Review : The Wicked King by Holly Black

Title: The Wicked King 
Author: Holly Black
Series: The Folk of the Air #2
Genre: Fantasy/Romance/Fae
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: January 8th, 2019
Edition: Hardcover, 322 pages
Source: Purchased
Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | BAM

Synopsis:

   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.

  

  I kind of wasn't sure what to expect going into this book, and the fact that it took me so long to finish it, or at least it felt that way, caused me to lose a lot of what I was reading. Not having time to read this past month hasn't been fun.

    I don't remember how I felt about Jude in book one, but I really liked her in this book. She seemed to think ahead in most situations, a little more so than she did in book one. Her and Carden, I liked them in this book. In book one, I was very against the romance that I had heard was coming. He didn't seem to have anything to his personality that could be redeeming. But in this book, he also got a little more page time, so he had time to develop and he started to grow on me, and then I started to understand him better.

    Locke is still garbage, and Taryn... UGH, Taryn... I'm starting to really hate her character. She really comes across as someone who only thinks of themselves, and gets a little whiny when others don't want to dote on her. I want her to have some character development in the third book. I need her to almost, otherwise I'm going to start to wonder what her purpose is beyond making things difficult and hard on Jude and the rest of her family. 

    There was a lot of really exciting moments in this book. A lot more, for me interesting action, than I remember from Cruel Prince; granted it's been a couple years since I read book one. But it just seems that the events in this book will be more memorable than the action events of Cruel Prince. The romance really amped up in this book, we start to see the cracks in Carden's façade of not being attracted to Jude. He all but admits to being in love with her, but they're both so stubborn neither will admit to anything. That's some of my favorite kind of romantic tension. 

    I would say that I wasn't expecting that ending, but based on the title of book three, Queen of Nothing, I knew something had to have happened. I just wasn't exactly sure what would cause it. 

    I am glad that I have book three, and don't have to wait long to start it. I'm going to finish some of the books I've received from NetGalley first though.