SuitabookThe Wicked King
Holly Black
- Reading
- If starting here, consider reading the first book beforehand or pausing to recap its characters and tensions. Check in together about how the rivalry and threat feel as the story develops.
- Themes
- Power and political control: Jude has bound Cardan to her and made herself the power behind the throne, while trying to navigate changing alliances. The setup foregrounds the difficulty of holding power, but does not establish whether the story endorses or criticises Jude's approach.
- Rivalry and complicated feelings: The book addresses rivalry and complicated feelings; the detail of how it is developed remains unclear. The book’s stance on this remains unclear.
- Worth knowing
- The setup includes humiliation and undermining between central characters, a threatened danger to life, and the prospect of betrayal by someone close. These conflicts may make the story tense.