“Mortal girls do not become queens of Faerieland.”
In Holly Black’s The Wicked King, Jude has to deal with the repercussions of putting her sworn enemy on the throne, all while having him under his command. In this thrilling second installment of the Folk of the Air series, Jude Duarte has to immerse herself in the political world of Faerie as the High King’s seneschal and true ruler behind the throne. Filled with betrayal and plot twists, The Wicked King is bound to blow you away if you enjoyed The Cruel Prince. Now, seeing as this is the second book in a series, I’m going to jump right into spoilers because I have many things to discuss and freak out about.
As I mentioned before, The Wicked King is filled with betrayal, and boy was it shocking. From Taryn to Madoc to Cardan, Jude really went through some rough patches with everyone betraying her left and right. All these plot twists made the book feel dense, and it took me a while to finish it. However, this didn’t take off from my enjoyment of it in the slightest. The Wicked King follows Jude as she’s bound to Cardan, the new High King of Faerie: something that has made her life a lot more interesting as she’s immersed into Faerie politics. Meetings with Madoc were tense after her choosing her sworn enemy over her father figure. Madoc was a character that had me on edge the whole time, since I considered him to be the most obvious person to betray Jude. Nicasia’s warning didn’t help matters much, seeing as anyone was perfectly capable of committing treason.
Something that I just have to discuss are the scenes that occurred in the Undersea. It was infuriating to read about the abuse Jude had to endure, but despite the horrible treatment, she still pretended to be under their influence and control. This showed how driven her character is, and how far she’s willing to go in order to deceive the faeries. She almost seems unstoppable, as if she will do everything it takes to keep her secrets in the dark.
Now, something that had me cursing Cardan’s name was that final betrayal in the ending. I’m hoping that the reason behind him banishing her is the fact that he doesn’t know how to handle his feelings for her, and not because this was his plan all along. I’ve been looking up theories on Tumblr, and all of them seem possible, so who knows what might happen in Queen of Nothing.
What are your thoughts on this book? What are some of your theories?
Lyrical Literature 