I BLAME YOU, HOLLY BLACK.
If you recognize that name, you know what heartwrenching, cruel series I finally got back to: Holly Black’s Folk of the Air Trilogy.
I read the second book, The Wicked King, back when it first came out, in January 2019. When I first read it, I was not entirely blown away until I was somewhere around seventy or eighty pages in. It took me a while to get there, but once I did, there was no getting me to put that book down. I sat for hours ignoring my homework and reading the rest of the book. Reading a summary and skimming the book (and rereading entire chapters) for this review, I couldn’t put it down. Suddenly it didn’t matter that we were reviewing for tomorrow’s test or getting time to finish our homework in class because oh my god this book is too good.
The things that make this book such a stand-out for me is the fact that Holly Black made the two-of-three great, the plot twists (always, with this crazy author), and the interesting plot choices.
So I don’t really know how controversial this is, but I feel like it can be common that the second book in a trilogy is the worst one (except for Divergent; it was the final one that went the most downhill in that series). The reader is in the thick of it without much closure at the end or finding unexpected and new ideas/developments. This pattern is in a lot of book trilogies—I mean, has anyone ever read The Hunger Games books? I’m sorry, but you can’t deny that Catching Fire is kind of just a well written knock-off of the first book but with Finnick. Not to say it’s bad; the other two are just better. The book is confusing because you can’t see where Suzanne Collins is going with the ideas and foreshadowing as merely setup for the final book.
Anyway. We’re not talking about Hunger Games. If you want to hear my opinions about those books, go back a couple pages and read those reviews. Today we’re talking about The Wicked King, which seems to follow this pattern when the book starts. Reading The Wicked King, I started off bored (key words: started off) because a: it’d been a year since I’d read the first book and had stopped thinking about the characters all the time, and b: it felt like the stakes had been dramatically lowered since The Cruel Prince.
It’s not that I didn’t care about Jude anymore; I did—still do, quite a bit. I worried about her safety and her family and whatever, I just didn’t think about any of that, never prompting myself to pick it up. Part of it was that it felt like the whole plot had already happened, if that makes any sense. The first book alone had so much development that I was a little unimpressed with what was happening. So what if Madoc is being condescending? He’s always like that. So what if Locke is being tricky and cruel? He’s already given Jude his worst. Everything was trivial in comparison to what I’d felt Jude had previously gone through.
It also could have been the fact that Jude had already somewhat proven herself in the Faerie world. Sure, people look down on Jude still, but she’s gotten herself into a position of power. Cardan answers to her now--the High King of Faerie answers to her. For Jude, nothing else matters. Power is the ultimate goal, and she is in power. Yeah, it’s hard to keep that power, but, in my opinion, keeping it is much easier than getting it, at least for a mortal in the Faerie world.
Looking back on those ideas, I should have seen where her arc was going. I should have known that her fatal flaw, the power hungry side of her, was what she truly needed to get over. That was the real obstacle holding her back from loving her life, that was her problem. She can want to be in charge without being willing to give up all happiness and mental stability for it.
But I was only bored in the beginning. After about half a week of reading it and getting nowhere, I sat down to binge it. I thought I would have to force myself through it but ended up having a really good time. I started moving through the book quickly, picking up speed somewhere around chapter eleven, when the Hunter’s Moon revel took place and Jude was chosen as the Queen of Mirth. Everything started to heat up there: the stakes rose as the Undersea took more and more risks, Locke made more of a mess (I freaking hate and love and can’t even with him), Cardan and Jude began to trust each other. Rather abruptly, I was sucked in again. I was more excited to read Holly Black than I’d been since Cruel Prince, tearing through the pages as I eagerly waited to see how it was all going to play out.
And I was nowhere near disappointed. The plot twists were just too much in the best way possible. There are a few things I don’t want to talk about because I’m saving them for my Queen of Nothing review, but let’s talk about that betrayal!
At the end of Book One, the Ghost literally betrayed Jude and handed her over to the Undersea. “I served Prince Dain,” he said. “Not you.”
I’m dead. I’m dead.
It makes so much sense that the Ghost would be the one to betray Jude. Nicassia told Jude that someone she trusted was betraying her—it couldn’t be Cardan or Taryn, both of whom Jude was considering, simply because she was considering them. It had to be someone that was solidly there, that worked with Jude closely. There were only three people that she consistently sent out on errands and shared her plans with: the Bomb, the Ghost, and the Roach. The Bomb was unlikely because she was spilling her personal life’s secrets to Jude and trusted Jude as much as Jude trusts her. The Roach was close with the Bomb and would probably stay on the same side as her. That only leaves the Ghost, the person Jude might’ve trusted the most. He trained her to be a spy when Jude first joined the Court of Shadows and taught Cardan tricks when he first became High King. If there’s anyone that was a true mentor for Jude, it was the Ghost, surprising her more than anyone else could have.
Moving on to a plot twist I can’t talk about much today: I assume you guys are expecting me to give thoughts on Cardan’s big betrayal at the end, and I will. Just not today. I don’t want to give any Queen of Nothing spoilers, so let’s leave this with two points: first, I was way too surprised and second, I was kicking myself as much as Jude was. No more of this because we’re going series-finale-spoiler-free today.
I also loved how the story played out. I know that’s a really general statement, but the overall plot was genius. A real standout couple chapters for me was when Jude was trapped and retrieved from the Undersea.
While she’s in the Undersea, Jude’s mental and physical strength were pushed farther than ever before. Not only was she going through poison withdrawals, but she also had to pretend that they could glamour her. She had to be placid or happy or humble all at their command; she had to pretend to love Balekin and her room and the foods they were giving her. There’s a time in the series (I can’t find when; probably Cruel Prince) when Jude said something along the lines of, ‘knights are ruled by their pride but spies must grovel at the feet of people far below them.’ This fits all of Wicked King—the Court laughed at or ignored Jude time and time again when she’s the one pulling the strings—but was most prevalent while she’s in the Undersea.
While in the Undersea, Oorlagh and Balekin ask her to talk about all the politics she knows. They ask her to talk about painful things and then leave her without food or water for days at a time, giving her nothing to do but think. Holly Black wrote, “Sometimes, when lying on the cold stone floor, I wonder if there’s a limit to what I will let them do, if there is something that would make me fight back, even if it dooms me. If there is, that makes me a fool. But maybe if there isn’t, that makes me a monster.”
OKAY, HOLLY BLACK. Didn’t have to break my soul like that.
This line is a clear shot into Jude’s twisted mind. There are only two possible things she could see herself as: a fool or a monster. In her eyes, there’s no clever Jude. No assertive Jude. Reading that line was a way to read Jude.
Through all of these Undersea scenes, Jude had to hide the power she had over Cardan and Faerie’s outcome because it would all disappear if Queen Orlagh or Balekin caught on and killed her. Her ability to do this made me respect Jude because she was able to hide her emotions to get the most out of a situation, something a lot of characters can’t do. If you read my Red Queen review then you might know how much it bothers me when a character is too proud to be smart. I get if they believe in standing up for themselves in and fully support that, but when their life is in the hands of someone who disagrees with them, it might not be a good plan to blatantly call them out.
Just a thought.
It’s impressive that Jude gets past what weakens so many characters (and instead has a deranged need to control everything and be emotionless). Props to her for that.
There’s so much to unpack with Cardan buying her out of the Undersea. All the way back to when Jude was getting let out, he’s pissed. He was all you said she would be fine and why isn’t she fine and why can’t she walk and I was THRIVING. Then Madoc trapped her in his house, and she had to break out to get back to the castle. She made it to the castle, where Cardan outright complimented her, which blew my mind.
Wait. I’m getting ahead of myself—back to the scene where Jude was brought back.
Oorlagh was very regal (in a condescending, I-can’t-believe-I’m-dealing-with-a-child kind of way). Something about the way she words everything feels like she openly thinks she’s above the High King of Elfhame, which is for sure a maybe at this point but also inappropriate for the situation.
Cardan, however, was a straight-up rockstar. He stayed generally emotionless but still held his ground when Jude was very clearly not how the Undersea had promised. When Oorlagh makes an obvious and obnoxious threat, Cardan entirely ignores it. He stays way more diplomatic than I’d anticipated, showing his growth since becoming High King.
After this scene, Jude is delivered to Madoc’s estate. She sleeps for a while before Taryn wakes her up to talk to her. Taryn tells her that “when the Undersea sent word it had [Jude], well, the High King and Madoc blamed each other.” Um, can I see that scene? Can I see Cardan yelling at Madoc that he should have cared about his daughter more? Then Madoc would say that she’s the one who pushed him away. Cardan would say that that’s just how Jude is, and you have to keep trying to get her to let you in—oh my god, I need this!
When Taryn says this, Jude responds by saying that “they seem to have worked through their differences,” clearly thinking that Madoc was taking over the Court and Cardan was happy to help because of how EMOTIONALLY BLIND SHE IS. Taryn says that it’s “something like that,” and I only have one question: does that mean my theory is close to what’s actually canon? Because that line is giving me mutual-goal-and-mutual-love vibes.
Did Cardan tell Taryn to say this to secretly admit his love for Jude?
There’s no evidence against it—that’s all I’m saying.
And there’s so much about these scenes that I want to talk about but can’t without being influenced by Queen of Nothing, even though I already did kinda let those opinions seep in. More on this next time. Sorry to give such a cruel teaser. (Catch that pun?) Also sorry to have probably made zero sense in the last four-ish paragraphs.
CAN WE PLEASE TALK ABOUT NICASSIA’S RUDE BEHAVIOR?
I didn’t expect her to be nice. I didn’t think that she’d be all chummy with her ex’s new seneschal. I just didn’t think she’d behave like that.
When Nicassia first becomes important, it’s because she shoots at Cardan. She had been going to his room to surprise him but found him with someone else and got so overly jealous that she picked up a crossbow and literally shot at the faerie with him. She doesn’t care enough to train so the shot missed, but that’s not the point. The point is that she got jealous because the ex she CHEATED ON moved on. I get that she’s the princess of the Undersea and has been spoiler her whole life, but did she seriously think that was appropriate?
Then throughout the book Nicassia acted like her and Cardan were, I don’t know, dating, or something. When Jude first wakes up in the Undersea, Nicassia punches her in the gut. “That was for Cardan,” she declares, as if she knows what Cardan would want her to do. As if Cardan asked her to lock up his seneschal. Jude, of course, believes that she deserves the punch and that Cardan would want this, but that’s because Jude has an extremely warped reality and perception of herself, which we already touched on.
Anyway. This was overall a great book. Really amazing, would 100% recommend. While there were characters I didn’t like (looking at you, Nicassia and Oorlagh), I still liked to read about them. Everything was well-crafted, exactly what I’d expected from writing legend Holly Black.
Sorry I took so long to write this review, but at least it was pretty close to my last review (under a month!). I’m going to be trying to post more often because school has let out for a while, but I also want to get extra work on my novel in, so we’ll see how it goes. Until next time, keep reading, readers.