Picking up a few months after The Cruel Prince left off, Jude Duarte is adjusting to her new life and role in the place. Ever since she betrayed Cardan Greenbriar, he keeps her at arm’s length. To top it all off, Jude and Taryn’s relationship remains tense and Madoc is angry that the girl he raised outsmarted him for the crown.
Not everyone is ready to accept Cardan as a leader, making Jude’s role as the decision maker for the crown more difficult. Alliances between other fae remain difficult as the young king tries to remain legitimate…and humiliate Jude at every turn.
If Jude only hated Cardan, things would be easier. But the line between love and hate grows hazier, just as a traitor becomes uncovered. Some people are determined to see the mortal behind the crown fail. Jude doesn’t know who she can trust as the political climate in faerie turns to disarray. She has to decide whether to stay and fight or if she should escape to the human world with her sister Vivi.
The Wicked King had a lot of surprises for us! The only problem we had with it was that it started slow just like The Cruel Prince. However, once it picked up, we couldn’t put it down.
We love Jude’s ambitious personality and morally gray actions. It makes for an enjoyable MC because she’s not perfect and embraces it. She also has to face tough decisions. Overall, Jude will do anything for those she loves, which is a positive and negative trait.
Cardan’s backstory also played a larger role. We got to see more of his dark childhood and terrible family dynamics. Cardan never ceases to surprise us. He can be so good and so bad at the same time. While we felt bad for him and loved his chemistry with Jude, sometimes he needed a solid punch in the face.
Worst of all: Taryn, Jude’s twin. Her decision and her constant betrayals make her our least favorite character in the series. Ugh, can’t she realize how stupid she can be? We’re wondering how Black will handle Taryn’s character development in The Queen of Nothing.
Overall, we enjoyed the plot. Without spoiling too much, Jude faced torture and capture that gave us insights to more pats of faerie. After the halfway point, so much happens. And that ending! The biggest plot twist of all occurred at the very end, leaving Jude upset, confused and ready for vengeance.
We cannot wait to read the third and final book in The Folk of the Air series. We need to know how Jude will handle her situation and how her relationships progress. All we know: Jude is bound for an interesting conclusion.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I'm All Booked Up - a young adult book blog 
I’ve kind of sworn off YA books, but still there is the occasional one that temtps me. Holly Black books are some of them.
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We love her writing!
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This sounds like an intriguing YA read! I’m glad you both enjoyed it and hope the third book is just as good.
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Thank you!
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Great review! I think this needs to go on my summer TBR.
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Thank you!
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I loved this series! It was definitely one of those reads where I caught myself yelling at the book a few times. My husband thought I was nuts. lol. Thanks so much for sharing your review!
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We felt like yelling at the end! We’re glad you enjoyed the series.
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I’m so glad to hear that you’re enjoying this trilogy so far. I had a tough time with it, primarily because I truly dislike bully-love, which was in abundance throughout the books. However, the rest of the story was quite interesting and I think that the end of this book and the beginning of the last were great! Such fun twists!
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We understand the problems you have with Cardan and Jude. The plot is great and we love all the unexpected twists and turns.
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Great post!
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Thank you!
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I enjoyed this trilogy – it was a pleasant and easy read full of great fantasy. i think for me I wish she spent more time building the rich world the story was based in. It was truly good – I just felt there was so much that could have been added
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We understand that. We did enjoy that she included maps though. They are always useful for world building in fantasy series.
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So happy that you enjoyed this! AND THE ENDING OMG 😱 My favourite is actually book three so I hope you enjoy it as much as I did 🥰
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Thank you! We’re so excited to start book 3!
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Ahh hope you enjoy it! 🥰
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lovely review! this is one of my favorite trilogies, cardan and jude are too fantastic of a pair for me to pass up haha! hope you enjoy the third as well💜
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Thank you! We can’t wait to see what happens in book 3!
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I have had this author on my list for far too long! Your review has me excited to get started on this series. I am sol glad that you enjoyed it! 🙂
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We can’t wait to see your thoughts!
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I’ve not heard of this book before but it sounds really good and I love how it features twins xx
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It’s a great YA fantasy series.
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