The Wicked King

Holly Black

Jan 2019 · THE FOLK OF THE AIR Book 2 · Sold by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

About this eBook

The enchanting and bloodthirsty sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel The Cruel Prince.
You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring.
The first lesson is to make yourself strong.
After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.
When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.

Ratings and reviews

I cannot wait to see how Holly ends this story!! She wove such an intricate story of love, betrayal, danger, and trickery you don't see often in Fae stories. I love this angle of Fairy. To see how a mortal can "fit" and how Jude reacts to the power she gained... with opportunity of tricks by those she loves and those she thought she loved. So many things happen and you can't even begin to imagine the direction the story will go. Such a great read. I'm loving the banter and relationship between Jude and Cardan.

I enjoyed this and the book that came before it, when you finish it there's a sense of wow. I read the epilogue and that changed to disappointment. The book itself is well written. However, in my opinion a good book allows your imagination to run wild at the end or brings a resolution. The epilogue is out of place and makes it appear as if the author was at a loss and grasping at straws. I really liked the actual ending, but am disappointed in the epilogue.

Phenomenal storytelling! Surprises on every page. Battles of wit, spirit, and might. It far exceeded my expectations of a novel marketed as YA. The Wicked King will make you fall in love with every smoldering gaze, insult, kiss, and gut punch. And even if the tale of romance and heartbreak isn't your main pleasure, the byzantine politics of the immortal Gentry and the spy craft of brutally clever mortal Jude and her Shadow Court will draw you in. As she fights to hang on to every scrap of power she can, her enemies will stop at nothing to destroy Cardan, the puppet king she installed. And what lines will Jude herself cross in the name of protecting her brother, Oak, long enough for him to be ready to take the kingship himself? How many lies can she tell without losing herself in the maze of her own creation? A true high fantasy masterpiece grounded in the rules of its' world without being bogged down by them.

About the author

Holly Black is the bestselling author of contemporary fantasy novels, including Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale and the #1 New York Times bestselling Spiderwick series. She has been a finalist for the Mythopoeic Award and the Eisner Award, and the recipient of the Andre Norton Award. Holly lives in Massachusetts with her husband, Theo, in a house with a secret library.