The Wicked King Review: The Sequel That Raises Every Stake

Is The Wicked King worth reading after The Cruel Prince? Here's an honest review of Holly Black's second Folk of the Air book.

8/10/20263 min read

The Wicked King Review: The Sequel That Raises Every Stake

With Amazon's Folk of the Air adaptation bringing fresh attention to this series, here's my honest take on book two — read my Cruel Prince review first if you haven't, since this continues directly from its ending and spoilers are unavoidable here.

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Quick Answer

Yes, and I think it's a genuine step up from an already strong opener. The Wicked King takes the political scheming Jude built her power on in book one and forces her to actually hold onto it, which raises the stakes of every single decision she makes.

What It's About

Having secured real political power through the machinations of book one, Jude now has to hold onto it — ruling from the shadows as the true power behind the throne, navigating a court full of people who would kill her the moment they realized her position. Her fraught, dangerous dynamic with Cardan complicates everything further, as the line between controlling him and actually trusting him grows harder to define.

My Honest Take

I think this book succeeds by refusing to let Jude's victory in book one feel safe. Holding power in Elfhame turns out to be exponentially more dangerous than fighting for it, and I found the book's central tension — Jude constantly one misstep from losing everything, including her life — genuinely more gripping than the setup phase of book one.

Jude's ruthlessness escalates in ways that feel earned, not gratuitous. Having tasted real power, her willingness to make increasingly difficult, morally compromising choices deepens in a way that tracks logically from her established character, rather than feeling like sudden escalation for shock value.

Cardan and Jude's dynamic gets genuinely more complicated here, in the best way. Without spoiling specifics, their relationship in this book resists easy categorization — the control, manipulation, and growing trust between them stay tangled in a way I found more interesting than a straightforward "enemies become allies" arc.

The political stakes feel viscerally real throughout. Because Jude's position is built on secrecy and manipulation rather than legitimate authority, nearly every scene carries genuine danger — I never felt like she was safe, which kept tension high across the entire book.

The pacing is tighter than book one's. With the world already established, this installment moves faster and holds tension more consistently than the necessary setup work of The Cruel Prince.

What to Know Before You Start

Read The Cruel Prince first — this picks up immediately after its ending and will spoil major book-one developments right away.

The moral complexity intensifies. If you found Jude's choices in book one uncomfortable at times, know that this book pushes further into morally gray territory.

It ends on a significant cliffhanger, setting up the trilogy's conclusion in The Queen of Nothing.

Who Should Read This

  • Anyone who finished The Cruel Prince and wants the stakes to escalate meaningfully

  • Fans of political intrigue where the protagonist's position feels genuinely precarious throughout

  • Readers who want Jude and Cardan's dynamic to stay complicated rather than simplify too early

Who Might Want to Prepare Themselves

  • Readers who need Jude to become more conventionally heroic — she leans further into moral compromise here

  • Anyone who wants full narrative resolution — this ends on a real cliffhanger

Amazon link: The Wicked King by Holly Black

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to read The Cruel Prince first? Yes, essential — this picks up immediately after book one's events.

Does this book resolve the trilogy's central conflicts? No, it ends on a significant cliffhanger leading into The Queen of Nothing.

Is the romance more central in this book than book one? The relationship between Jude and Cardan deepens and complicates significantly, though political survival remains the primary plot engine.

Final Thoughts

The Wicked King takes everything that worked about The Cruel Prince and raises the stakes meaningfully, refusing to let Jude's hard-won power feel remotely safe. It's a genuinely strong sequel that earns the trilogy's reputation as one of fae-court romantasy's defining series.