The Wicked King by Holly Black is the second book in The Folk of the Air series.
Jude has bound Cardan, the new high king of Faerie, for a year and a day but her time is quickly slipping away. What’s worse, is that she has all this power and no one can know. Finally, Jude has found a place in Faerie; she has bested them all but only the boy king will ever know it.
But gaining power isn’t the same as keeping it. Navigating Faerie and it’s rules and politics would be hard enough by itself but Cardan isn’t the most biddable servant even if there exists a strange spark between the two. Jude is still being thwarted and, given her position, the sting is worse than before. And when the betrayal someone she trusts, threatens to ruin everything, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight to stay on top.
This is such a fun series. I love the twists and turns. And can I just say, that ending! I can’t wait to see what the third book has in store. All that being said, I did have a few problems with this book.
The first half of the book had me a bit frustrated with Jude. She was almost too retrospective without really doing anything about it. She goes on and on about how the power could easily go to her head and dwelling on the her broken relationships because of her scheming and thirst for power. I liked the more cutthroat, scheming Jude and, thankfully, I think we are going to see a lot more of her in the next book.
I also missed Cardan in the first half of the book. I understand he’s meant to be a puppet king but I liked the Jude/Cardan dynamic better in the first book. Although, he majorly redeems himself in the end. That was the wicked Cardan I was looking for.
For me, this one wasn’t quite as strong as the first book. But I still liked it a lot and can’t wait to see what Jude is going to do! This one gets 3.5 stars from me.
That’s all for now!
-M-