“Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold on to.”

Book two of The Folk of the Air series is definitely my favourite of the series. Skipping ahead the introduction, as soon as it starts, the author throws the reader back into the universe, starting right where we left it. Jude has power now, more than she could have ever dreamed of, but it has cost her. Betrayals over and over again, bluffs, and breaking of promises, The Wicked King covers it all, and Jude suffers a great deal of deception in this one.

In this one, however, compared to my reading of the first volume, I was paying a lot more attention to the romance sub-plot of the story : Cardan was a much more present character, and with that came a lot more interactions with Jude, and obviously, the tension between the two was palpable. It was so well-done, reading about the evolution of their relationship (not romantically, just the relation between them two). Holly Black knew how to keep me on the edge of my seat, waiting for more, wanting more, really. The plot twists were beautifully executed, genuinely had me gasping multiple times throughout the book, because some of them were so unexpected. But this is really the beauty of it all, how as a reader, I was so engrossed in the story, and the current happenings, I didn’t see the bigger picture, and, once the gears were set off, it was a domino effect of surprises.

I truly have nothing more constructive to say, I loved this, I loved Jude in this book, I adored Cardan, I loved the tension, I loved the universe. It was truly a splendid sequel !