The Wicked King by Holly Black

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 . . .

Reviewed by bookishzelda on

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The Wicked King is a book that is everything I want a sequel to be. I loved it as much as the first and being it falls in the middle, sometimes that is hard to do.

Oh my Jude. What I love most about her character is how flawed she is. There is so many times where I hardly like her and I think she brings so much down on herself. I also often feel sympathetic to her because she stuck playing in a world that humanity is a weakness. I think she wants to pretend that she doesn’t have it but she does.

As far as Cardan, I don’t think we see him as much as I would like to see him. He’s interesting in this book and again I think Jude brings so much on herself. If she really looked at Cardan and saw him as he is and not what she’s decided he will be, she could make things easier on herself. I don’t think it’s a matter of trusting as even confiding. Some of the things, I don’t think he could really use in a nefarious way but if she only gave him the information..

I still love Cardan and Jude together. I can’t decide if that’s wrong or right but Cardan can’t lie. I feel like that is so so important to remember.

The plot is cut throat and political as the first. A chess board with many moving pieces. Always interesting.

That ending!!! That ending!!! Okay so for me I loved it because there are two possibilities that I see as to why it happened. That is what I love so much about it. Maybe there are more I’m not seeing but I’m holding on to what I think because because one could be bad and one could be good. I can’t believe I have to wait so long for the next book.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 1 January, 2019: Finished reading
  • 1 January, 2019: Reviewed