The Wicked King (Folk of the Air, #2)

by Holly Black

Second in the bestselling Folk of the Air trilogy. This novel and the sequel The Queen of Nothing - are the winners of/won the Goodreads YA Best Fantasy in 2019 and 2020.

An intoxicating and bloodthirsty sequel to the New York Times bestselling The Cruel Prince., nominated for the CILIP CARNEGIE MEDAL 2019.

'Holly Black is the Faerie Queen' - Victoria Aveyard

I have heard that for mortals, the feeling of falling in love is very like the feeling of fear.

Jude has tricked Cardan onto the throne, binding him to her for a year and a day. But the new High King does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her, even as his fascination with her remains undimmed. Meanwhile, a traitor in the court is scheming against her. Jude must fight for her life and the lives of those she loves, all while battling her own complicated feelings for Cardan. Now a year and a day seems like no time at all . . .

• ISBN10: 1471407357
• ISBN13: 9781471407352
• Publish Date: 8 January 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Hot Key Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[katie]

Oh. My god. What the f just happened??!?!!

[pagingserenity]

Immediate thoughts after reading: I might have to upgrade my rating to 4.5 after I sleep on it. The first third was kind of slow but wow things really picked up from there.

And omfg that ending! Let's just say I'm glad I have the Queen of Nothing on hand and waited until I got it to binge this series. What a cliffhanger!

[Katie King]

meh.

[KitsuneBae]

Jude Duarte, I love you.

[Chelsea]

I keep praying for a little romance and I have no idea if it'll ever come but this TENSION OH MAN

[ladygrey]

This is a clever book. And as far as second books go there’s only the barest repetition (yes when you did the thing... earlier in the book... that I’m reading right now. I haven’t forgotten). There’s a lot of description of the land and the creatures which some people might enjoy but I’d rather get to the character interactions. But the whole of this book boils down to two things.

1 - Jude and Carden would work well together. And the story, despite whatever conflict Black is intent on conjuring, would be more interesting with them working together. At least to me. They’re both smart and even though they spend a lot of this book not interacting, when they do their interplay is the most interesting thing in the story. Having them at odds serves it’s purpose but it leaves a whole lot of book that’s not as much fun to read as the moments when they’re bickering or plotting.

2 books with sucky endings suck. Yeah there’s that moment of, well isn’t Cardan clever to have worked this all out. But what it boils down to is an emotional low with Jude defeated and exiled and stupid Nicasia gallivanting with Cardan in her absence. And if you take into account point 1 that the book is more interesting when Cardan and Jude are interacting then having them separated by so much just ruins the whole thing.. Ending a book on a low note like this tarnishes my impression of the entire book.

And the romance, ugh! Everyone is all swooney with the quotes on mugs and pillows and all over Instagram and now that I’ve read the context i am so wildly unimpressed. There’s no affection in it, no admiration or adoration. It’s all lust covering over deceptions and disdain. Which might be forgivable if they spent time in the story together scheming or building a begrudging, veiled respect, or any sort of growth in their relationship. But no, none of that. The only progress in their relationship is the depth of their lust and the convolution of their lies. That isn’t romance and it isn’t appealing.

I don’t like it, but I have the third book and I’m this far in so I’ll finish it. But I guess indulging in things you dislike is a theme for the series so it’s fitting.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I wouldn't buy it, but I didn't mind reading it.
For me, it felt as if The Wicked King definitely contained some parts that were rushed (the ending) and not revised properly. Some choices seemed to be made purely in order to serve the plot.

If I remember correctly, there was a scene where Jude gets an arrow in her leg. The way she keeps going and fighting afterward, with the arrow still in her leg, felt so incredibly unbelievable to me that I put the book down for a week.

Also, in the end, I think she killed Balekin way too easily. It also felt out of character for Jude not to ask Cardan about exiling or hurting her if she took away her hold over him. She can't think of everything, but I honestly thought she would have normally thought about this.

[whisperingchapters]

Okay. If I don't see Jude coming back on QoN with a massive revenge, and if I don't see Cardan BEGGING for his life on HIS KNEES to Jude, I don't want any part of QoN. I MEAN BEGGIIIIIING! Also, I want Jude to torture him, make him suffer, make him beg, make him regret EVERYTHING!

[moraa]

4 stars

Power is much easier to acquire than to hold on to

I loved this. Much of my love for faeries was inspired by S. J. Maas' works (back when I was younge and easily beguiled) and after they become laborious to read, I began searching for more.

Holly Black's trilogy is exactly what I was looking for. Lots of political intrigue but not too much to make the book snooze-worthy.

Lots of back-stabbing too. You can't get away with this shit in real life.

I can't wait to get the third book.

[liz089]

LOVED IT. It is just perfection. Everything is how it should be, great MC's, great character building, exciting plot, awesome worldbuilding. It was also just long enough, not too many pages to dreg it out. It kept me on my toes, not knowing what to expect and fearing the outcome. And that ending...
Hope my edition of Queen of Nothing comes soon !!