The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air #2)
I know what you're thinking. Oh no. Not again.
Why yes. Yes, again. In fact, there is planned to be one more before the series is finished. The Wicked King is the second book in the trilogy by Holly Black, who is often heralded as the Queen of Faerie, and rightly so, seeing as she surgically altered her own ears to make her look like one of the fey.
Which, you know, personal choices.
Regardless, the second book in the trilogy was released January of 2019. If you recall my previous review for The Cruel Prince, this book was utterly polarizing with it’s horrible protagonist, its awful world building, and its addicting quality to want to see what happens to these heinous people in this vile world.
In my humble opinion, The Wicked King is far superior to The Cruel Prince in many ways. Number one: Jude Daurte. In the first novel, I was honestly horrified by the main protagonist. To me, she had no moral compass to speak of, next to no redeeming qualities in the ways of personality, and was an awful representation for young readers picking up YA.
However, in this second book, I feel like Jude really grows into herself as a character. Don’t get me wrong. She’s still god awful. But in book two, I feel like she truly embraces this awfulness inside of her which is in direct opposition to book one where she often seemed to fight the internal monster and constantly loses.
But in Book two, she knows she’s horrible and yet she begins to feel remorse for the way she is. Or at the very least, she wishes that she was a better human being. In a particularly candid moment (spoilers ahead), Jude kills Cardan’s asinine brother in a duel (how she managed to beat a trained, magical prince of Faerie is anyone’s guess) and then honestly wishes she was better and felt sympathy and pity as she stands in the courtyard dripping in his blood.
This, believe it or not, is progress for Jude.
There are other little moments in the novel where Jude shows improvement in terms of not being a complete psychopath which is good. It’s very difficult to relate to a character with no emotions, zero compassion, and ambitions that make absolutely no sense.
In addition, I really enjoyed Jude’s and Cardan’s relationship. I think the power struggle, the inherent differences founded on the fact that Jude is a human and Cardan is a faerie, and the fact that Cardan is on the throne due to Jude was super fascinating to read about. I enjoyed their back and forth, their attraction, and especially the twist at the ending. If I can give Holly Black any credit, it would be her shock endings. This one blew me away and I loved it.
Okay, now that we’re done with the positives, let us move on to the negatives.
Thankfully, there are less this time than there was in the previous novel.
The major issues I had with this book were brought over from book one. Mainly, I still don’t understand the appeal of this world at all. Jude fights tooth and nail day and night to be a part of this world that fucking hates her. It makes absolutely no sense that she wants to stay in play that despises the very core of her being, thinks less of her, mocks her, and doesn’t take her seriously.
In addition, while Jude and Cardan have some good plot development and characterization, the rest of the characters are nameless faces that are hard to remember and easier to blend together. It’s very difficult to retain why the King of Termites is important, who Nicasia is, and why we should care about literally anyone other than the main characters.
Lastly, Jude running an entire kingdom is surreal. Not only because she’s a sixteen? Seventeen year old girl? But also because we’re supposed to buy that she can run an entire kingdom, manipulate the prince, manipulate the general and control everything that a kingdom entails all the while dicking around almost every chapter doing other things.
I understand that this is fantasy but come on.
Setting all of that aside however, this was a really enjoyable read. The characters are intriguing, the romance is hot and unpredictable, and the novel is unique enough to capture your interest and draw you in. I can honestly say that I can’t wait until the last and final installment to see how the world of Faerie all works out.
Recommendation: Much better than book one. It’s comparable to watching the first season of a TV show and recognizing that the characters and the plot still haven’t been fully developed. This book is season three. The characters are getting more realistic and more interesting, the plot is in full swing, and at this point, you're ready to fully commit.
Score: 7/10
