The Wicked king

On the Wicked King, we follow the events of the Cruel Prince, which lead to Cardian being bound to accept the throne of Fairy; this has been a pretense as he is under Judes' control, making her the real ruler of the kingdom, a human commanding the land of Fairie.

As expected, the book unfolds following the plottings to remove Cardian from the throne, which comes from:

*His brother Balekin, who murdered his whole family to get the throne and obviously wants it.

*Madoc: the crown general, outsmarted by his daughter in the previous installment of this series. His plot is more on the shadows than in the clear (same as book 1).

*Orlagh: the sea queen who wants to marry her daughter (Nicasia) to prince Cardian, hoping to be able to control both land and sea.

In the middle of the triangle are Jude and Cardian, trying to work out their differences, discovering the true feelings behind their alliance, and trying to keep the crown on Cardian head for a year and a day (or more if Jude can bargain her way towards it).

MY THOUGHTS:

I liked the book as part of the series because it showcases the inconveniences of changing from one ruler to the other (especially if the new ruler was an unexpected one). The politics involved and how Holy Black laid them out were marvelous. But as in book one, I was eager to get more.

I didn't like how poorly Cardian treated his role as a King, all the time; I was like, "Come on, is the fate of your people that is at risk here" he wasn't a good king, but he wasn't a Tyran either (I was expecting this after seen how he was at school) he just wasn't anything (if that makes sense).

Apparently, school seems to exist after the events in book one. I understand why Cardian and Jude were not going to school (they have official duties to attend), but what about the others? What about Taryn and Nicasia, and Locke?

It didn't make sense to me in book one, and still didn't make sense in book two, how a world full of fairies who have been living forever, where hundreds of years commanders and princes and Queens, are fighting for a throne, two "Clever" and hormonal teenagers can stop them? How can they outsmart the old folks? And how or why didn't the traitor (not spoilers) hide the fact that Jude was immune to charms?

I still believe that this story would make so much more sense if Jude and Cardian were older, like 18 or in their 20s. Their behavior and influence would have made so much more sense, and the sex implications wouldn't have been so annoying.

Yes, the sex implications were annoying to me cause Cardian seems to indulge in depravation, and he did it with Jude, who had no experience. They were only 16. I don't know if it felt wrong (again, I love Adult books for a reason, right?).

Things that I liked:

Cardian powers and how he discovered them.

How conscious Jude was about the limitations Cardian faced by being under her control and the impact it might have in battle.

The author finally explains the advantage of having a twin in the story.

The undersea magic rules were well crafted, and it made sense how they could keep "nonaquatic" creatures alive under the sea.

Mavoc final decision is to take things into his hands; by the end of the book, "Fuck this, I'm tired of dealing with kids; I'm going to do this on my own."

Will not deny that the need to be conscious of every character's word selection was marvelous cause fairies could not lie, but they can misguide you with their words.