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A review by amiascah
Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I loved this book, I wasn't sure I would, theres a good chunk of fantasy books, taken place in the same time period of close to it and I just can't for some reason I struggle with reading them, take Cassandra Claire's chain series, I was forcing myself to read them until I just had to let it go. But this was so well done with the setting and weaving in the witchy and demonic aspect.
Kingdom of the Wicked is set in Sicily and had just enough Italian-isms that it worked without shoving the setting in your face. And the names were believable, which shouldn't have to be pointed out but unfortunately these days it does. The synopsis is kinda misleading making it seem like its about two sisters, but really this centres completely around Emilia, Vittoria only comes in to play in that she's Emilia's twin and is quickly killed off near the beginning and avenging her sister becomes Emilia's crusade. Through out the book Emilia, despite her grandmother telling her that the Wicked don't walk among them on earth, meets and has dealing with multiple princes of the kingdom of Wicked, also known as the princes of hell, who are so far named after the seven deadly sins. She encounters, Envy, Greed, Pride and Wrath.
Why this book wasn't perfect, there was a bit of jumping that didn't get fully explained to me and I was listening to it on audiobook so going back to try to figure out where I lost something was hard. The ending twist I saw coming, not that it wasn't still a good twist, just how she didn't figure it out or why it wasn't obvious to her from the get go, I guess that's due to her not having the hindsight I have. The Ember Wolves part felt rushed and not fully developed and the curse too, I felt like that was a bombshell of info and once her grandmother tells her, its just continue on nothing changes. Shouldn't there have been more to it? Also Pride is referred to as Pride and then at times the Demon Pride and I couldn't quite figure out if he is somehow above or more powerful than his brothers. Also why is he locked out and needing a consort? Why is Wrath stealing souls, why isn't he already at full power? It's weird the curse mentions twins, says one must rule hell, and then the line 'as above so below' but one teen doesn't rule above. Anyways none of these things will deter me from picking up book two and I enjoyed this enough that it is on my want to have my own physical copy list.
Kingdom of the Wicked is set in Sicily and had just enough Italian-isms that it worked without shoving the setting in your face. And the names were believable, which shouldn't have to be pointed out but unfortunately these days it does. The synopsis is kinda misleading making it seem like its about two sisters, but really this centres completely around Emilia, Vittoria only comes in to play in that she's Emilia's twin and is quickly killed off near the beginning and avenging her sister becomes Emilia's crusade. Through out the book Emilia, despite her grandmother telling her that the Wicked don't walk among them on earth, meets and has dealing with multiple princes of the kingdom of Wicked, also known as the princes of hell, who are so far named after the seven deadly sins. She encounters, Envy, Greed, Pride and Wrath.
Why this book wasn't perfect, there was a bit of jumping that didn't get fully explained to me and I was listening to it on audiobook so going back to try to figure out where I lost something was hard. The ending twist I saw coming, not that it wasn't still a good twist, just how she didn't figure it out or why it wasn't obvious to her from the get go, I guess that's due to her not having the hindsight I have. The Ember Wolves part felt rushed and not fully developed and the curse too, I felt like that was a bombshell of info and once her grandmother tells her, its just continue on nothing changes. Shouldn't there have been more to it? Also Pride is referred to as Pride and then at times the Demon Pride and I couldn't quite figure out if he is somehow above or more powerful than his brothers. Also why is he locked out and needing a consort? Why is Wrath stealing souls, why isn't he already at full power? It's weird the curse mentions twins, says one must rule hell, and then the line 'as above so below' but one teen doesn't rule above. Anyways none of these things will deter me from picking up book two and I enjoyed this enough that it is on my want to have my own physical copy list.