Thank you Allen & Unwin for this book in exchange for an honest review
Synopsis:
You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring.
The first lesson is to make yourself strong.
After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her younger brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.
When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.
Review:
There are so many things to say about this book that I want to rant about but I have to start with, what the hell is the hype about? I honestly don’t understand why everyone is raving about this book? There were so many odd elements about this book that outweighed the good aspects.
I know I didn’t enjoy the first book, but I had so many people tell me that The Wicked King is amazing and a great deal better than The Cruel Prince. I had put all my trust in The Wicked King…
First of why is the book called The Wicked King, where the only coolish character we like AKA the king is non-existent for a majority of the book? Let’s be honest here, Carden is a great character. He is witty, bit sassy and kinda has this half attempt of a brooding bad guy thing going on which we love! The Wicked King would have been amazing if it was done from his perspective, just an idea, and a damn good one.
Ummm Jude is so annoying. I actually want to get my truck driver’s license so I can rent a truck and run her over when she is in mortal world. It would be worth the jail time! The character is portrayed to be smart and a bad ass character and she is dumb and utterly disappointing. And mainly, she is boring and I reallllllyyyyy hate being in her head. It’s empty in her skull and there is this annoying rattling sound that happens when she tried to think. Can we stop? Can we kill her and move on. Literally all the side characters are more interesting than her. Rocks are bloody more interesting than her. Just saying…
Also what is going on with the language? It was inconsistent and made me grind my teeth every time they opened their mouths. They kinda fluffed around with their words and used any odd word they found in the dictionary. It’s not normal. Please be quiet.
I should have probably started with this but the book took me a WHOLE WEEK to read. I was truly disappointed for taking that long but in my defence NOTHING HAPPENS in the first half of the book so it was very easy to get distracted. Again a lot of fluffing around and talking with weird words. I think if I just started on page two hundred not only would the book have been more entertaining but I would still comprehend what was happening in the book, due to the first half of the book being irrelevant to the development of the characters and the plot itself. Meanwhile, I have left The Wicked King in a time out and it isn’t come out until it has thought about what it has done!
Rounding this all up. Give us more of the dark twisted relationship between Carden and Jude and less of the fake fluffy politics nonsense. The storyline is great and even if I am not a fan of this book I still have the need to find out what happens to them and how Jude dies so delightfully tragically! (I can be hopeful right?) And the last good thing about this series is the world in which it is set is pretty cool. Other than the setting of the world, Carden and his darkness and the premise of the story, I was extremely let down. To be honest I am still wondering what all the hype is truly about?
Rating: 3/5
ISBN: 9781471408038
Publisher: Hotkey