Holly Black

The enchanting and bloodthirsty sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel The Cruel Prince. 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.

The Folk of the Air #2

The Wicked King

THE LAYERS TO THIS,,,,, It never clicked in my head that his mother stayed in that room omg

Kaitlyn

“I hope you aren't going to ask me for your rooms in the palace. I'm afraid I've set them on fire."

He refuses to allow himself all the thoughts that follow, refuses to remember how Jude's breath hitched when he touched her, as though with desire. Or the way she closed her eyes tight, as though she couldn't bear to see who made her feel that way.

I KNEW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN BC SPOILERS BUT I DIDNT KNOW IT WOULD HAPPEN HEREEEEEE

"Hear my judgment," Cardan says, authority ringing in his voice. I exile Jude Duarte to the mortal world. Until and unless she is pardoned by the crovwn, let her not step one foot in Faerie or forfeit her life."

"Will you Alood the land now?" Cardan asks Orlagh with perfect calm, as though he didn't just cause a fourth island to rise from the sea.

OEHSAODJWODNAKDK I know everything is going to go downhill from here,,,,

I have found something far more blasphenmous than spreading out on the bed of the High King, far more blasphemous than sneaking Car- dan's signet onto my finger, or even sitting on the throne itself. I haye become the Queen of Faerie.

I FLINCHED WHATTTTTT OSHAISNWDOWJDIWNDKSN

"Marry me," he says. "Become the Queen of Elfhame."

"But how did she make you agree?" I demand. "She has no power. She could pretend to be me, but she couldn't force you—“ He puts his head in his long-fingered hands. "She didnt have to command me, Jude. She didn't have to use any magic. I trust you. I trusted you."

"You should go.” “ Why?" I ask, annoyed. For one, this is my room. For another, I am trying to keep him alive. He looks at me solemnly. “Because I am going to retch.”

IN A WORLD WHERE NO ONE IS ON HER SIDE HE WILL ALWAYS BE THERE 😭😭

"Jude Duarte, you will leave the High King's side," Balekin says. At that tone, Cardan's focus narrows. I can see him straining to concentrate. "She will not," he says.

Ohhhhhhh he is quite well-versed with flattery tehehehe

"Sweet Jude. You are my dearest punishment."

I know he’s drunk out of his mind and doing this at an inappropriate time but I find this endearing.

"Yes, my sweet villain, my darling god. I will be as sober as a stone carving, just as soon as I can." And with that, he kisses me on the mouth.

This is really sad. She has to doubt her twin sister in her trust because her fuckass twin would choose a man over her sister

But if I say all that, will she believe me?

I know he’s delusional and thinks they’re married in his head 🙈

Cardan gives us all a stern look, holding up a long- fingered hand with my stolen ruby ring still on one finger.

I hear the glamour enter his voice, heady and seductive and more powerful than I expected. "Crawl to me," he says with a grin. Embar- rassment pinks my cheeks.

"I wasn't kind, Jude. Not to many people. Not to you. I wasn't sure if I wanted you or if I wanted you gone from my sight so that I would stop feeling as I did, which made me even more unkind. But when you were gone-truly gone beneath the waves-I hated myself as I never have before."

“[…]But you do not know Balekin and Nicasia as I do—better they think you are important to me than to believe what they do to you is without consequences."

He continues looking at me in this strange way, as though he's never seen me before or as though he thought he might never see me again.

He grabs for my throat, and for a moment, I am scared that I’m not strong enough, that my training isn't good enough. Then his body relaxes utterly, as though realizing who I am. He shouldn't relax like that. "He sent me to kill you," I whisper against his ear. A shiver goes through his body, and his hand goes to my waist, but instead of pushing me away, he pulls me into the bed with him, rolling my body across him onto the heavily embroidered coverlets.

I crawl into Cardan's bed, and although I fear I will toss and turn with nerves, I surprise myself by slipping immediately into a deep and dreamless sleep.

I wish I’d kissed Taryn's cheek before I left. I wish I'd made sure Vivi understood that if she loved a mortal, she had to be more careful with her. I wish I'd told Madoc that I always intended for Oak to have the throne. I wish I'd planned more plans. I wish I’d left more instructions. I wish I had never trusted the Ghost. I hope Cardan misses me.

But as I look toward her, evaluating how swiftly I can do that, my gaze catches on her earrings. Dangling from her lobes are a moon and a star. The same ones I bargained for from Grimsen. The ones I lost in the wood. She wasnt wearing them when we got in the carriage, so she must have got them... Beside her, Locke is smiling his fox smile, and when he walks, he has a slight limp.

I say go for it bestie 🤭 she needs payback against him tbh so I support you all the way 🫶🏼

Kill him, a part of me says, a part I remember from the night I took him captive. Kill him before he makes you love him.

Jude :( having to hurt alone and having no one to confide in is a pain I know all to well

It's milky and fragrant, and only under the water can I allow myself to weep. Only under the water can I admit that I almost died and that I was terrified and that I wish there was someone to whomI could tell all that. I hold my breath until there's no more breath to hold.

It occurs to me that maybe desire isn't something overindulging helps. Maybe it is not unlike mithridatism; maybe I took a killing dose when I should have been poisoning myself slowly, one kiss at a time.

Hanna Rybchynska

One more adventure of Jude in the Elfhame. I really enjoyed this book and I think it was interesting to read it and it had good plot twists. The end was as awesome as in the first book! 

The only thing I don't like is the relationship between the MC. I know I should like it, but unfortunately, I am not convinced they actually like each other. Mini spoiler: and that is shown at the end.

envee

need me my own morally ambiguous hot faerie boy to command me to tell him that i hate him & then make out ngl

im rating this one purely based on VIBES. i definitely enjoy the dynamic between jude and cardan, and this book was a way nicer read than the previous one. but idk if this is a 1st person pov or what, but i dislike the way these books are written. i also dont see this powerful badass aspect of jude and her twin is literally the most annoying thing in the whole universe since book 1. i also still think theres a lot of plot holes and a lot of things just dont make any sense if you actually put a thought or two into it, and not just consume it brainlessly. every action happening in the book also feels a little bit flat because theres absolutely no consequences to anything, one thing does not lead to the other, a lot of things just happen randomly for the sake of something happening and dont hold any value in it

karo

words truly can’t explain how incredible this book is. i could go on and on about how amazing this entire book is from the first page, to the romance, to the plot twist, and so much more.

buny

** spoiler alert **
           i cannot sleep because i cannot stop feeling indignation at cardan's betrayal. im so angry. and it's worse because it's the kind of anger where i'm not burning with hatred like hot coals but more the fire of a subsided gas stove, im confused and its shimmering at the lowest flame. im angry but im more confused. bc cardan cannot lie. he can twist his words and make them seem like the real truth like all of faerie but i think i underestimated cardan, just like jude. because i didnot think the cardan i knew would put in so much effort weaving in the perfect plan to undertake the queen of the undersea AND exile jude in earnest. 

and im mad all over with shame because i think of how wicked cardan is, how he brought jude back and softly told her tales of his past so earnestly, how he admitted to hating himself after having lost her for real. how he proposed the marriage, how he was ready to be binded to jude by the promises of marriage if it meant he could be free of her orders. how cunning. how cruel of him. i cannot hate him but i do not feel in particular favour for him right now either. but i want jude to hurt him now. i want her to hurt him so badly, he reels back at her wrath. if he's the high king of elfhalme, jude is the queen of faerie. she holds the same power as he does. oh i genuinely hope he's given the sums of his parts at having inflicted such pain upon jude. 

and before i am the one who starts contradicting myself, YES. i was angry at jude and her selfishness to want the crown to sit on cardan's head just so her brother could leave back then, too. but then, even w all my anger, i understood why jude was doing what she was doing because i wondered the same thing. why not just make cardan king than go through all the trouble of crowning oak as a kid, or waiting for him for seven years to come back at all? i understood her intentions then, but i fail to see cardan's. i want better explanations and truths because the ones i have right now do not make any sense.

it's so AWJMAMDKR. the betrayal actually stings bc i didnot see it coming bc of cardan's sweet cruel tongue sprouting precious words like, kiss me again. kiss me until im sick of it. and, sweet jude, you are my dearest punishment, my sweet villain, my darling god, i trust you. 😭😭😭😭 like sorry i trusted you to not be cunning w what your ability to not be able to lie you jerk

and jude. oh sweet jude. im so sorry that you can never be able to rest, just let your guard down.

some very precious words from jude that made me lose my goddamn mind and put my phone down for several minutes:

i hate you. i hate you. i hate you. i hate you so much sometimes i can't think of anything else. and and and ... that i like him better than i've ever liked anyone and that of all the things he's ever done to me, making me like him so much is by far the worst. and kill him before he makes you love him. THEN!!! maybe i wouldn't have to be afraid to love him. :( she opened her heart, let him in uncertainly and he just ruined it all and went out stomping 😭 oh im so. !!!!!!! 

oh this is sick. that's what val moren said, to never make a bargain with them [the greenbriars] but jude already did and look where that got her............ SICKKK

Christine

aleksandra

dnf 52%

Life’s too short to read books that bore you. 

I don’t know what happened here. I liked the first book, it was far from perfect, but I liked it. Unfortunately, nothing about this book excites me from the very beginning. I read five pages, took an hour break, read two pages, and took a break. It’s not a good sign. It was so boring that I'm pretty sure it's going to throw me into a reading slump, so I'm done for now. 

Will I come back one day and finish it? Maybe, maybe not. We'll see.

Julia

A Freckled Bookwyrm

Ehhhh.....just finished...and I need more! It was very good and had great twists and turns and just left me craving for more. I cannot wait for the next book to come out.

Vicky  Nuñez 

** spoiler alert **
           In hindsight, I think this book is a lot better after reading book 3.

atlas

** spoiler alert **
           - i enjoyed jude and cardan’s dynamic in the first book, but in this sequel their relationship felt way less enjoyable. somehow, holly black managed to turn a dynamic with great potential into something pretty dull.

- taryn is just. such a weird character. both she and locke do these awful things to her sister but the book never addresses them appropriately — which, i know, has a lot to do with jude having bigger urgencies than discussing her family issues with her twin, but still… creating certain conflicts in a book and then not addressing them anymore feels sloppy. also, taryn’s lack of communication with jude creates a weird character gap in which we don't get to understand what exactly she thinks about the folk’s political issues, but still we see her being used as a tool that will create political conflict. we know why madoc/balekin/orlagh act the way they act, so why don’t we get to know a bit more about taryn’s opinions on faerieland’s matters? unfortunately, the fact that jude doesn’t seem to have enough time to discuss these subjects with her sister makes taryn into a quite lackluster character who simply supports (i mean, does she?) her father’s actions with little to no questioning.

- nothing in this book bothers me as much as holly black not being able to treat her only lesbian couple and her only black character fairly. what vivi did to heather was not only dumb and inefficient since it would obviously cause them so much trouble but it was also SO disrespectful. why couldn’t vivi just explain the truth to her girlfriend as any decent person would? did she, who literally grew up in faerieland with two mortal sisters by her side, never realize that leaving unsupervised humans who know nothing about the folk all by themselves in faerieland is just… overly stupid?

- why is the book named the wicked king? was the king supposed to be cardan? because he's not wicked at all in here, which i sort of lament.

anyway, 2.5 stars. not awful, but not by far as good as the first one.

Number 1 New York Times bestseller. An intoxicating and bloodthirsty sequel to the New York Times bestselling The Cruel Prince., nominated for the CILIP CARNEGIE MEDAL 2019 'Holly Black is the Faerie Queen' - Victoria Aveyard I have heard that for mortals, the feeling of falling in love is very like the feeling of fear. Jude has tricked Cardan onto the throne, binding him to her for a year and a day. But the new High King does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her, even as his fascination with her remains undimmed. Meanwhile, a traitor in the court is scheming against her. Jude must fight for her life and the lives of those she loves, all while battling her own complicated feelings for Cardan. Now a year and a day seems like no time at all . . .

Jillian Roberts

This book is why I love slow burn romances. Screams were scrumpt in the middle of the night when they FINALLY FINALLY were like "you're not that bad actually". 

Besides that, the plot of The Wicked King was actually great, I liked it even more than The Cruel Prince. THE INTRIGUES. THE POLITICS. THE DRAMA. I live for it.

Laura

This book is why I love slow burn romances. Screams were scrumpt in the middle of the night when they FINALLY FINALLY were like "you're not that bad actually". 

Besides that, the plot of The Wicked King was actually great, I liked it even more than The Cruel Prince. THE INTRIGUES. THE POLITICS. THE DRAMA. I live for it.

THE ENDING??? insane. Please read it.

liana

Sidney Schaffner

Ana Luiza

Nossa, esse livro foi mil vezes melhor que o primeiro. Estou chocada.
Tinha me esquecido do quanto amo fantasia YA focada no conflito político, em que o romance fica de lado. Também amo fantasias focadas no romance (não nego o amor pela primeira trilogia de acotar) mas é muito mais interessante ler livros assim.
Jude é uma das personagens mais verdadeiras que conheço, apesar de estar numa história fantástica. Ela tem sentimentos reais e comete erros o tempo todo, mas é maravilhosa. Adorei as intrigas, traições e maquinações. Inclusive esse final, apesar de não ter sido exatamente feliz haha. Queria estar com o terceiro livro em mãos para ler agora mesmo.

Hab das Buch eine sehr lange Zeit gelesen aber es ist gut. Mir gefallen Judes Taten und ihre Denkweise.

Diana

ash b

by “i’ll probably read the rest of the series” i guess i meant “i’m going to the library rn to get them”

this one had way less of the writing gripes i complained about in the first one but still all the juicy drama. i’m fully involved now

The book didn’t really get interesting until the last 150 pages buttt they were sooo worth ittt!! I’m not sure if I will read Queen of Nothing but The Wicked King was an amazing read!!

Lexi 

The book didn’t really get interesting until the last 150 pages buttt they were sooo worth ittt!! I’m not sure if I will read Queen of Nothing but The Wicked King was an amazing read!!



Julie Rubens

I love this book so much! It’s a kinda easy read, the characters are great and there are a few crazy plottwists in there! Definitely really exited to read the final book and see how the story comes to an end!

AHNA

I am more satisfied with the sequel here. I guess the thing with Holly Black is no matter what you would have thought, she still has a lot of tricks on her sleeve. I love that even though I kinda have suspicion of something, the author would always have something else to accompany the twist. The relationship between Jude and Cardan is giving me a lot of feelings and I could say most of them is good feelings. Can't wait to see what's gonna happen next!

Two things I still can't quite understand is, how easy it is for Jude to let Taryn away, and why Locke is still there. I don't think he really serves a purpose any longer. He was there as a dramatic effect only and that's what he did, creating unnecessary dramas.

chloe rae

Just as incredible the second time! Cant wait to read the final book!

As seneschal to High King Cardan, Jude must fight to keep control of the Faerie throne while her younger brother, Oak, enjoys the childhood she never knew.

Oh my GOD. Ok, wow. WOW. That was INSANE. That was SO GOOD. 
But HOW am I supposed to function after that ENDING?!!
I gotta say, when I first read The Cruel Prince, I really enjoyed it but I wasn’t blown away. The ending was the best part and I knew it was setting us up for something good. But WHOA, that wasn’t just good that was FANTASTIC.
This book is a freakin roller coaster ride! There’s so much political intrigue and deception; so many twists and turns. There’s romance and bloodshed and plotting and cheating. It’s sooo fun falling into this story and not having any idea what’s going to happen. It kept me on my toes and it kept me completely entertained. As soon as I picked this up I was hooked. 
The craftsmanship behind this story is insane. Holly just expertly created this massive web of trickery and deceit that just keeps growing and changing. 
I don’t know how I’m going to wait for the next book. All I know is I can’t WAIT to see what happens next!

The Wicked King The Folk of the Air #2

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