The stakes in The Wicked King were understandably interminable and yet each one was equally surprising. With its layered plots and schemes, this second installment kept me on my toes while desperately hoping for one good thing to go smoothly, but it wouldn’t be a Holly Black novel without the recklessness of its characters all vying for the power of the crown. The guise of its promises ripped through our beloved characters with little thought to the consequences and it was marvelous.
While the first quarter of the story was relatively slow and unlike the verve of The Cruel Prince, the story finally found its stride when Black’s genius method of intertwining character arc with political intrigue and conspiracy started catching steam. The beloved and flawed characteristics of Jude continued to grow in depth as the story explored the edge of likeable and unlikeable, and watching the darkness of retaining power consume her was as hard to watch as it was impossible to put down. While the exquisitely confusing connection shared between Jude and Cardan grew, the players around them took advantage of their distraction, and there are no words to explain how on edge I was throughout the entire second half because of it.
The Wicked King examined the concept and nature of trust with a harshness that made it devilishly good. The abundance of cunning and backstabbing was only limited to the imagination of its writer, and I reveled in the twists and turns until the very painful last one. It will be in that daze that I spend the next year impatiently waiting for what’s the come.
While the first quarter of the story was relatively slow and unlike the verve of The Cruel Prince, the story finally found its stride when Black’s genius method of intertwining character arc with political intrigue and conspiracy started catching steam. The beloved and flawed characteristics of Jude continued to grow in depth as the story explored the edge of likeable and unlikeable, and watching the darkness of retaining power consume her was as hard to watch as it was impossible to put down. While the exquisitely confusing connection shared between Jude and Cardan grew, the players around them took advantage of their distraction, and there are no words to explain how on edge I was throughout the entire second half because of it.
The Wicked King examined the concept and nature of trust with a harshness that made it devilishly good. The abundance of cunning and backstabbing was only limited to the imagination of its writer, and I reveled in the twists and turns until the very painful last one. It will be in that daze that I spend the next year impatiently waiting for what’s the come.