I want to tell you so many lies.
The Wicked King
Holly Black
Folk of the Air, book two
Hardcover, 322 pages
Published January 8, 2019
ISBN 978031631035
I have heard that for mortals the feeling of falling in love is very like the feeling of fear. Your heart beats fast. Your senses are heightened. You grow light-headed, maybe even dizzy. Is that right?
Jude has bound the wicked king, Carden, 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 biddable. 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 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 first book in this series was so pleasantly ridiculous that I've actually been itching to get back into the Folk of the Air.
As Malakai Azer would say: What the hell is wrong with me?
The characters are just bizarre. Cardan, the epitome of "I don't want to be here" and Jude... strategic little Jude who can be utterly oblivious in some regard and a rockstar genius mastermind in others.
You love it. You hate it. You're disgusted. You're enthralled.
It's been five months since Jude managed to have Cardan crowned High King of Elfhame and she is now deep in her life lesson that power is far easier to grasp than it is to maintain a hold of. And despite Cardan being under her command, bound by his vow, it seems far better to leave him to the revelry while she plays at the politics.
Jude's the one doing all the work and yet, somehow, it's still Cardan that's carrying this book. Jude can't read him whatsoever. There's no anticipating the shenanigans Cardan's going to wander into next what with Locke pulling at his strings, Madoc plotting wars with the sea, Nicasia firing off crossbows at his would-be lovers, and everybody else dancing in every corner of the castle.
And yet, when he starts unfurling into his role as High King, ...dayumm.
From
“I have heard that for mortals, the feeling of falling in love is very like the feeling of fear.”to
“Jude," he’d said, running a hand up my calf, "are you afraid of me?”
Meanwhile... Nooooo! Ghost, why????
In the end, Cardan offers Jude a new bargain in exchange for his freedom. A bargain that will see Jude Duarte, mortal though she may be, as Queen of Faerie.
5 out of 5 stars.
Available in ebook | hardcover | paperback | audiobook | collectors edition
Previously in the series:
2025/43
