Kingdom of the Wicked

Review

Thank you to NetGalley and Jimmy Patterson Presents for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

*insert screaming*

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the fall. Imagine this: me biting my fingernails anxiously waiting to see if I’d be approved and then SHRIEKING when I was! Happy days!

Was it as good as I thought it was going to be?

Well?

IT WAS BETTER. This was witches done right. This was demons done right. This was the whole package of evil goodness that I love and is my cup of tea. It was also…pretty much in my wheelhouse of everything I could ever want in a book? Like, this book was magnificent and I am obsessed with it now. I need ALL the merch and good stuff that comes along with it.

Emilia was such a great character and I loved every moment we spent with her. It was a journey from beginning to end – and I definitely did not want this book to end. In fact I was screaming when I got to the end of the book and going “I NEED THE SEQUEL” because HOLY COW was that book just…no words. I feel like I had brain dribbling out of my ears by the end of it.

Things I really liked in the book were Maniscalco’s writing. I loved it in SJTR series, and it was just as good here. I became immediately invested in the book and was over the mood with how everything was written. The pacing was fantastic too, I just kept tearing through the book because I could not stop reading it. It definitely had me on the edge of my seat.

One thing that I enjoyed was the familial relationships in this book. I enjoyed reading about how Emilia interacted with her family and her world and how they came together. I especially loved her relationship with her grandmother. It felt so warm and happy, and it brought about good feelings. It just also, worked.

I also am still laughing about her and Wrath and that relationship. I don’t even know if I’d call it enemies to lovers or enemies to friends or enemies to enemies? All I know is that I enjoyed watching how their relationship progressed and changed and how they went about doing things. Suffice to say, I am invested to see what happens next. Maniscalco has always been good at crafting romantic relationships, and this one feels like it is going to be a slow burn all the way through. I think it is a curious one as well.

What else did I love? Pretty much everything. I loved EVERYTHING. I am so…unable to form a coherent thought about this book because I just loved it so much. It was atmospheric, it was well written, it was beautiful and enchanting, and I love Emilia as a character SO SO much and I am just so excited for the next book in the series.

Things I am excited for: hopefully expansion on the magic system? I definitely want more of it, and I am insanely curious about it. Also more about the princes? Yes please. More more more more is pretty much the one continuous thought I have at the moment.

I am just over the moon happy with this book and I cannot wait to reread it!