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Book Review: The Wicked King

THE WICKED KING by Holly Black
#2 The Folk of the Air
3 Stars
Verdict: An okay middle book.


Me and 'middle books' of trilogies have beef. It's been a long time since I've really enjoyed one, and I'm starting to think it's me.

Why do they always spend the first two thirds of the book in story limbo? Why do they refuse to end in a satisfying manner and instead throw you over a cliff and expect you to hang on for the next hundred thousand words to be published?

Why does nothing good ever happen to the protagonist?

Wicked King is marginally better than the other middle books I've read recently. Still, it reads like A Guide to a Miserable Existence, by Jude Duarte, who wanders around for months on end before stuff finally starts to happen. Just when you're really interested, the book ends within the slice of a guillotine as it cuts off the last section, leaving you wondering what was that noise all about.

It's not a bad book. The main characters are complex but fleshed out. The world is the perfect balance of dangerous and magical. I liked the tricks and the quirky magical items, and the tension of war and romance makes for a good set up. If only the first half didn't feel so much like fluff, I would have enjoyed it more.

Much like a slap in the face, the ending is sharp and then its all over. Someone shouted, "TWIST!" and the book flipped upside down, dusted it's hand and said, "And that's that." What on earth does it all mean? What really happened? What were the characters who perpetrated the twists really after?

Or is the real question why did I ever expect to find true satisfaction from a middle book? Maybe I should burn all sequels from my bookshelf and let my imagination halfheartedly fill in the blanks. Then again, I bet book three will be excellent so it's not all for nothing. It's just a lot for the promise of something later.

Source: Bought it.
Also, it looks like I forgot to review book 1 back in August 2018. Whoops!
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