Review: The Wicked King

The Wicked King by Holly Black
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another ARC I've found at work, and another review to make...and this time, I think I've finally been convinced to step onto the Holly Black Hype Train, which means I'll be catching up on her bibliography that I've missed up to now. And probably enjoying some of her other books more, because it's taken me such a long time to finally find one that I liked, but it's also been a long enough time since I read those other books of hers that they're pretty well due for rereads.

As for this sequel to The Cruel Prince, it's an improvement over its predecessor because of how much more into the mind games of the Faerie courts Black takes Jude - and us. While the first book was a little too busy building its world and establishing just how distasteful Cardan was - and also giving us some reason to sympathize with him - here, we get to see how much hate isn't really the opposite of love after all. Though I'm still not at all down with shipping Jude and Cardan, Black does make a strong case for how well they could be made for each other.

And if you thought the ending of Book 1 was a surprise, just wait till you get to the ending of this one. Though I kinda sorta saw it coming just because the title of the final book was revealed so well in advance, it's still a real roller-coaster of a ride to get there, and so many seemingly innocuously cathartic actions really have an impact on how the book actually ends.

Hopefully I'll be able to get an ARC of the final book this time next year or so. If I'm still working at the bookstore, that is, because I bet such an ARC would be a unicorn that most wouldn't be willing to trade for just anything, you know?

View all my reviews