A review by tsar
The Wicked King, by Holly Black

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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

Coming to the realization where your brother has become the sacrificial lamb of a masochistic political game is not a revelation that you would wish to figure out, yet Jude Duarte strengthens her heart amidst the striking irony to work harder in trampling the corrupted monarchy system of Elfhame. To simply put, by establishing this conflict, Black has cemented a definite plotline for The Wicked King to employ a gateway of the upcoming depraved interference.

As it is expected, the counteraction is effectively disadvantageous as it is destructively personal. Black illuminates the love game between Jude and Cardan into a reluctant alliance, building a tense atmosphere that maintains ambiguity of their deepest intentions between one another. And yet, beyond the extreme wariness of treachery, Black manages to find loopholes to explore the characters who seemingly lack compassion in their bones, traversing their personalities and history that appeal the most to their dominant qualities.

In doing so, it sways some of the stubborn natures that obstruct their likability as functioning characters, lowering certain parts of their mental guard to perceive the other aspects of their disposition, which contribute an indispensable role in instituting dynamic chemistry as they engage in an argument of wits.

It defines further on the romantic conjunction between Cardan and Jude that goes beyond seeking attention like children in emotional turmoil, analyzing intensely on their racial and class gap as creatures coming from slightly different magical realm despite their similarities. In doing so, as the audience reaches the shocking moment of betrayal at the end of the devastating cliffhanger, one could presume that Black has excelled in executing a romantic foil that is truthful in emotional imagery that its characters, and to the extent are the audience, allow themselves to give the benefit of the doubt in believing that the partnership would eventually work for their advantages.

And so, by writing an adventurously twisted The Wicked King, Black releases her phrasing power in envisioning a maliciously addicting story of mystical conspiracy and bad romance that purges all the uninteresting details that restrict the entertaining factor of The Cruel Prince before. 
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