Jenn's Reviews > The Wicked King

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

Wow. What a ride. I read this book pretty much in one sitting, just stopping long enough to get dinner. Holly Black is a political genius because that's what this book was - a power struggle mixed with family drama and confusing feelings.

After the crazy ass ending of The Cruel Prince, I expected nothing less than spectacular from Black and that's just what I got here. Having tricked Cardan onto the throne, Jude now thinks she holds all the power. I mean, Cardan must do what she commands for an entire year so what could go wrong? Well, a lot actually.

While there were only a couple of things that really surprised me, I found this book to be easy to predict - but not in a bad way. I felt like I knew these characters so well that few things surprised me and when they did, they were good ones. But what I absolutely loved about this book was seeing the character growth in both Jude and Cardan. While I also loved the first book, Jude was a tad whiny and woe is me. But not here. Here was see a more confident and smart Jude. One who can go toe to toe mentally with Madoc and stand up to those who tormented her in the past. Then there was Cardan who went from villainous playboy to High King. Here is another character who became smarter and wiser - but still managed to keep that charm that interested me from the first book. I loved watching him come to terms with his new role.

But can we just talk about how horrible Jude's sisters are? And for different reasons. Vivi does not understand why her mortal girlfriend would freak out over finding out she's been living with magical creatures. She also doesn't seem to understand why it's wrong to use magical powers on said girlfriend without her knowledge. Then there's Taryn. Effing Taryn. Talk about one of the most useless and horrible characters. Completely nonredeemable.

The ending was FANTASTIC and had me freaking out but also super excited for what this will bring for the next book! How am I supposed to wait for another year???