The Wicked King by Holly Black

SPOILERS AHEAD

4.5/5 stars

Damn, this one is just betrayal on betrayal on betrayal. So much back stabbing and politics and brutality. In case you were to ever forget that Elfhame is a haaaaarsh place to live, this book will remind you with a slap to the face and will rip your heart out at the same time.

Like the first one, I was absolutely consumed by this book. It's equally as fantastical with large toads you can ride, mermaids riding sharks, courts being held in the forest and crazy parties where you dance until your shoes wear through. I love the imagery and how hauntingly beautiful it all is, but realistically I don't know if I would be able to last very long there. I would like to think that I would be able to hack it and be as tough and badass as Jude, but I feel like I would fall prey to someone like Locke or Cardan approximately four seconds after landing there. I'm not sure I totally blame Heather for leaving Vivi at the end there - being turned into a cat and humiliated and then glamoured to forget about it by your girlfriend would be tough to get over.

This one definitely leans more toward the politics than it does any kind of romance, but the tension is still so prevalent. There's no point of view from Cardan, but you can just feel how badly he wants Jude and how much he absolutely hates himself because of it. He calls her his dearest punishment which like, maybe I should take a look at why, but that would work on me. He's so tortured and consumed by her it's palpable. When will it be my turn to have a bloodthirsty faire king hate himself because he's obsessed with me? And to do all of this with hardly any physical interactions between the two is just… so good. I'm so with Jude on this one because man would it all be easier if I could just hate him, but I simply cannot, and neither can she.

Jude is so clever and sneaky that she easily sits in my top 5 badass female main characters. She grows so ruthless throughout these two books that I almost forget she's a human living among magical beings. We hear her self-doubt and exhaustion since the book is from her point of view, but she never shows it. Shot through the leg with a bolt by your twin sisters husband who used you to test your sisters love for him? Snap it in half, dig it out, sew yourself up, move on. Mortified in front of the entire court by the guy you thought loved you and the guy that you might love? Show no emotion and keep your head high. Abducted by the ocean queen and starved at the bottom of the ocean for a month? Pretend you're being glamoured so they let you go back to the surface thinking you're on their side. She manipulates and plays everyone so flawlessly that she might as well be one of them. Even a step behind, she always ends up ahead. She would give our girl Aelin a run for her money with her intricate schemes and plots.

Now, I do want to have a word with Ms. Holly Black here for absolutely gutting me at the end with that cliffhanger. Cardan sending Jude into exile in the mortal lands one day after he marries her and she releases him from her command over him huuuuurt. Especially when he joins in on everyone laughing at her. I know everyone is betraying everyone in this world but when it's Cardan stabbing Jude in the back it's a whole other level of pain because you know it's hurting him just as much as it's hurting us. But then there's the other side of the coin where you have to think, was this all part of his plan and he truly has no feelings for her? Did he just manipulate her into playing right into his hand and now he got the opportunity he always wanted to banish her from Faerie?

I also stand by my previous sentiment that Taryn is the worst sister on the planet, and that Jude is wayyyyy too forgiving of both her and Madoc. I'm going to add The Ghost to the list of people who can catch these hands as well, because damn his betrayal was a bummer.

Overall, such a fun and fantastical series and I'm obsessed with Jude and Cardan. Holly Black's writing is so flawless.