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My very first book of 2019 was an ARC of Holly Black's The Wicked King, which I stole from Gillian, who stole it from Lyndsay. Anyway, The Wicked King is the sequel to the delightfully stabby and messed-up The Cruel Prince, which we read for book club over the summer.
The Wicked King is also very stabby and messed-up. Our protagonist, the mortal teenage girl Jude, has ascended to the role of seneschal for the new High King of Elfhame, Cardan, who is a dreadful person and with whom Jude has mutual resentful, ragey unresolved sexual tension. Jude has Cardan under a geas for a year and a day where he has to obey her if she gives him orders, making her the real power behind the throne -- if she can keep it. Meanwhile, the queen of the Undersea plots against Cardan, because of course Holly Black would have evil mermaids.
I'm not really sure how to talk about this book without massive plot spoilers. The main thing about it is that if you liked The Cruel Prince, then whatever you liked about it, you probably get it here even more! Unless your favorite thing was Valerian, since he's been dead since the last book. But if the thing you liked about the Valerian plotline was Jude murdering insufferably smug enemies that violate her bodily autonomy, you're going to fucking love some of the later chapters.
Perhaps my favorite thing about this series, me being the un-romantic that I am, is that the Obligatory Romance Plot is entirely too fucked up to be classed as a romance. It is just sort of a Hate-Filled Sexual Tension That Does Not In Any Way Triumph Over Adversity Or Teach Them To Be Better People Or Do One Whit Of Inspiring Them Not To Scheme And Manipulate Each Other At Every Conceivable Turn Plot. Honestly, this series has a much more Les Liaisons Dangereuses vibe at times than I ever thought I'd see in a YA novel. It's just so not wholesome!
I really, truly enjoy what a psychologically damaged protagonist Jude is, and how psychologically damaged everyone else in this book is. Elfhame is clearly a terrible place to bring up children of any species. It's a mark of how skilled a writer Black is that it's quite easy to get sucked into Jude's head; she somehow feels relatable even as she is martial and cunning and ruthless in a way that a big dumb softie like me absolutely isn't. Her desire to enact revenge upon all of the casually cruel wackjobs around her is relatable, at least; I wouldn't like any of these people either. They clearly all need to be thwarted, just on principle.
The Wicked King is also very stabby and messed-up. Our protagonist, the mortal teenage girl Jude, has ascended to the role of seneschal for the new High King of Elfhame, Cardan, who is a dreadful person and with whom Jude has mutual resentful, ragey unresolved sexual tension. Jude has Cardan under a geas for a year and a day where he has to obey her if she gives him orders, making her the real power behind the throne -- if she can keep it. Meanwhile, the queen of the Undersea plots against Cardan, because of course Holly Black would have evil mermaids.
I'm not really sure how to talk about this book without massive plot spoilers. The main thing about it is that if you liked The Cruel Prince, then whatever you liked about it, you probably get it here even more! Unless your favorite thing was Valerian, since he's been dead since the last book. But if the thing you liked about the Valerian plotline was Jude murdering insufferably smug enemies that violate her bodily autonomy, you're going to fucking love some of the later chapters.
Perhaps my favorite thing about this series, me being the un-romantic that I am, is that the Obligatory Romance Plot is entirely too fucked up to be classed as a romance. It is just sort of a Hate-Filled Sexual Tension That Does Not In Any Way Triumph Over Adversity Or Teach Them To Be Better People Or Do One Whit Of Inspiring Them Not To Scheme And Manipulate Each Other At Every Conceivable Turn Plot. Honestly, this series has a much more Les Liaisons Dangereuses vibe at times than I ever thought I'd see in a YA novel. It's just so not wholesome!
I really, truly enjoy what a psychologically damaged protagonist Jude is, and how psychologically damaged everyone else in this book is. Elfhame is clearly a terrible place to bring up children of any species. It's a mark of how skilled a writer Black is that it's quite easy to get sucked into Jude's head; she somehow feels relatable even as she is martial and cunning and ruthless in a way that a big dumb softie like me absolutely isn't. Her desire to enact revenge upon all of the casually cruel wackjobs around her is relatable, at least; I wouldn't like any of these people either. They clearly all need to be thwarted, just on principle.