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A review by abby_gail_noel
The Wicked King by Holly Black
3.0
I didn’t necessarily love or hate this book. My main thought is that nothing of significance really happened up until the last quarter. The majority of the book was just Jude piddling around running the kingdom and thinking about stuff (I say this for the purpose of crude simplification). She gathered information here, pined and hated Cardan there, and in the end, I feel like most of the book was filler.
Not only that, but I felt like Jude was very one dimensional here. The Cruel Prince wasn’t my favorite book but I at least felt like the characters had more depth. In this book, all of the characters seemed to exist for the convenience of, or to further Jude and/or Cardan’s stories. I at least thought the end might be satisfying, leaving me wanting more, but I was left with a sour taste in my mouth. I hate to say it, but it didn’t give me much to look forward to.
I’ll state it plainly: I’m an enemies to lovers kind of gal. Two books of back and forth tension, essentially mounting to nothing and putting the characters right back at the start was not a fun thing for me. I’m completely open to disagreement on anyone’s part. I know of people who have loved this book and who’ve hated it. But right now, I’m sitting somewhere in the middle.
Overall, I felt this book was barely reminiscent of the last. There was little chemistry between the two characters, which there was clearly supposed to be, and the plot wasn’t sophisticated enough to make up for that. I found it to be entertaining enough, but entirely too contrived and ultimately unsatisfying.
I will be reading the next book solely for the purpose of seeing this through because I love Jude’s character and I’m still holding out hope for some enemies to lovers magic.
Not only that, but I felt like Jude was very one dimensional here. The Cruel Prince wasn’t my favorite book but I at least felt like the characters had more depth. In this book, all of the characters seemed to exist for the convenience of, or to further Jude and/or Cardan’s stories. I at least thought the end might be satisfying, leaving me wanting more, but I was left with a sour taste in my mouth. I hate to say it, but it didn’t give me much to look forward to.
I’ll state it plainly: I’m an enemies to lovers kind of gal. Two books of back and forth tension, essentially mounting to nothing and putting the characters right back at the start was not a fun thing for me. I’m completely open to disagreement on anyone’s part. I know of people who have loved this book and who’ve hated it. But right now, I’m sitting somewhere in the middle.
Overall, I felt this book was barely reminiscent of the last. There was little chemistry between the two characters, which there was clearly supposed to be, and the plot wasn’t sophisticated enough to make up for that. I found it to be entertaining enough, but entirely too contrived and ultimately unsatisfying.
I will be reading the next book solely for the purpose of seeing this through because I love Jude’s character and I’m still holding out hope for some enemies to lovers magic.