Mara's Live Reactions to The Wicked King

For the cover photo, I attempted to put my hair up into horns like Jude’s . . . As you can tell, it didn’t work so well.

BEWARE: MAJOR – HOT – BURNING – SPOILERS – AHEAD

When I began writing my live reactions to THE WICKED KING, I was going chapter by chapter. But, as you may have guessed, this blog post quickly got way too long. (I just had SO MANY REACTIONS.) So, I’ve reformulated and am now just sharing my initial reactions to the prologue and then will go into my favorite moments, thoughts I had throughout my reading, and burning questions I hope to find answers to in THE QUEEN OF NOTHING.

Prologue:

From the beginning, I’ve found Jude and Taryn’s relationship with Madoc fascinating—fascinatingly, deliciously disturbing. Madoc murdered their parents, yet raised them, loved them, and taught them how to stand up for themselves and fight back. This little extra peek into their sword lessons is fabulous… I just wonder what it might be foreshadowing. And Madoc’s words at the end, “Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold on to.” Ooooooof.

*time passing* *reading voraciously*

Alright—now that I’ve finished and have about a million bajillion sticky note tabs sticking out of my book, it’s time to share my reactions!

Favorite Moments:

1.     When Jude leads Vulciber out of the tower and then POISONS HIM like an absolute ninja. Hot damn, Jude. You go girl.

2.     Any moment between Cardan and Jude. I love them together.

3.     When Jude fought off Locke and his gang of armored riders, got shot in the leg with an arrow, and then walked home to PULL THAT FREAKIN’ ARROW OUT OF HER LEG AND THEN SEW HER LEG BACK TOGETHER HERSELF. Holy lord of Insmire, she’s such a beast. (Please refer to the next section on Jude’s badassery.)

4.     When Cardan gains full power over the land and creates an island to show Orlagh not to mess with him. LIKE WHAM, BAM, NEW ISLAND. AMAZING.

Let’s take a moment to discuss Jude’s incredible badassery:

1.     The poise with which she presents herself when speaking with Balekin, or the Living Council, or Nicasia (or literally everyone in positions of power over her), makes me both cheer with excitement and ooze with jealousy. I’d never be as smooth.

2.     The way Jude uses her ability to lie as a weapon against everyone else around her who can’t. (Thinking particularly about the month she spent imprisoned by Orlagh in the Undersea, and then when she tricked Balekin into giving her the wraithberry antidote.)

3.     She is an expert dueler. She may be mortal, but she’s unstoppable with a knife and sword. Balekin had a leg up in terms of weapons when he challenged her, but she still managed to defeat him! People should really stop messing with her. It never turns out well for them.

4.     Jude is clearly a natural leader. We see this throughout THE CRUEL PRINCE as well. If things were different for her, she’d make the perfect High Queen of Faerie. 

Other thoughts:

1.     Not only is it the gorgeous imagery Holly Black cooks up that makes everything about these books so enjoyable, it’s the snarky, bantering dialogue as well. Vulciber is tied to a chair blindfolded and Jude is all like, “Hey dude, want some cheese?” (Not a direct quote, but close enough.) PERFECTION.

2.     I feel so sad for Heather. It was quite a shock for Vivi to spring the all that magical info on her with such little warning, and then for her to not have all the necessary facts to protect herself as a mortal in Faerie. L And I also feel horrible for Vivi that Heather left—we know how much that relationship meant to her. 

3.     The Ghost’s betrayal was a painful discovery. He and Jude were friends! They trained together!

4.     I love Oak! He’s such a cutie patootie.

5.     It is interesting to note that marriage is brought up in the very first chapter! Jude reflects upon the way in which the marriage of rulers is very uncommon in Faerie, because their unification can never be dissolved. And for someone to overtake the throne, they would have to remove both the king and the queen. I believe this may have been Cardan’s thought in exiling Jude to the mortal world. Maybe he is waiting for things to calm down before allowing her to return to Elfhame—OR he sent her away so that he will NEVER lose the crown. (The only flaw in this idea is that Jude is mortal and will not live forever.)

Favorite quote:

“I, who have had little power in my life, must be on guard against that feeling. Power goes to my head too quickly, like faerie wine.” —Jude (pg. 30)

Burning Questions:

1.     Keepers of Spiders: What are their daily tasks? What is included in their job description? Inquiring minds need to know.

2.     I’m very geekily interested in learning more about Faerie heredity. For example, the boy with sparrow wings: Were his parents winged as well? Does he have avian ancestors?

3.     We haven’t learned the full story of Jude’s parents yet and I really hope we do in THE QUEEN OF NOTHING.

4.     As much as I dislike Locke, am I crazy for desperately hoping that he and Taryn have a kid?

5.     Will Cardan and Jude ever get to officially be together together? There’s just so much tension. And you know Cardan wants to be with her.

6.     Where did Madoc go and what is he planning?!?!