Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - The Wicked King

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Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Wicked King by Holly Black

6 reviews

noellegrace8's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

As stated in my review of The Cruel Prince, I really struggled to get into that first book. But I guess I got used to all the oddities, because I couldn't put this one down. There was less fluff, more politics, and it finally felt like the characters were the correct age for the things that are happening. They are adults now, making adult decisions and playing a dangerous adult game of power, authority, and death. I would no longer categorize this as "teen" literature, but "young adult." What really impresses me is that Holly Black manages to make me root for characters that are truly not good people, which is not typical for me. I wanted Jude to win in the first book. I was smug when she turned her knife on Cardan. But now in this one, I wasn't sure who to vie for. It seems like every time a character does something worth celebrating, they also do something that makes you hate yourself for liking them. The betrayals are painful but enticing. Also the cliff hanger??! My library is backed up 10 weeks for the last book and I am REELING about it. I don't know how I'm going to wait that long. This is fantasy done right, and true enemies to lovers (hopefully? Jury is still out on whether "lovers" is true...).

I don't factor the audiobook performance into my rating of the material itself, but I give Caitlin Kelly 4.5/5⭐. Again, by the second book in a series, I tend to get used to whatever problems I had with the voicing in the first. But honestly, there didn't seem to be as many parts where I felt the narrator wasn't portraying the correct emotion or tone of voice. A good performance, overall.

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katiareadz's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I can't even describe how mad I am at the ending...I feel SO betrayed but I loved it regardless. Most of all though,I love jude<3. Not just love,ADORE JUDE. She is so amazingly written and so realistic as well???Cardan has nothing on her,she carried THE WHOLE BOOK. She is honestly the definition of a strong female protagonist and I love that for her. Maybe I'm a little biased because I relate to her to a whole other level...but at the end of the day she still ate and left no crumbs. The writing is excellent,possibly magic itself. The settings are so vividly described,the characters very complex AND multidimensional. So in conclusion..THE BOOK IS PERFECT,even better than the first in the series which is a rare phenomenon.

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egurgens's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad 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

4.75

To be honest, I don’t like this book as much as I did the first one. Although Jude is just as much of a badass as she was in the first one, there is a lot more at play in this book, and she doesn’t get to show it off as much as in the first book. This book was also a little slower than the first one, although the ending was still super dramatic. The first book seemed to maybe be driven equally by both plot and character development, but this one seems to favor plot over character. Let’s just say, I’m pissed at the ending, and I’m mad at a great many characters.

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