Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Wicked King by Holly Black

53 reviews

yuidf's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Death, Drug use, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death and Death of parent

2blueshoes's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Kidnapping, and Torture

Minor: Bullying, Gore, Pregnancy, Trafficking, Vomit, War, Death of parent, Medical content, Slavery, and Suicide

bo0ks_are_cool91's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

I mean it’s alright like-
Maybe it’s because my expectations were so high, but The Wicked King fell flat for me compared the first book. There wasn’t enough action, and though the political intrigue was well done, it took over the story in the latter half of the book. Jude and Cardan are amazing as ever though:)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship

Minor: Death of parent

juliesleseecke's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Sexual harassment, Murder, Torture, Bullying, Death, War, Blood, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Addiction, and Animal death

elliott_the_clementine's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal death, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, and Child death

shelvesofivy's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

I know that sometimes sequels suffer, but I personally found this one leagues above the first book in terms of tension, intrigue, and overall pacing. God these characters now have me in a chokehold <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Kidnapping, and Death

Moderate: Torture, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Self harm, Sexual content, Vomit, Grief, Drug use, and War

depictions of drowning

wiktoria_bojda's review against another edition

adventurous funny inspiring mysterious relaxing fast-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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Torture and Violence

Minor: Death of parent

aysha_blake's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Death, Drug use, Alcoholism, War, Death of parent, Medical content, Murder, Torture, Violence, Confinement, Gore, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

laneys_library's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

This books is AMAZING! I couldn’t stop reading! I think it might just be my favorite book I’ve ever read. The ending shocked me and I can’t wait to start the Queen of nothing!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Violence, Murder, Death of parent, Bullying, Body horror, Child abuse, Trafficking, and Torture

Moderate: Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Gore, Kidnapping, and Grief

Minor: Vomit, Toxic relationship, Cursing, War, Toxic friendship, and Sexual content

jonsnowsmanbun's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Confinement, Death of parent, Murder, and Violence