A review by powerfulmage
The Wicked King by Holly Black

4.0

This book genuinely kept me on the edge of my seat. I love the politics of this world and it's fun for me to try and figure out which cleverly-worded faerie promise will come back later in the story to be twisted. I don't tend to like

underwater adventures

(but I'm open to growing to love them!) however, I was mostly on board for

the portion of this book that took place in the sea.

Now, the romance in this one was actually gut-wrenching, excruciating, amazing, made me gasp etc. I kept highlighting and adding notes during scenes between Cardan and Jude just to write things like "OMG Im going to lose my mind," "OMG hes perfect" etc etc. Further, I almost hoped that the final few scenes in the book

were extended or expanded upon.

I would have loved more to the marriage scene, especially as an emotional crescendo before the fall. I also would have liked to see more depth to the land-sea pact made at the very end; I felt like the stakes of the final encounter didn't match the tone of the rest of the story. As much as the emotional "resolution" destroyed me, I consider that a credit to this book's emotional impact.

 

And I of course have to note that I was beaming while reading about my favorite badass heroine

eating mint chocolate chip and watching Yuri on Ice. She's so me!! (Or, she's so me from 2018).