. I would have been happy if I had that. 

This is stressful ladies and gentlemen and assorted creatures of the night. I’m highly stressed for my stabby disaster children. Until next time, 

Love you all, Anna 

Gorgeous artwork by Gabriella Bujdoso (made for FaeCrate)