Reviews with content warning for Medical content - The Wicked King

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The Wicked King by Holly Black

15 reviews

spatterson7's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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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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2blueshoes's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

After a first book so mind bogglingly horrifying, I surprised myself by truly enjoying this sequel. The Cruel Prince felt like a sort of nightmarish junior high, where love isn’t real, everyone is miserable, and no one wins. The Wicked King felt a bit like high school, with characters finding their footing, and forging real relationships - and of course the stakes are much higher.

Yes, the FMC is still deeply un relatable to me, and her choices made me want to pull my hair out in frustration.

Yes, all of the characters continue to operate so far beyond morally grey areas they are all difficult to root for.

And yet, somehow in the midst of the ever-more-complicated political schemes and endless list of confusing character names… I found myself loving this story. The plot twists were plentiful and intelligently written (I guessed exactly one). There was such steep character development that the FMC and MMC became entirely different people. There was relationship angst, but it was elegant rather than despicable. There was exactly one spicy scene and it was fade to black. The MMC’s tail wasn’t mentioned, praise be.

If you don’t care much for back story or world building, read a synopsis of book one and jump to book two. It will absolutely have you on the edge of your seat - or in my case - yelling “OMG” loudly in the car.

I will immediately read book three.

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bookmark3brodi's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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aysha_blake's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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lleer's review

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emotional lighthearted mysterious reflective 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

4.0

OMG. I was not expecting to like this book THIS MUCH! I wasn't even going to give it at 4 starts but it really exceeded my expectations especially the ENDING!
I could not put the book down in the last 80 pages, and the last page before chapter 29 MADE ME SPEECHLESS!! Omg this book was so so good definitely better than the first one.
Why didn't I buy the third book already!!
Also yes I agree with some reviews, I really don't like Taryn either.

"Marry me," he says, "become the Queen of Elfhame"

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