The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air, 2)

I've been waiting for this book since I finished the first one waaaaay back when that one first came out. I stayed up all night reading, and oh, it was delicious. I have bags under my eyes and I don't even care; it was well worth the few hours of sleep I missed out on. ******************************************************SEMI SPOILERS*************************************************************** I knew where this book was going from the first few pages. Knowing the end-game didn't make the journey getting there any less exciting, though, and for that I'm grateful. Sometimes (a lot of the time) knowing the end of something makes it totally boring and not worth finishing, but there are so many twists and betrayals and schemes going on between all the players of Elfhame that we hardly know where to look half the time, let alone look at the stuff not being explicitly shoved in our faces. So, that being said, here's the gist. The Wicked King picks up almost exactly where The Cruel Prince let off, right in the middle of it all, exactly where Jude had been angling to be. She's now the power behind the throne, the true ruler of Elfhame, which Cardan takes every opportunity to point out. She spends a lot of the book fighting to keep a step ahead of everyone else, because as Madoc warned her when she was little, attaining power and holding on to it are two different things. I find the relationship between Jude and nearly every character in the book intriguing, but perhaps her relationship with Madoc most intriguing of all. This is the guy who murdered her parents (book 1) and spirited her away to faerie and raised her as his daughter (to the best of his ability, which, let's face it, wasn't great), who tried to use her as a pawn and ended up being played. Now he's watching all her angles and looking for a way to wrest the power she stole from him back. There are few things more interesting than a mentor and pupil going head to head over a live game of chess to see who comes out the winner. At least to me, it's one of my favorite plot points. When Jude is not grappling with all the problems that arise (a tentative war, being kidnapped, betrayal, betrayal, betrayal, finding a way to keep her hold on all the power she's accumulated) she's semi-struggling with her feelings for Cardan. Mostly she's struggling to figure out how to prevent her growing feelings for him from causing her to lose her power over him. She's on a precarious ledge, this girl, and she's juggling too many pieces. And Cardan. I love this boy-king. I'd read an entire series dedicated to him, if we were so allowed that joy. I won't get into all the plot points involving him because they really are entertaining and enjoyable to witness for yourself, but let's just say he really starts coming into his own. As much fun as he is verbally sparing with Jude and as tortured as he is fighting his attraction to her and as a twisted as he is thanks to his brother and his upbringing, he is at his most intriguing and formidable when he starts acting like the royal he actually is. Even being earnest and honest and trying so hard to be good in a world that doesn't value good, he really is a power to be reckoned with when he puts his mind to it, and it is sexy as hell. Who doesn't love power plays, right? Vivi still sucks; what she did to Heather was cruel, perhaps even more so because she didn't intend it that way. Taryn still sucks; I have no idea why Jude doesn't just ignore her or banish her. Oak is still adorable. Locke deserves to be banished to the Undersea and Nicasia's bed for eternity. Nicasia needs to get over Cardan and realize that he's just not that into her. **********************************************************SPOILER******************************************************************* At the end of the book, Jude is banished from Elfhame. Then she spends time sitting on her sister's couch mopping about how she got played. BUT SHE LITERALLY HAS THE ANSWER SHE NEEDS IN HER FREAKING HAND. Cardan spent the entirety of this book dropping not so subtle remarks about Jude being the true ruler of Elfhame, telling her he trusted her, trying to get her to trust him, and basically having her back, and she's freaking pouting in the mortal world that her now-husband kicked her to the curb. Except did he really? He said until the crown pardons her she was exiled to the mortal world. Well, hello girl, you were the one running faerie from the get-go and you just got crowned Queen by marrying the object of your desire. He gave her the tool she needed to lift her banishment five pages before he banished her. She could have pronounced her time served right there on the beach in front of Orlagh and gone about her business running things with no unnecessary maybe-drama. He even "smiles at her oddly" and doesn't deny that she is in fact Queen of Faerie. If I were Cardan I would be very disappointed in my new bride for being so damn dense in that moment. This is the one thing that irritated me about this book, and I'm glad it happened in the last few pages, and super mad it happened in the last few pages lol. Jude is supposed to be so smart and clever she out maneuvered some of the biggest players in Elfhame to gain the position as Queen of Shadows and then she just accepts the fact that she's banished? Why? ***********************************************************SPOILER END************************************************************* Overall, I loved this book. It's going to be heartache waiting for the next one.

(Side note: Holly Black is an amazing author and I expect amazing things from her. The baseline for this book is pretty high and a lot of my criticisms are very small, nitpicky things. In general, I’d highly recommend reading this. Incredible writing, character development, world-building, and creativity are taken for granted in this review, so I won’t discuss it further) This novel was a pretty solid follow-up to the first book, but I have to say that I think it suffers slightly from second-book syndrome. Part of what drew me into this series from the start was the complexity of the world-building and the politics. While still present in this book, it seemed a little stagnant and drawn-out. Since the plot of the first book was largely character-driven, it was important that they had understandable, if slightly muddled, reason for their actions. I would have liked to have seen more of the plotting and intrigue that made the first book so devious. Unfortunately, this time it seemed as though Black got a little lost when trying to describe the juxtaposition of cruelty and tenderness of the emotions her characters were feeling (There is no doubt that Black can write, though. The emotions, while a little foreign and unrelatable, were described with lovely, unexpected turns of phrases). While it was incredibly commendable as a romance, it wasn’t what I wanted to see from the book. I fell in love with Jude because she’s a stone-cold badass, and I didn’t expect for her to get lost in her feelings the way she did after that power move at the end of the last book. (WHAT IS UP WITH HOLLY BLACK AND CLIFF-HANGERS???) I wanted to keep seeing Jude evolve from her choices, but she just reverts back to pre-Locke stages of book one. And because there was such an emphasis on the romance, I feel like the integrity of the plot suffered a little bit; the story meandered and dragged in places that seemed unnecessary. Also in Holly Black fashion, the end of the book completely shattered my expectations and makes the previous paragraph a little less important in the grand scheme of things. Although it was a five-star ending for sure, I wish the whole book had been filled with as much cleverness and strange goings-on as the last fifty pages or so. I understand that much of the book was spent sowing the seeds necessary for the ending, but I feel as if it could have been executed in a more exciting way. Once again, this series has been set up for something epic. I have no idea how Black is going to turn this around, but she did a pretty good job of it last time so I definitely have high expectations for the next book.

Alrighty, I take back what I said about the previous book not having enough substance. When I reached this book and the story took off, I was comfortable in who everyone was and what part they were playing. What I love about Holly Black's writing is that it draws you in, takes you for an adventure, gives you warm fuzzies, cold shocks and moments of joy, but not only that, it doesn't unnecessarily mess with your emotions or the characters. I often see authors make conflict, misunderstandings, etc that are supposed to cause angst and drama where they just end up frustrating me. Holly Black balances character relationships with the flow of the story to keep them in balance. The story follows Jude as she has to embrace her new role as the most powerful woman in Elfhame - being just a mortal, this is very challenging but she manages it with her usual flair and finesse and stress. I love this character, the only female character that I haven't found obnoxious in a long time. She is real, she is relateable and I can understand her thought processes and I love that she isn't the usual 'wonder girl' trope. Cardan's character development is also wonderful, you feel his emotions and concern and confusion through the writing. We get a little glimpse into his past and start to understand who he is. Jude does her best but the net she sets for everyone else is slowly entangling her as well. New enemies appear, new challenges and terribly events take place. This is a middle book that doesn't feel like a middle book normally does - it's not a 'filler'. I lapped this up in two evenings. Thank you Holly Black for an absolutely enthralling read for a true fantasy lover. 5 stars!

Took me forever to find the hard copy of this book, so glad this business posted their listing of it on here, arrived fast with no damage.

Este segundo libro te engancha más a la historia y de verdad que se vuelve más interesante, no podía dejar de leerlo, y cuando lo termine quería saber que pasaba después.

I like the fact that the female character is strong and vulnerable at the same time, in a world where she starts with many disadvantage (being a mere human in a world of creature with magic on their side) and turns that weakness into a strength. She is clever and exhausted having to watch her back constantly..a super human quite simply..all the characters have nuances nothing is just black or white..The ending is once again unexpected and a cliffhanger..The question is that there is always a resilient source of hope in all the characters and it seems to me that even the author herself hasn't quite figured that out what that source is..this life force has deeper roots..all it can not sustain the strain..too exhausting! it's taken for granted, as it is there for all of us, even if we don't focus on it much...the reason behind all this striving....

After The Cruel Prince it's obvious that unexpected things will happen all the time, and even knowing I should be more careful on who to trust I clearly wasn't enough. The Wicked King begins 5 months after the events of the first book, and seeing Jude as the High King's Seneschal was at the very least, amazing! My favorite thing about this book is how Jude managed to plan everything, how she dealt with the power and control she had over Cardan. Jude Duarte did not let me down at any moment. "Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold on to". This is one of my favorite quotes from the book, because the story itself reminded me of its importance all the time. Jude was dealing with the Living Council and trying to make them listen. If they had listened to her, the whole thing with the Undersea could have been avoided, they would have been prepared. I was so curious trying to discover who was the traitor. "I served Prince Dain. Not you." I wasn't expecting it to be The Ghost, the way he just didn't care and was one of the reasons Jude was dragged to the Undersea... After everything they went through, I was shocked! "Perhaps I cannot be glamoured, but that doesn't mean I cannot be broken." When Jude was at the sea, dealing with Nicasia and Orlagh I was so nervous. She was alone at the Undersea, facing the queen and her jealous daughter. If it wasn't enough, she also had to face Balekin. Jude spent all her energy pretending to be under their control. Seeing her pretending to see a comfortable room, the food, water... all of it just reassured how strong Jude Duarte is. She had to fight her own body just to make it to the next day. I felt as if I was trapped under the water with her. Locke and Taryn deserve each other, they are both terrible in my point of view. Taryn always choose someone else over her own sister, and Locke just cares about what and who is more interesting at the moment. The fact that he was the cause of Jude's almost death makes me want to kill him myself even more. Taryn just likes to pretend she's a nice Lady of Faerie and has zero personality. "Sweet Jude. You are my dearest punishment." I just loved to see how the things between Jude and Cardan were changing. It's very clear that they feel something. The fact that this story's not focused on romance just makes it better! It was amazing to see how this game of kings, queens and power would go, and even have a real relationship development. Not one the characters are madly in love after 2 days. I'm looking forward to see how the author will work their relationship on The Queen of Nothing. "But I am the Queen of Faerie." After Jude gave up the control she had over Cardan and accepted marrying him I was extremely happy. For a moment I really believed I knew how the book would end, and that they would take care of the Orlagh situation together. But as I mentioned before, I wasn't careful enough and was fooled. Jude killed Balekin, (thankfully) I might say, but that cost her everything. Cardan exiled her to the mortal world and that was highly unexpected to me. I am still speechless, in The Cruel Prince, Jude tricks Cardan and in The Wicked King, Cardan tricks Jude. To finish this review I want to say that this is one of my favorite books. I just couldn't stop reading until it was over! "You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring. The first lesson is to make yourself that strong."