Kingdom of the Wicked

Kingdom of the Wicked Book Review by Kerri Maniscalco

This book is a recipe for success.

A strong female protagonist? Check.

A cool setting? Check.

Magic and fantasy elements? Check.

The seven deadly sins embodied as seven handsome demon princes of Hell? Check, check, and check.

Honestly, I put off reading Kingdom of the Wicked because it looked so…basic. The front cover is a snake coming out of a skull which sounds cool, but to me came across as trying really, really hard to be alluring and wasn’t.

Like many other times in my life, however, Barnes & Noble was having a buy one, get one 50% off so I said, why not, and bit the bullet.

Turns out that Kingdom of the Wicked is awesome.

The story revolves around a girl named Emilia who is a witch. In this fantasy world, witches are prominent, but are secret. They’re also not human. It seems like they’re slightly stronger and have powers that humans don’t: potion-making, spells, magical objects, abilities like sensing auras and compelling people to tell the truth.

I would be more explicit about what it is they’re able and not able to do, but honestly I’m not sure. This ties into one of my complaints about the novel, but I’ll get into that later.

Emilia’s family, including her parents, her grandmother, and her twin sister, all live in Palermo, Italy and run a restaurant called Sea & Vine. Emilia loves a quiet night in with a spicy book and has a burning passion for cooking and trying out new recipes.

That’s all irrevocably changed when someone she loves is tragically murdered.

The murder sets Emilia on a path of vengeance, danger, and adventure as she seeks to solve the mystery of the murder, the identity of her own witch-powers, and the villain behind the evil befalling the mortal realm.

The main suspects, of course, are the living embodiments of the seven deadly sins: the demon princes of Hell.

Emilia gets to know some of them quite well, even though only four of the brothers are introduced in book one: Wrath, Envy, Greed, and Pride. Through a series of unfortunate events and circumstances, Emilia finds herself teamed up with Wrath in order to solve the murders.

As the stakes of the murder mystery grow, so do her forbidden feelings for the Prince of War and the chemistry between them.

This book has magic, action, and romance up the yin-yang. From start to finish it was a whirlwind of chaos, fights, heart-pounding action, sexual tension, and a roller coaster of emotions.

Overall, I really, really enjoyed this book. Not only did it hit every mark that I love about YA fantasy, but the constant action kept me on my toes and wanting more. Luckily for me, I waited so long to read Kingdom of the Wicked, that the sequel, Kingdom of the Cursed, is already out and waiting for me to sink my teeth into.

Now, while I really enjoyed the book, I didn’t think it was perfect. Take my criticism with a grain of salt as reviewing books is what I do and I nitpick things that others don’t.

First, while the breakneck pace was constantly engaging, sometimes it was a bit too fast. Before I could wrap my head around one crazy event that happened, another crazy event would follow, with another wild plot point behind that. It was exciting, but I never truly got to breathe, and honestly, neither did Emilia.

I’m a very character-driven reader so sometimes I think we missed out on getting to see Emilia and how she would emotionally handle things simply because she was never given a moment to do so.

I love the idea of the seven deadly sins embodying handsome, sexy, and malicious demons from Hell, but other than Wrath we didn’t get to see very many of them. When we did it was for only for a moment.

I had a hard time distinguishing any of the brothers. If you had to ask me what they looked like, I genuinely wouldn't be able to tell you.

I don’t criticize Maniscalco too much for that as introducing that many characters in book 1 is neigh impossible, but introducing four brothers I think is very manageable and she didn’t quite make her characters shine.

Lastly, and this is probably my biggest critique, sometimes I had a hard time following the logic of the book. I don’t think I’m a stupid person, but the book would often jump to conclusions and theories that seemed farfetched or nonsensical in order to keep the breakneck pace going.

I would set the book aside and think wtf. Honestly, at some points I needed to shrug and go okay because otherwise many of the plot points were confusing or not directly aligned from what I could understand.

Emilia or Wrath would list a rule for summoning a demon or for using a spell and nothing about the magic system was very clear or well-explained. It seemed convenient and things just happened when they needed to.

For example, Emilia would use her amulet to “sense” things, but it was never explained how that worked or what exactly she was doing.

I truly think Maniscalco needs to explain the magic system, describe what exactly witches can or cannot do, and go into more of the realms and how other magical beings worked because it came across as contrived and convenient when she needed something to happen.

I was mainly able to put it aside for the sake of the plot progression and ignore it, but it was aggravating.

Regardless of this issue, the book is a fun time. If you love fantasy elements, demon princes, forbidden romance, and a strong female character that cares more about vengeance and murder than she does about love, then you’ll enjoy this book just as much as I did.

Recommendation: Lust, envy, greed, sloth, pride, gluttony, and wrath—this book has it all. If you love the idea of the seven deadly sins as people, provocative romance, intense action, and magic, then you will love this book and find yourself unable to put it down.

Score: 7/10