Title: The Wicked King
Author: Holly Black
Type: Fiction
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (Hachette Book Group)
Published: January 8, 2019

A physical copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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 younger 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.

Where do I even begin with this book? I read The Cruel Prince at the end of 2017, and desperately needed the sequel (this book) ever since I read the very last page. The Wicked King was my most-anticipated release of 2019, and I am so happy and feel so blessed for having received an advanced copy and therefore being able to devour this book before it even hit shelves! I finished reading The Wicked King on Saturday night, and it was absolutely worth the wait! This has got to be the best sequel to a book that I have ever read! Normally, the second or middle book of a series kind of lets me down (and I understand that this is usually so that it can build up the series climax in the third or last book). But, this book made me want to ignore my need for sleep and food just so that I could keep reading (and I can’t remember the last time this happened!)

It was so good! There was court intrigue, there was plotting, there were twists that I definitely never saw coming, there was sexual tension galore … and I need the next book in the series right this moment! I know that I say this every time that I have to wait between books in a series, but I may actually die while waiting for the third book in this series. The Wicked King reminded me why I love to read and why I love fantasy, and having it be the first full novel that I read in 2019 makes this a fantastic start to the year, I think. I highly recommend this book and cannot wait to see what Jude and Cardan will get up to in the next book (and I will seriously slay an army of Orcs if I can get my hands on a copy of the third book within the next few days, weeks, or even months, haha)!

Holly Black is the author of bestselling contemporary fantasy books for kids and teens. Some of her titles include The Spiderwick Chronicles (with Tony DiTerlizzi), The Modern Faerie Tale series, the Curse Workers series, Doll Bones, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, the Magisterium series (with Cassandra Clare), The Darkest Part of the Forest, and her new series which begins with The Cruel Prince in January 2018. She currently lives in New England with her husband and son in a house with a secret door.

THANK YOU FOR READING MY REVIEW! HAVE YOU READ THIS BOOK? WHAT DID YOU THINK? AND IF YOU HAVEN’T READ IT YET, DO YOU WANT TO, OR NOT? HOW COME? LET ME KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENTS!