Book Review: The Wicked King by Holly Black

Updated: May 11, 2021

Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold on to.

The Wicked King, the 2nd instalment to the Folk of the Air series. After Jude had crowned Prince Cardan as the King of Land of Faerie without his prior knowledge nor his consent, she continues seeking a way to extend her period of one year and a day to command Cardan during his time of ruling the kingdom. Concomitantly, Jude tries to keep the peace throughout the kingdom and making sure that Oak is ready by the time he becomes of age to take his place as the rightful air of the crown.

If you’re the sickness, I suppose you can’t also be the cure

Soon enough, my frustration with this book reaches a new level. From the terrible writing, the slow turnover of events, the inconsistency with the character flow, the unrealistic display of emotions, the awfully awkward decisions made by a 19-year old who has no clue on how to do much of anything. I truly enjoyed TCP and I had hopes I'd enjoy the sequel as well.

You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring. The first lesson is to make yourself that strong.

The characters:

The majority of the cast members from TCP seize to exist here, with little to no cameos here. We are introduced to many others, but in general, there was no in-depth exposé of any of the current characters. I noticed that the prime focus was on Jude, and to some extent, Carden as well. Nevertheless, there wasn't much character development for those two either.

Jude - Again, with her annoying personality, comes back in a lame attempt to rule the Land of Faerie through commanding Cardan (not that she wants, oh no she doesn't) but just to control things around until Oak comes become to be crowned king -.-" Honestly, she's Such a bimbo. Nothing she does adds up.

Cardan - He's back to being the dick he's always been. I get it. You were forced to be king, yet I urge you to take a chill pill on the attitude. Other than that, he did nothing lol. He did manage to study up on war strategies towards the end. And we came to know that he's isn't a lazy bum if he were cornered.

Let's take a moment to brush over the Jude x Carden situation... wth was that?! It's the most unreal thing I've ever read. Not sure how the target audience perceives this preposterously toxic and irrational display of... would I dare say "affection"? It's definitely an appalling attempt at building the sexual frustration

Taryn - What can I say about her... I never agreed with her choice to end up with Locke, who continued to be his worst self throughout the second book as well (there you go, another abomination of a "relationship". It's buy-1-get-1 discount *smh*). A two-face wench, going against everything our beloved Jude had been working on.

Viviane - At least we know she's taken up the responsibility to care for Oak with Heather in the mortal world. Nothing to add there.

Madoc - Named the best strategist on set, and though he pops up once in a blue moon, it was obvious he's planning to snatch it all right from under Jude's nose. And in the ugliest way possible. The oaf was humiliated in the presence of the entire kingdom!

Balekin - You petty creature, you... Always have been and will always be. At least you got what you deserved. Good thing that Jude handled it. I'm certain Queen Orlagh would've been much nastier

It's crystal clear that I hate every single character.

If he thought I was bad, I would be worse. If he thought I was cruel, I would be horrifying.

The writing:

By the end of the first couple of pages, I knew that nothing much had changed for Holly and her... writing and language for this book (maybe it took another wrong turn). My disappointment leads to (almost) throwing the book across the room several times. Eventually, I had to take a break.

I wasn't motivated to add many tabs this time or even keep track of all the terrible lines in this book. Here are some honourable mentions:

This entire bit is a total cringe

“He looks up at me with his night-colored eyes, beautiful and terrible all at once. “For a moment,” he says, “I wondered if it wasn’t you shooting bolts at me.”

I make a face at him. “And what made you decide it wasn’t?”

He grins up at me. “They missed.”

2. "The shadows limn his face, casting his cheekbones into stark relief.". What did I just read *smh*

3. "The waitress then stares at him for a long blink, then scratches something on her pad and turns to me"

I was too lazy to mark more. I wanted this to end as soon as humanly possible.

"The three of you have one solution to every problem. Murder. No key fits every lock.” Cardan gives us all a stern look, holding up a long-fingered hand with my stolen ruby ring still on one finger. “Someone tries to betray the High King, murder. Someone gives you a harsh look, murder. Someone disrespects you, murder. Someone ruins your laundry, murder."

Towards the end of the book, with Queen Orlagh showing up and Jude's kidnapping, someone finally decided to stir up the pot in the right direction. Jude was getting what she deserved for her lousy management and she was at the mercy of Queen of the Undersea, her daughter and ex-prince Balekin. I felt that it was a bit rushed, with Black leaving out intricate details, outlining only the highlights of Jude's typical day in the Undersea. On one hand, I'm glad she stopped whining. Then again, I wanted more details on what was happening, interrogations, etc. And why keep Jude only for a month?

Once Jude was brought to the surface to carry out Balekin's plan. Why was that bit hurried as well? Why did it all end in one day? Well no. A couple of days. The ending was great, but very much rushed! I did not invest so many hours of agony to have the book ending like that in 7 pages! The epilogue is just another mess... *smh* Welp, it's over now :D I won't read this book again. Way to go ruining the story.

"We eat bathed in the flickering light of the screen. Viv's phone is silent on the coffee table. My mind is whirling"

Erm... and that's how you end the book...???

Short Analysis:

Book cover: (4 stars)

Absolutely stunning!
It gives away a lot, but for those who don't know, they won't know

Plot: (3 stars)

Again, there was so much worldbuilding I almost lost hope for Holly to find her way back to the main plot and sum it up for this book
The subplots were still interesting. However, compared with the waves of shock one gets from TCP, there weren't as many, nor as groundbreaking. Here are some:
- The Bomb x Roach: it was only slightly mentioned
- The Ghost! You mofo...
- Queen Orlagh
- Prince Balekin
- Carden's mom, Lady Asha
- Jude and Taryn

Story structure and content: (3 stars)

This time, it was agonizingly slow that I lost interest in this book several times
I love how much Black's invested in the diminutive details for perfecting this story, however, it was too much of a good thing...
The story was mainly revolving around:
- Jude and how she could extend her time controlling Cardan
- Cardan x Jude development
- Jude running the stage of Faerieland until Oak takes over
The drastic reduction in characters taking part in this volume was somewhat disappointing (That could be the Tolstoy effect on me lol)
I understand that the characters not mentioned here have no role as much as a fly or a bird in the background, but hey, I'd like to know more about what happened with them. That's just a personal preference

Writing style: (3 stars)

I was expecting an upgrade in the writing style and language. Why do I feel like I'm reaching for the stars? I'm quite confused why the masses approve of this
It is obvious that Black had no idea where this was going and simply went along with the events as they materialize, hence the prolonged intro and Jude's confusion on what to do next
Again, I haven't bothered to tab/mark anything in this book... I just wanted it to end
Almost nothing happened until page 200...
I've quite enjoyed the book, I really have! But again, it's those odd lines that simply make no sense that ruins it for me.

Ending: (3 stars)

Cardan standing up to Jude and sacrificing as much as he did, just to have her back on land with him was a very rash move on his part. He's very confused about his feelings towards this stinky mortal, Jude. But he's gone through it all for her sake
Next thing you know, he crowns her queen and banishes her to the mortal world. They don't provide counselling on Faerieland, I suppose?
The epilogue. That was useless. Two sisters, ditched by their S/O, having pizza watching Netflix lol

Final rating: 3.2 stars /5

I was quite disappointed with the flow of The Wicked King, compared with the first novel of the series, The Cruel Prince. It was only on page 200 that some shifting with the characters was noted. I cannot compare the books together, as it is clear (like in all trilogies), the 2nd book tends to prepare you for the grand finale, hence the condensed worldbuilding, with slight touches of Holly Black.

It was an ok read, however, the majority of the time nothing any of the characters said, did or even felt that made any sense. It was a poorly written sequel. And it's all done now.

Again, the grand finale of this book was NOT what I had in mind for Jude. I hope the last book to the trilogy is worth it all.