Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - The Wicked King

I really enjoyed how Jude's weaving of lies and truth were central to this tale, and yet she ultimately fails as humans are prone to do. I also enjoyed Cardan taking on more of a role, and becoming a more ambigously grey character, rather than starkly black or white.

Even Taryn's betrayal threw me off, though I should've expected it considering she isn't afraid to throw her sister in the line of fire if it benefits her outcome even the slightest bit. I do hope she gets her comeuppance, though, she is too proud and too eager to appear the superior sibling.

With how it ended, I am interested to see how Jude gets out of this predicament, and what game of chess Cardan is playing now, because obviously he has become the King on the board protecting his Queen.

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teagstime's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Honestly I feel a little bad rating this <4★s, but I can't rationalize going any higher knowing I enjoyed the first book so much more!

Wicked King is a solid enough book, I just didn't really click with it until the final third 😔 I missed all the intrigue of the first novel!!! Plus, there was mostly just lot of frustration concerning Jude's thoughts/actions. Meanwhile, I was obsessed with... Pretty much all the non-Jude characters. Cardan was incredible, for example! Absolutely adored him and every scene he was in... I'm glad we got to see more of him being clever and competent! Other significant characters I found incredibly interesting were Madoc and Balekin, actually! I've always loved Madoc, but Balekin was a surprise... I really wanted to get inside his brain 😅

But anyway! Yeah! A nice read overall, but not as great when compared to the first imo ❤

[Star rating changed from 4 -> 3.5 after finishing the series]

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kezinator's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny tense 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

i dont normally review book like this but the way the author connects sentences to other parts of the book is amazing going into detailOf important events and the foreshadowing is wow wow I’m so annoyed at how this ended so I needed to order the next book but this is good very good

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zoeelora's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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urlocalvocaloidstan's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

After finding out her younger brother Oak is the next Faerie king, Jude Duarte has to keep him safe, by making Cardan Greenbriar king. As the new high king seneschal, Jude now has to navigate Faerie politics and try to control Cardan at the same time. And now someone close to Jude is threatening to betray all the Faerie, so she must find the traitor while sorting her growing feelings for Cardan.

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lyd41's review against another edition

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adventurous informative mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Overall, good. Didn't have sequel syndrome thank god. Not as character focused as last book, more focused on Jude balancing relationships, good and bad. Lots of discussion on political strategy. No major problems with the book! :D I wish a certain pivotal part of the book

Jude's MONTH LONG hostage situation

was greater emphasized, as that event was a domino effect regarding the decisions of so many characters close to Jude. That event single handedly determined the last chunk of the book.

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nicamooch's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The first 40% of the book was a bit slow. I think this one is shorter than the Wicked King but it took me 3x as long to read. I still liked and enjoyed the plot but I think the pace could’ve been picked up a little and there were chapters committed to events/plot advancement that maybe could’ve been condensed. Overall, this was an enjoyable continuation to the first book and I couldn’t believe that ending 😭. It’s like Holly Black heard me think “well if ******* is **** and Jude is *****” then what’s the conflict in the next book? 😭😭😭😭😭

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karambit's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

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

4.75

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