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A review by kori_krc
Kingdom of the Cursed by Kerri Maniscalco
3.0
First things first, whomstever classified this book as YA....jail. This is NOT YA in any sense of the term other than the level of reading comprehension needed to understand this book. That being said, I enjoyed this book a lot more than the first one. I really enjoyed getting more lore, getting into hell, and having the characters show more personality than previously. I will say, I'm a little upset that by this point, we have met and gotten significant feels for personalities of every prince EXCEPT SLOTH?! Hello?! Why?! He is completely left out, and for what. What do we have against sloth, Ms. Maniscalco?! I digress. Wrath do be wrathing. In this book, he is MUCH more what I expected out of a prince of hell especially the one centered around wrath. He was still very tame in terms of his treatment of Emelia, but it's probably for the sake of the "I'm big and scary to everyone else but you" trope. I feel like Emelia is becoming more confident in who she is, but I am still sooooo tired of her "I want him/ I hate him" flip flopping in sometimes the same sentence. Girl, get it together. I'm also a little tired of Emelia constantly thinking she can outwit or trap these princes of Hell (who are super powerful and centuries old) and then being thwarted and being surprised. Mam? Also, please stop trying to lie to Wrath, we've been knew that he can tell if you're lying or not, why do we keep trying?
I really liked when we got to explore Hell and I wish we got more of that. This book definitely felt like one big lead up to Wrath and Emelia fucking rather than the overarching story (which is why it's very much not YA), which is fine, I just prefer if a book is going to be pwp, to actually have more plot - especially if we are going to get all twisty turvy with the lore and the "secrets" that are being revealed. At some points, it feels like we are getting lore dumps in order to fill over plot holes that were created previously but they feel more like convenient band aides rather than actual reasonings. I gave this a higher rating than the first book because I just liked the concept more and had more fun with it. It doesn't negate any other issues with the book - but it's definitely a "turn your brain off" and don't ask questions kind of story. For example, we have a plot hole right at the beginning of the book where Emelia has to go through the "Sin Corridor" to see which house sin she most aligns with and we NEVER GET THAT ANSWER. Now, I accidently spoiled myself because I had to look up why she was SO upset with Wrath, [I could not figure out how she thought he "betrayed" her - and girl, it's such a loose betrayal (if you can even call it that). Like girlie pop had to do some major mental gymnastics to come to the conclusion that he betrayed her, but again, I digress.] so I already know what "sin" she aligns with most, but if you go off purely from the book, we don't know at this point and NO ONE QUESTIONS IT?! Like everyone is just OK with not knowing if she actually belongs in House Wrath or not?! Also the "twist" at the end isn't really as earth shattering as it was probably meant to be, what with all the hints that were being thrown at us throughout the whole book, but I think it's really weird how Emelia talks to many people in this world and everyone knows but no one tells her? Why? It literally NEVER gets brought up. Did Wrath tell them all not to say anything? That makes no sense cuz his brother literally could care less about what he wants so? Also you could play devils advocate (no pun intended) and say that it just never came up and they all assumed she knew, but, like.....she said multiple times to multiple people something very incorrect and NO ONE CORRECTED HER?!
I just think that the coming book needs a LOT of lore dumping and hole covering in order to make things fully make sense. But again, if you're looking to turn your brain off and not ask any questions, it's an okay time.
I really liked when we got to explore Hell and I wish we got more of that. This book definitely felt like one big lead up to Wrath and Emelia fucking rather than the overarching story (which is why it's very much not YA), which is fine, I just prefer if a book is going to be pwp, to actually have more plot - especially if we are going to get all twisty turvy with the lore and the "secrets" that are being revealed. At some points, it feels like we are getting lore dumps in order to fill over plot holes that were created previously but they feel more like convenient band aides rather than actual reasonings. I gave this a higher rating than the first book because I just liked the concept more and had more fun with it. It doesn't negate any other issues with the book - but it's definitely a "turn your brain off" and don't ask questions kind of story. For example, we have a plot hole right at the beginning of the book where Emelia has to go through the "Sin Corridor" to see which house sin she most aligns with and we NEVER GET THAT ANSWER. Now, I accidently spoiled myself because I had to look up why she was SO upset with Wrath, [I could not figure out how she thought he "betrayed" her - and girl, it's such a loose betrayal (if you can even call it that). Like girlie pop had to do some major mental gymnastics to come to the conclusion that he betrayed her, but again, I digress.] so I already know what "sin" she aligns with most, but if you go off purely from the book, we don't know at this point and NO ONE QUESTIONS IT?! Like everyone is just OK with not knowing if she actually belongs in House Wrath or not?! Also the "twist" at the end isn't really as earth shattering as it was probably meant to be, what with all the hints that were being thrown at us throughout the whole book, but I think it's really weird how Emelia talks to many people in this world and everyone knows but no one tells her? Why? It literally NEVER gets brought up. Did Wrath tell them all not to say anything? That makes no sense cuz his brother literally could care less about what he wants so? Also you could play devils advocate (no pun intended) and say that it just never came up and they all assumed she knew, but, like.....she said multiple times to multiple people something very incorrect and NO ONE CORRECTED HER?!
I just think that the coming book needs a LOT of lore dumping and hole covering in order to make things fully make sense. But again, if you're looking to turn your brain off and not ask any questions, it's an okay time.