For me, The Cruel Prince was a good read, but nothing special. The Wicked King takes the things I found lacklustre about its predecessor, and turns them up to eleven, delivering a wonderful, breathless story.
Our story begins five months after the events of The Cruel Prince take place, and we are immediately thrown into a present day narrative, with flashbacks sprinkled around to fill you in on the gap between the last book ending and this one finishing. While I suppose it isn't ABSOLUTELY necessary, I would highly encourage you to pick up the novella The Lost Sisters, as it will add a deeper layer of understanding to the events between the novels. There are a lot of moving parts to this middle instalment, and while things seem a little disparate and disconnected at first, everything comes together in a way that is clever and exciting.
The aspect that stands out most to me regarding The Wicked King is the sheer development of the characters. Where TCP had fairly recognisable tropes, and sometimes felt like paper characters being pushed through a plot - only really feeling intense towards the end when the stakes are raised, TWK turns these tropes into people. By the end of this novel I felt so much more invested in these characters and that made the story so much more enjoyable.
Our story begins five months after the events of The Cruel Prince take place, and we are immediately thrown into a present day narrative, with flashbacks sprinkled around to fill you in on the gap between the last book ending and this one finishing. While I suppose it isn't ABSOLUTELY necessary, I would highly encourage you to pick up the novella The Lost Sisters, as it will add a deeper layer of understanding to the events between the novels. There are a lot of moving parts to this middle instalment, and while things seem a little disparate and disconnected at first, everything comes together in a way that is clever and exciting.
The aspect that stands out most to me regarding The Wicked King is the sheer development of the characters. Where TCP had fairly recognisable tropes, and sometimes felt like paper characters being pushed through a plot - only really feeling intense towards the end when the stakes are raised, TWK turns these tropes into people. By the end of this novel I felt so much more invested in these characters and that made the story so much more enjoyable.