The Wicked King (The Folk of Air #2)
Author: Holly Black
Published: 2019
On Goodreads
My Rating: 
Rated P for pain and pleasure and the thorns in between that’ll never let them be forgotten.
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 the wicked king, Cardan, wrapped around her finger. The power is enough to get drunk off of. As the right of the king, it is up to her to see that he is fulfilling his role. He, however, takes pleasure in humiliating her and finding ways to undermine her. There seems to be more to it, but she doesn’t have time nor the will to explore it.
When she realizes that someone close to her means to betray her, she starts to question who she can trust. Between controlling Cardan on the royal throne and staving off her family about Oak and keeping with her spy duties, she has her hands full.
The Folk of Air Reviews
Jude really gets stuck in it. With so much on her plate, Jude struggled to keep balance with all that she had. Between Cardan torturing her as he sat on the throne as the High King to her sister’s upcoming nuptials to unexpected emotions and humiliations bubbling to the surface and secrets threatening the downfall of everything. Wow, that’s a lot to try and get out in one breath. Jude wanted power, and now she has to try to keep it.
The grand betrayals set upon Jude throughout the book proved one thing for certain. Folks wouldn’t be trying so hard to destroy or get rid of her if she wasn’t powerful and a threat. Kudos to Jude for accomplishing her life’s dream. LOL. From Locke and his deadly mischievous ways to those that envy her, a mortal, for having the High King’s ear and more. But damn if I don’t fecking cheer Jude one every time for her ability to stand tall and take hits and never cave under pressure, even when it crushes her.
The chemistry between Cardan and Jude came to a head and ripped me into pieces. It was an excruciatingly delicious toil and when Jude finally fell into the tension and desire, it was sublime. Of course, it was also not her best move. Still, totally worth it. It was soothing and stressful that the two finally caved in to their desires. Soothing because it was about damn time. Stressful because I knew there was a shoe that would have to drop afterward. I can’t imagine what it’s like to love somebody and hate them at the same time. You might as well light yourself on fire and then jump into the stars, I guess.
Black dove deeper into the land of Faerie and I was beyond excited. While the book took place on land in the first book, part way into this sequel took us underwater to where fae got even deadlier. More than the fae was the opportunity to crawl even deeper into their world and understand why it’s so easy to want to stay and never leave. Lush, lovely, and a beauty that can’t quite be understood.
The stellar twist still had me spinning with all of the pleasant dizzying effects. Black can really get you desperate on every part she ever leaves you hanging on, making you impatient to get back to where it left. My emotions were flip-flopping from one feeling to the next. Mostly, I sit in a world of pain after the way the book ended. Pain that can only (and hopefully) be healed by the third book.
Overall
Holy hell, I didn’t know what to expect. I was at the whims and mercy of these pages, clinging on for dear life. This trilogy has been pulling me under and I’ve made peace with that.
Quotables:
“Power is the ability to get what you want. Power is the ability to be the one making the decisions…” (Madoc, p. 3)
“…Someone you trust already betrayed you.” (Nicasia, p. 55)
“Legends need not concern themselves with something as small as happiness.” (Nicasia, p. 123)
“Fear is terrible, but the combination of hope and fear is worse.” (Jude, p. 244)
More to come soon…
-K.
Song Today? Surrender by Digital Daggers.
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The Scarlet Reader 
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