After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her 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.

First off, I have to say that I’m so happy I started this series after the final book was published.  Though I still have to wait for it to come back to the library (I’m on hold for it) at least I don’t have to wait an entire year for it to be released.  And of course, if I’m really impatient, I can just go to the bookstore and buy it.

Anyway, to the review!

The Wicked King focused more on the political and scheming aspects of the story, as opposed to the action we saw in The Cruel Prince, but I found I liked that better.  I had no idea what to expect for a good portion of the book.  Once again, Jude is not a perfect character by any means, and really, none of the characters are (well, except Oak).  Though given that she is the most powerful person in the land due to her hold over Cardan, I can’t blame her much because it seems as though she’s a little over her head.  Still, she handles her challenges without complaint and I think the ending happens the way it does because she’s honestly just, tired.

Cardan is still a jerk, however, though he has more moments where you can’t help but love him.  I still don’t quite get him and what his deal is, but what he pulled at the end of the book just threw me for another loop, so I’m just waiting to see how his character plays out in the final book.  Thankfully there wasn’t too much of Locke, or else I would’ve thrown the book, though I still wanted to because of Taryn.  In the first book she seems so naive, but this time around she’s just a straight up b— (ya know) to Jude.

The story moved quickly along and definitely kept me hooked on reading.  I couldn’t wait to get back to the book to see what would happen next.  And I enjoyed that we got to learn more of the Undersea kingdom and even meet the Queen of the Undersea (though of course we hate her).  It brought more depth into the story (ha) and made for some interesting turns involving Jude, Cardan, and his eldest brother Balekin.

Overall, I enjoyed this one more than The Cruel Prince and I can’t wait to see how the trilogy wraps up in The Queen of Nothing!

Rating: 5/5 stars