The Wicked King: {Review}

Publication date: January 8th, 2019
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Series: The Folk of the Air #2
Format: Hardcover, 336 pages
Source: Library
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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.

Holly Black is the Queen of Faerie stories, seriously. She has blown me away with this series, and we are only on book two! 

The Wicked King starts off where The Cruel Prince left off. Oak has been spirited away to the mortal world with Vi, and Cardan sits on the throne with Jude as his Seneschal. But we all know who is really pulling the strings on the throne, and that's Jude thanks to the bargain that she struck with him. 

Not everyone in Faerie is happy to have a mortal in such a position of power, so Jude must watch her back for anyone that would do her or Cardan harm. 

Part one starts off sort of slow, but as soon as the second part of the story begins, we are in for a whirlwind. It literally took off, and I was kept guessing at what would happen next, and was blown away with each reveal. 

Don't get me started on that crazy ending. I did not see it coming AT ALL! Despite the craziness, I believe that Cardan knows what he is doing, and I hope my guess is right. 

There is still a lack of world building for Faerie itself. Based on the descriptions of Jude going from place to place, it seems like a really small space. It would have been nice to have some expansion on the different areas, but I would rather have a lack of world building and have amazing other content, which was true in this case. 

Honestly, I went through a lot of emotions while reading this book. I'm just waiting for Cardan and Jude to get together since clearly they are both into each other, but neither has acted on those feelings a lot yet aside from a little makeup session. 

Bring on book three!