The Wicked King (BOOK REVIEW)

“Sweet Jude, you’re my dearest punishment”
Alright, I've had a few days to think and now I'm ready to talk about this.
Rating: 3.5/5 You had me at another 5/5 until the last 40 pages
SPOILER WARNING I WILL BE RANTING ABOUT SPECIFICALLY THE ENDING OF THIS NOVEL AND DISCUSSING THE CRUEL PRINCE
Story: 3/5
As much as I loved watching Jude truly sink into her role of badassery and espionage in this novel it wasn't nearly as thrilling as the first. All the tension and fear was replaced by cockiness on Jude's part which made me like her character a little less. Don't get me wrong I loved the power trip Jude was on in this book but I was also disappointed to see her rise to that level of "nothing can hurt me because I'm amazing" level. Of course one of my favorite parts of this book was when she was taken to the sea palace and forced to pretend she was glamoured to spy but that was over within literally a freaking chapter.
I wanted so badly for that to continue, for Jude to spy on them from within and have the tension build with Cardan in the other kingdom, maybe make Balekin flaunt Jude in front of him like an asshat but no- Cardan made the stupidest decision to get her back because he looooovessss her and then they're back together.
I was sold on their romance in this novel which was nice, especially this scene:
“Tell me again what you said at the revel,” he says, climbing over me, his body against mine.
“What?” I can barely think.
“That you hate me,” he says, his voice hoarse. “Tell me that you hate me.”
“I hate you,” I say, the words coming out like a caress. I say it again, over and over. A litany. An enchantment. A ward against what I really feel. “I hate you. I hate you. I hate you.”
He kisses me harder.
“I hate you,” I breathe into his mouth. “I hate you so much that sometimes I can’t think of anything else.”
That was probably one of my favorite scenes in the book because fuck yesss give me enemies to lovers :)))
And their romance almost had a conclusion that I was legitimately happy about


Almost
“Marry me,” he says. “Become the Queen of Elfhame.”
This was the ending I predicted and wanted so when it showed up I was thrilled. It made logical sense for Cardan to marry Jude, she's amazingly strategic and brutally cruel and would probably win him the war and she's probably the only person h0rny and angry enough to love him.

But no- what this dumbass decides to do is make her Queen of the Faerie and then banish her to the mortal world.
I was so fucking pissed I almost decided I wouldn't read the next book. My issue with this is this back and forth relationship is really dragging on and I'm losing interest so to see a conclusion in sight in this book was nice- but no- it just had to go all YA and be like "well not yeeeettt"
I guarantee in the next book he'll be like "I secretly did it for your protection so love me"
And Jude will just say "cool okay"
I hate it, I hate it so fucking much that I knocked 1.5 stars off this book for that sheer YA stupidity.
I'm so disappointed.

Characters:4/5
Jude was way more dumb in this book than she was in the first one. Its like the marketing team for this novel went "well she's a badass but we have to make sure she's not too strong of a woman when it comes to her lover uwu" and I despise that. Jude in the first book would be dragging Cardan's ass through the mud for the shit he pulled in this book.
AND SHE SHOULD HAVE.
Cardan brought the character rating up for me in this book, I liked him more and he still maintained his overall arrogance which was good.
Taryn can go suck an egg.
Locke you too, even though I'm still kinda in love with you.

Writing: 4.5/5
I have no complaints about the writing, it was still really good but I think some bad choices were made on behalf of plot twists and Jude's character.

I'm still unsure if I'll continue the series at this point, that ending just didn't work for me at all.“Sweet Jude, you’re my dearest punishment”

Alright, I've had a few days to think and now I'm ready to talk about this.
Rating: 3.5/5 You had me at another 5/5 until the last 40 pages
SPOILER WARNING I WILL BE RANTING ABOUT SPECIFICALLY THE ENDING OF THIS NOVEL AND DISCUSSING THE CRUEL PRINCE
Story: 3/5
As much as I loved watching Jude truly sink into her role of badassery and espionage in this novel it wasn't nearly as thrilling as the first. All the tension and fear was replaced by cockiness on Jude's part which made me like her character a little less. Don't get me wrong I loved the power trip Jude was on in this book but I was also disappointed to see her rise to that level of "nothing can hurt me because I'm amazing" level. Of course one of my favorite parts of this book was when she was taken to the sea palace and forced to pretend she was glamoured to spy but that was over within literally a freaking chapter.
I wanted so badly for that to continue, for Jude to spy on them from within and have the tension build with Cardan in the other kingdom, maybe make Balekin flaunt Jude in front of him like an asshat but no- Cardan made the stupidest decision to get her back because he looooovessss her and then they're back together.
I was sold on their romance in this novel which was nice, especially this scene:
“Tell me again what you said at the revel,” he says, climbing over me, his body against mine.
“What?” I can barely think.
“That you hate me,” he says, his voice hoarse. “Tell me that you hate me.”
“I hate you,” I say, the words coming out like a caress. I say it again, over and over. A litany. An enchantment. A ward against what I really feel. “I hate you. I hate you. I hate you.”
He kisses me harder.
“I hate you,” I breathe into his mouth. “I hate you so much that sometimes I can’t think of anything else.”
That was probably one of my favorite scenes in the book because fuck yesss give me enemies to lovers :)))
And their romance almost had a conclusion that I was legitimately happy about


Almost
“Marry me,” he says. “Become the Queen of Elfhame.”
This was the ending I predicted and wanted so when it showed up I was thrilled. It made logical sense for Cardan to marry Jude, she's amazingly strategic and brutally cruel and would probably win him the war and she's probably the only person h0rny and angry enough to love him.

But no- what this dumbass decides to do is make her Queen of the Faerie and then banish her to the mortal world.
I was so fucking pissed I almost decided I wouldn't read the next book. My issue with this is this back and forth relationship is really dragging on and I'm losing interest so to see a conclusion in sight in this book was nice- but no- it just had to go all YA and be like "well not yeeeettt"
I guarantee in the next book he'll be like "I secretly did it for your protection so love me"
And Jude will just say "cool okay"
I hate it, I hate it so fucking much that I knocked 1.5 stars off this book for that sheer YA stupidity.
I'm so disappointed.

Characters:4/5
Jude was way more dumb in this book than she was in the first one. Its like the marketing team for this novel went "well she's a badass but we have to make sure she's not too strong of a woman when it comes to her lover uwu" and I despise that. Jude in the first book would be dragging Cardan's ass through the mud for the shit he pulled in this book.
AND SHE SHOULD HAVE.
Cardan brought the character rating up for me in this book, I liked him more and he still maintained his overall arrogance which was good.
Taryn can go suck an egg.
Locke you too, even though I'm still kinda in love with you.

Writing: 4.5/5
I have no complaints about the writing, it was still really good but I think some bad choices were made on behalf of plot twists and Jude's character.

I'm still unsure if I'll continue the series at this point, that ending just didn't work for me at all.