The Wicked King
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Audible Standard 1-month free trial
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Narrated by:
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Caitlin Kelly
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Written by:
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Holly Black
About this listen
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 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.
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What the critics say
"A stunning and compelling sequel."—--SLJ, Starred Review
—Shelf Awareness, starred review
—Kirkus, Starred Review
"Lush, dangerous, a dark jewel of a book. Black's world is intoxicating, imbued with a relentless sense of peril that kept me riveted through every chapter of Jude's journey. And Jude! She is a heroine to love--brave but pragmatic, utterly human. This delicious story will seduce you and leave you desperate for just one more page."—Leigh Bardugo, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom
Continue the series
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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.
I read this through Audible in succession with The Cruel Prince. I don't normally do that but I just had to know what was in store for Jude and her sisters. Readers, Holly Black did not disappoint.
Jude's transformation from the weak mortal to the most powerful person in faerie was complete after she tricked Prince Cardan into taking the crown and become the High King of Faerie. This was achieved by Jude securing Cardan's word to do her will for a year and a day. That means she is the true ruler of Faerie, not bad for a mere human. That being said, ruling is not as easy as it seems since no one can know that Jude is pulling Cardan's strings. As Cardan's seneschal, Jude schemes to keep the realm from war. Jude faces all kinds of enemies from outside and inside her circle of spies and allies. It doesn't help that Cardan has effectively chosen to become a reckless drunk puppet King. Without help from Cardan, Jude navigates attacks from the Realm of the Sea and she uses every tactic with a firm determination to keep her control over Elfhame.
Where the theme of The Cruel Prince was primarily about family, The Wicked King is all about the attaining of power and the stress of keeping it from unraveling. It was exciting to watch Jude move from a position of weakness to attain the ultimate seat of power. I loved watching Jude use the strategies learned at her father, Madoc's, side and use them against him.
Jude's hunger for power aside, she and Cardan start as frenemies but slowly are realizing their attraction for each other. The one thing that Holly Black excels at is extremely good at twisting us up in knots as we work our way through the plots. The world of Elfhame is full of allies, spies, tricks, lies, distrust and questionable motives. I love the way Holly Black does not give us the typical romance, she gives us the messy complicated relationship that we all can relate to.
I highly recommend this book, two thumbs up. I am on to the final book of the series "The Queen of Nothing"
Another winner*****
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100% Recommend
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A very fun read/listen
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As I read, I find myself realizing over and over that Jude is not at all a nice person. She’s not kind. She’s ambitious and scheming and distrusts everybody. And yet I want her to win, even if not exactly in the way she herself would chose. Holly Black has written her and Cardan so well that I’m fully invested in their story even if they’re not nice people.
Nice trickery, Miss Black! Manipulate me into loving your characters.
You’ll love Jude. You’ll hate Jude. You’ll love to hate her.
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