Reviews with content warning for Blood - Kingdom of the Cursed

I enjoyed this book but so much of it was just Emilia lusting over Wrath and then being like “it’s not real” and then going back and forth with that every other scene and then at like 60% in the plot started actually picking up. And then the end reveals we’re pretty dang good. So it got there. But I felt like it took awhile to get there. I did like this book more than the first one though, I enjoyed the political intrigue of the demon courts whenever it took place but I was hoping that there was going to be more of that than there ended up being. That said, I am invested in the mystery and I am going to read the next book so.

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kaelynbyers's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Still on a mission to solve her sisters murder, Emilia has gone great lengths to get answers. And now she has agreed to be the Queen of hell. Emilia and Wrath travel to the Seven Circles of hell, where Emilia is tested by all seven of the Wicked in every way. All of her questions lead to more questions and nobody in the Seven Circles can be trusted. Emilia continues to avenge the death of her sister, but she has to trust somebody, and maybe she has always known who she was supposed to trust.

-----------------------------------------

I was recommended this book by a friend after finishing ACOTAR and this series DID NOT DISSAPOINT.
If you are looking for a finished series that feels like ACOTAR, this one checks a lot of those boxes and I cannot recommend it enough!!

Oh. My. Gosh.
If I could give this book 100 stars I would. Something about this book is perfect. Maybe it is the balance of lies and truths, of darkness and light, of love and hate. Something about this book is special. I gave all three of the books in this series 5 stars, but this book makes the whole series.

Spoiler

Here are the things that stuck out as particularly wonderful when it comes to this book.
1. Everything about the Seven Circles.
This book starts out strong with the effects of the Sin Chamber on Emilia. The idea of a part of the land that is not ruled by any of the Wicked that plays on the desires and sins of the people who walk through it is so much fun. Not that the things those people endure are fun, but they sure do add tension to an already tense situation.
The next part that I CANNOT quit thinking about are the courts of the seven princes. In book one we met some of the Wicked, but in this book we get to travel around Hell and see their castles, their courts, and their people. This is where Maniscalco blew it out of the water. Not only has she created the 7 princes to be addicting characters, but their homes and people fall in line with their princes. The detail put into describing 7 sins as princes, each with their own unique castles and courts and people, is amazing. While there is still a shallowness to each other princes due to their own evil, nothing has ever captivated me the way the writing of these princes has. They each have their own color, and their sins are not typical. When you think of gluttony, you think of food, but Maniscalco writes his character as overindulgence in all things. Food is the least of the gluttonous things that we see in Gluttony's castle. She is a genius for the way she wrote these princes, and I would give anything to see the princes and their castles brought to life one day. (But not in a movie or a tv show because they would mess it up and I can't handle that...)
2. The complex relationship between Wrath and Emilia.
After leaving her home and pledging her soul to Pride, I was expecting the relationship between Emilia and Wrath to slow down. But, man, was I wrong. Once they get to the Sin Chamber everything I thought would calm down just got much better... I mean worse. Everything that Emilia felt on the island for Wrath was magnified while she was in Hell and the Seven Circles played with her emotions and desires. Seeing the tension increase was really fun considering the fact that Emilia thought she was going to marry Pride, but was living in Wrath's house. If I hadn't already been distracted by the state of their relationship, Emilia being in Hell and working so close to Wrath just made that distraction so much more apparent for me as the reader, and it even showed in their own focus on the task at hand as well.
AND THE FACT THAT WRATH WAS WILLING TO GIVE UP HIS BIGGEST FEAR IN PLACE OF EMILIAS. OH MY GOSH. i CRIED. WHAT A NICE DEMON FROM HELL.
3. The ending.
OH MY GOSH THE ENDING. As I approached the end of this book, I was already so head over heels in love with Wrath and Emilia, that the ending was everything I wanted and more. First, watching Emilia learn the truth of her sister was a plot twist that I didn't see coming. And the cliff hanger that we are left on after Vittoria returns is one that was so shocking that I couldn't even guess what would come next.
Second, seeing Emilia finally swallow her pride and admit to Wrath that she has powers, that those powers have always felt different when around him, and discovering the curse all before finally agreeing to finish the marriage bond. It all happened so fast, and I understand that time was of the essence, but I LOVED the pressure. There had been so much build up to this point in the story that finally hearing them talk to each other while being completely honest for a second was a breath of fresh air, even if it all changed on page 1 of Kingdom of the Feared! It was nice while it lasted!!

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tayh14's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-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

5.0

This book Is absolutely amazing! I enjoyed every second reading it. The spice, the enemies to lovers, the murder mystery, all the secrets and plot twists!
I absolutely loved it and cannot wait to read book 3!!

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abcdefgerda's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

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

3.75

This book was very much a filler. Nothing except for Emilia learning stuff that will affect the next book but not this one. This was very much just Emilia running around and discovering some clues and ignoring some others (that I would've gathered more info on but I guess I'm just different).
Don't get me wrong. I loved it. There was relationship building and worldbuilding and it was great but also after finishing it, I cannot tell you anything that happened before like the last 15% of the book

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avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious 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

4.25

I enjoyed this book for the most part. The story was good, though the over-descriptiveness of everything got to be a bit much. Also, I figured out some parts of the mystery about halfway through the book. It was still an excellent read though. I liked the spiciness of the romance, though very spicy for YA. The world-building was excellent, as was the depth of the mythology.

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r3ader's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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thesmutsister_emma's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I'm Just Surprised Anybody Would Date You

4🌟
Y'all, why did I wait so long to read this book? I needed this months ago when I first bought it quite frankly. I should have read this one long before I did.

The Characters
Emilia: Go bad bitch, go bad bitch, go. I can't go into details on this one without spoiling shit, but honestly, Emilia is who I strive to be in life. She truly took Wrath (and all of Hell) by the balls and said, "Try me, bitch." If you aren't out here looking for an Emilia, don't hit me up. She's about to become my whole personality.
Wrath: I stand by the fact that this noodle is the biggest softie known to man, despite the fact that he is literally the head of the House of Wrath. He tries so hard, and gets so far, but in the end, it doesn't even matter because I see straight through him. If my next partner is not out here treating me the way Wrath is treating Emilia, I don't fucking want it.

Things I Loved
I loved it so much honestly. I loved the "training," I love the sessions where we are getting to know Emilia better as a character as well as the other characters within Wrath's circle of Hell. It made me so happy and I genuinely wish I had been able to get through it faster.

Things I Didn't Love

Spoiler

What in the fresh hell was the twist with Wrath?? And then also the one with Vittoria???? I rage quit the book for a solid 30 minutes to call a whole ass real life man and yell about this one

The Final Verdict
Bitch, if you're a fantasy lover, you better get out here and get you one of these. I honestly liked this book more than anything I have read lately.

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clairew97's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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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