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

[Brittany]

I felt it lacked depth and character development. Its like I was waiting for something exciting to happen the whole time I was reading and it never hit until the very end. I remember liking the first book and a lot of that was because I was meeting characters and learning about them and learning to love or hate them, in this book everyone just stayed as they were and I felt less of a personal connection to all characters.

[Djilan]

So, I've got some very strong feelings about this book..

I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.
Okay, I don't. I loved it, I STILL love it. What I do hate is the fact that we have to wait for almost a whole year to get to read the final bit. Normally I try to wait until a series is fully published before I start to read. Because of just this, not being able to read the end. The Big End..

So now> A feeling of silence, lost in thought.. Thinking about how I wanted to shout to Jude sometimes to do things differently. But I'm just on the sideline and her life, and that of Cardan, are already written out. Their fates decided, by their creator Holly Black. What will we find in the last book?? I have ideas and wishes, of course I have. You probably will as well after reading. But what will happen, we can only guess at.

It was an adventure already and a great one. So glad that I decided to start The Cruel Prince last week after it had spent a full year on my shelf. And reading The Lost Sisters and now The Wicked King. But at the same time sad, because now I have a lot of waiting to do.
Yes the waiting bit, the hating the waiting bit is quite the theme here. But that's just to show how much I love reading about The Folk of the Air, and Jude..

Maybe we could persuade [a:Holly Black|25422|Holly Black|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1261867163p2/25422.jpg] to release the book a bit earlier? ;)

[Joséphine]

Initial thoughts: OH. MY. GOODNESS! I have one regret after reading The Wicked King: that it’s over. I can’t with that ending—how am I gonna hold out for the next sequel?! I loved this book so much. With every detail and twist that I predicted came a dozen more that I didn’t. It was gruesome yet still fun and exceedingly satisfying.

The Cruel Prince was one of my favourite books last year, and now I can say with absolute certainty that The Wicked King will be a firm favourite of 2019, especially because it surpassed The Cruel Prince for me.

[leahrosereads]

So, I didn't like The Cruel Prince. I didn't get the hype of it, and I didn't think it was anything extraordinary in any way. Jude was a blah main character in a blah story filled with throw away characters.

I stand by that.

This was better. Jude was more tolerable and the throwaway characters had more substance here. It also didn't suffer from second book syndrome and had a better plot all around.

[Emma (SCR)]

This review was originally posted on Star Crossed Reviews Erm. Well. Huh. I am struggling to put into words how I feel. Holly has completely outdone her self in this book. The Cruel Prince was one of my favourite books last year but The Wicked King is on another level!

After the way The Cruel Prince ended, I thought that Holly couldn't shock me again. Well, clearly I was wrong about that! This book has everything you need. It's got betrayal, new alliances, love, hate and a good old wedding.

I love the relationship between Jude and Cardan. The love/hate thing they have going on is so intense. I could quote so many many lines from Cardan that made me just fall deeper and deeper for him. He is everything you think he is but also nothing like you think he is. He is a very complex character.

This book is full of characters who are torn. They are fighting not only with each other but with themselves. It makes for very interesting reading but makes it very difficult to predict what will happen next.

Although I have just finished this book and I only recently read The Cruel Prince I feel like I need to reread the series again. I feel like there are intricacies I likely missed the first time around. I think this is one of those stories that you would learn something new everytime you read it.

This story was epic and I have so many theories and thoughts on the ending that my mind has been whirring for days! I don't know how I am going to wait a whole year for The Queen of Nothing!

[Witty and Sarcastic Bookclub]

I actually enjoyed The Wicked King much more than The Cruel Prince for several reasons. While we have basically the same cast of characters as the original book, we know them all well enough now to move past surface interactions and go deeper into the core personalities of each of them. Also, the whole Locke seduction doodad from The Cruel Prince has played itself out so The Wicked King is able to move on to the nitty gritty of the story.

At the risk of drawing many readers’ ire, I really love Locke. Yes, he’s a jerk. He’s narcissistic, cruel, and capricious, but he knows who he is, and he doesn’t apologize for it. Also, his interactions with Jude in The Wicked King are pure gold. I’m curious to see how much of what he has been doing is part of a greater plot, and how much is just who he is.

I loved the machinations, and backstabbing in this one. Watching the characters working at cross-purposes, even though some of them have the same goals, was a ton of fun. The action scenes were great, and no one writes Faery quite like Holly Black.

I’m hoping to see more of Vivi in the next book. I think she has such potential! Jude rocks, of course. She’s her own worst enemy in a lot of ways, but she’s also plucky, strong,and very smart.

For those who have read both books, though, I do have a question: On page 154, there’s a sentence that reads, “You might think I am heartless to allow this, no less order it”. It’s Jude, not speaking to any of the characters in the book, leading me to believe she’s speaking to the reader. It didn’t sit well with me because I don’t remember that happening anywhere else in either book. Did it happen and I just forgot? Or maybe I misunderstood the paragraph? Thoughts?

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. It’s a great adventure, the world is unique and twisted, and the characters are interesting. I’m looking forward to the next installment. What about you?

https://wittyandsarcasticbookclub.home.blog/2019/01/23/the-wicked-king-by-holly-black/

[alindstadtcorbeax]

Star Rating: 5 Stars (begrudgingly given atm, but 5 freakin stars none-the-less)

DAMN YOU, HOLLY BLACK! You completed and then shattered my world all at once! My heart hurts.
And THIS is why I hate reading books as they are released vs after a trilogy/duology/specific set of storylines is completed. Bc WHYYYY must I wait so long for the next novel?!Why, I mean, seriously why is that which I’ve waited what feels like forever for, over already? Why must we be tortured with such a cliffhanger? Why SO MANY cliffhangers ? Why why, why, why whyyyy ?

I think Black means for our (at least IMO) brains to explode with the multitude of possibilities and thoughts of the possible outcomes here... literally NO closure ATALL. SAVAGE

To add to the whys- WHY must there be so many GD betrayals?!? Why must you lull my wary heart into safety and then stab it with the sharpest of knives... on a loop, The Wicked King?

WHO CAN I TRUST ANYMORE?!?

[stefu1]

Wow! I finished this at 2pm, gonna keep it short and sweet but I loved this book! The ending was of course amazing and I’m really growing to understand all the dynamics of the characters.

[bgsbooks18]

I really enjoyed this book. I will say I was surprised with some of the plots twist in this book. I look forward to book 3. Now it’s just waiting game to see what happens next.

[emruth13]

I loved this book so very much! My emotions went through a roller coaster, especially towards the end. I look forward to the next book to find out what happens next!