Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - The Wicked King

Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

The Wicked King by Holly Black

77 reviews

takarakei's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Girlie pop really can't trust anyone.

Some pacing issues in this one that made parts a bit slow. But there were some iconic scenes between Cardan and Jude. This shit truly is real enemies to lovers, and I ate that up.

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diana_raquel's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

4.25

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yuidf's review against another edition

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adventurous tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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orakuruno's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Now this is an enemies to lovers

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vereadsbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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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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