Review: The Wicked King

Title: The Wicked King
Author: Holly Black
Series: Folk of the Air
Volume: 2
Genre: fantasy
Release Date: January 8, 2019
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It has been 5 months since Jude became a kingmaker, putting into motion her plan to keep the throne for her younger brother until he's old enough to rule in his own right.

Now, she struggles to navigate the politics of the High Court, aware that every passing day brings her closer to the deadline on the bargain she made that placed Cardan in her power. Furious with her for the deception that put him on the throne, he continues doing his best to humiliate and undermine her, further complicating their already fraught relationship. He's a distraction she can't afford, as the she faces the prospect of a betrayal by one of the few in whom she's placed her trust, the prospect of her semi-estranged sister's wedding, and a fracturing of the truce with the Undersea that had been in place since before Cardan's father took the throne.

Out of Ten: 8/10

Review at a Glance: A twisty and dangerous continuation to The Folk of the Air trilogy that raises the stakes and complicates already complicated relationships even further.

Review: I'm finding this one difficult to review. I run through Holly Black books mostly on adrenaline, I think? It's difficult for me to review things based on the momentum from just kind of tearing through them whenever I got the chance. Holly Black is one of the only authors who is allowed to leave me on this kind of a cliffhanger all the time.

The Wicked King was definitely a wild ride! This book finds Jude struggling to keep her hold on being the power behind the throne of Elfhame, as things feel like they're spiraling out of her control. Holly Black does a really good job of showing both Jude's strengths and her flaws. Jude is tough, clever, willing to be ruthless, and ambitious; but she's also incredibly out of her depth, and she's terrified. She's never been more isolated: she turned on Madoc, she's estranged from Taryn, there isn't a person anywhere she can tell the full truth. She's keeping secret the vow Cardan made that put him under her control for a year and a day- a deadline which draws closer. He's furious with her for tricking him onto the throne and he's been taking every opportunity to undermine and humiliate her.

The push-and-pull relationship between Jude and Cardan was one of the compelling parts of this story. They both have lists of personality flaws long enough that alphabetization is needed for ease of use, they're dependent on each other, they're attracted to each other, and they don't trust each other, they arguably know each other better than anyone else, and both have they're own motives. It makes things very complicated and intense, especially given their history (and present) of being... kind of terrible to each other. It was intriguing to watch that dynamic play out and evolve over the course of the story as both of them continue along their own individual character arcs. The really impressive thing is the way that, whether they liked or loathed each other for whatever the other person was doing at the time (or both) (usually both), I could see it? They're both compelling that way, and both characters who you find yourself alternately rooting for and furious with.

The plot itself was also... a lot. The stakes are higher, as Jude attempts to navigate the politics of Elfhame, her sister's wedding to Locke (who is, himself, a cause of chaos), and threats of war from the Undersea. There are new players on the board with their own agendas (added to the frankly excessive number of agendas already in play). I loved the twists and turns of the court, and the politics of it all. I'm just... a fan of court politics. All of the threads Jude is trying to keep track of and manage add a frantic feeling to the story. The plotting does feel a bit less tight in this one than in The Cruel Prince. It isn't that there isn't a lot going on it's just that there are SO MANY things going on with less... clear connectivity. Some of this also lays out more things that are going to need to be resolved in Queen of Nothing because... The Wicked King ends on a cliffhanger on the same level as the first book. (It's okay. I'll just sit here. And wait. It's fine.)

I really enjoy the way Holly Black blends the human world and the faerie world. The Folk of the Air series takes place a lot more in the fae world than most of her work, but the human world is still returned to almost as a touchstone. Since picking up my first Holly Black faerie book, The Darkest Part of the Forest, I've also really liked how she writes the fae, equal parts whimsical and menacing, enchanting and petty, glamorous and grotesque, and very much inhuman. There was less of that feeling. Jude sees the fae world with... pretty much no whimsy, not surprising given her experience with them. It's really interesting to explore the world through new eyes. I'm really, REALLY looking forward to seeing this story wrap up in Queen of Nothing, it's going to have a lot of ground to cover and it's going to be fantastic to see how it ends!

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