Hello again my fellow bookworms! If you’re reading this article then it is either for 1 of 2 reasons.
Either, you stumbled across this article by mistake or you read the previous article and are here to see my thoughts on the second book in “The Folk of the Air” series.
For those who haven’t read that one yet, I recommend you give it a read first.
Let’s move straight on to the review of “The Wicked King” by Holly Black.
As usual, I will be rating each book based on this system:
- Characters and Character Development
- World-Building
- Overall Plot and Spice (aka drama)
- Writing style
- Aesthetics
If I had to find 3 words to describe “The Wicked King” it would be mysterious, dangerous and surprising.
After the first book took me for such a spin I was sure there was nothing left that could catch me off guard, but oh how wrong I was.
Black not only built off her previous work flawlessly and expanded the already vast world she created, she also deepened the connection between the characters on the page and us readers. While reading this book I experienced so many emotions and in such rapid succession that it was hard to keep up.
Black explores new themes and proposes new challenges for our heroes to face and not only that, she introduces new enemies and new friends that as readers we all love to hate or love to love.
She also presents a very real reality of family life, even in this fantasy world, our hero Jude still has to deal with her difficult adoptive father, her rebellious older sister, and her polar opposite twin. This dynamic helps the reader relate to Jude on a more personal level and many of us find ourselves getting frustrated on her behalf.
That being said I cannot only sing the praises of this book. When compared to the first book, “The Cruel Prince”, the plot in “The Wicked King” is slower to pick up. This led to me being less invested in the beginning. However, once you push through the initial fluff the plot is magnificent and is full of twists and turns.
Overall, this is how I rank The Wicked King:
- Characters & Character Development: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
- World-Building: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
- Overall Plot and Spice: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
- Writing style: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
- Aesthetics: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
So the average score is:
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ of 5
Look out for the third instalment in this series of reviews, soon! 😁
Have you read this book?
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