Reviews with content warning for Violence - A Court of Hearts and Hunger

I think this was even better than the first, which is rare in trilogies. Less steam with more action-filled plot, but still firmly in hyper spice territory. Definitely will be reading the third book.

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ofelias's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“Curiosity is the dagger on which we impale ourselves.”

Kenney has made it a literary habit of taking a fairy tale and spinning it into a fresh, spicy retelling.

Where some fantasy retellings prioritize romance at the expense of plot and world-building, the Wicked Darlings series achieves quite the opposite.

This book takes us back to Faerie with some of the characters we’ve come to love and swoon over - like Sugarplum and Clara - but we are also thrust into a new fairy tale backdrop this time: Alice in Wonderland.

The newly-introduced characters - Cat, the White Rabbit, Hatter, among others - are just as chaotic and magnetic as others we’ve come to know. Well, perhaps a little more so, but what kind of an Alice in Wonderland retelling would it be without a little madness?

The new Unseelie queen, the Eater of Hearts, is hell-bent on eating all the hearts of Faerie and in turn creating horrific zombie-like creatures known as Heartless. When Alice is kidnapped by the White Rabbit, along with a dangerously magical tome, it is up to Clara and Sugarplum to save her from her new captors and the mad queen, and prevent the tome from landing in the wrong hands.

Kenney does such a fantastic job of paying homage to the magic and madness of the source material while twisting Alice’s story into something entirely new and chaotic and wonderful and heartbreaking.

The spice, albeit fantastic, takes more of a step back in this sequel, with an intense plot at the forefront. Every chapter has purpose, even with the multiple POVs we’re given with characters both old and new.

Overall, I’m so happy this was my first 2024 read. I can’t wait to dive into the next one and see where Faerie takes me this time. Hopefully somewhere with pretty, fantastical characters and unhinged magic - but no Heartless, please.

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lola218_'s review against another edition

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The first book in the series was good. Had some dark themes but nothing too crazy. This book was way too messed up. I don’t know how this has such high ratings when the whole book is about kidnapping, torture, rape, and mutilation.

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