The Wicked King by Holly Black

My rating: five stars

Genre: YA, Fantasy

Edition: Hardcover 

Goodreads Summary: 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 younger 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. 

How do I even begin to describe how I feel about this book?? I know this series tends to be a hit or miss for most people, and let me just say that the first book was a huge hit. I have always been intrigued by the idea of a society where people (or in this case fae) cannot tell lies. The loopholes that the faeries find in all conversations are interesting and quite brilliant. How Jude and her sister use this to their advantage is smart, though it is surprising that people take them at their word. 

Likes: As discussed above, I love how cunning the faeries are in getting around the truth and I find it to be realistic. To imagine a world where everyone tells the truth with no ulterior motives sounds perfect but improbable. The tension between Cardan and Jude is intoxicating, though frustrating. Jude’s ability to use her power to her advantage while not letting people know that she is in such a high position is brilliant. She continually lets people underestimate her which gives her such an advantage over everyone else. The storyline is complex and there are twists and turns that I never would have expected. 

Dislikes: Jude’s sister is so cruel and I don’t understand how Jude is okay with this. Sure, she is upset for a large part of the book but her sister doesn’t even act like what she did in the first book is wrong! I don’t understand her reasoning for allowing her fiance to be so mean to Jude and lead her on like that. Seriously, her reasoning just doesn’t make any sense. Ugh. Anyway, moving on. 

Though I obviously was extremely annoyed by part of the story, I still gave this book five out of five stars. I loved how cunning everyone was, the storyline was fast paced and kept me guessing, and I would love to read this story over and over again.