I had owned Kingdom of the Wicked for almost a year. It was just sitting on my bookshelf. I kept planning to read it but month by month went by and it just kept collecting dust. Until the mid-September.
I started Kingdom of the Wicked about a week, maybe two, before Kingdom of the Feared came out. I figured now was a great time to start so I would be able to go straight in to the new book when it came out.
Goodreads Summary for Kingdom of Wicked
Two sisters.
One brutal murder.
A quest for vengeance that will unleash Hell itself…
And an intoxicating romance.
Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are streghe – witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Vittoria misses dinner service at the family’s renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin…desecrated beyond belief. Devastated, Emilia sets out to find her sister’s killer and to seek vengeance at any cost—even if it means using dark magic that’s been long forbidden.
Then Emilia meets Wrath, one of the Wicked—princes of Hell she has been warned against in tales since she was a child. Wrath claims to be on Emilia’s side, tasked by his master with solving the series of women’s murders on the island. But when it comes to the Wicked, nothing is as it seems…
Personal Review
Just as a forewarning, I’m going to speak about the trilogy as a whole. But there won’t be any spoilers.
I loved these books so much. Kingdom of the Wicked was definitely Young Adult but once you get into the second and third novels, it’s more New Adult for its explicit nature. The idea of the seven sins was so brilliant. The layout of “hell” itself was so detailed and just…mind blowing.
Emilia’s character gave me tough, strong heroine but with a dash, around 10%, of a brat. There were moments when she complained and it felt unnecessary but I know it’s meant to fit with the overall plot line.
Wrath on the other hand was the epitome of morally grey character. His mysterious personality from the first novel really bled into the other books and he was just…perfection. I don’t know how else to say it.
I gave myself a few weeks to really take in the trilogy since I basically inhaled it all within two weeks. The worldbuilding overall, for each of the book’s stages, was phenomenal, so thought out and detailed. The prose also felt so seamless, I never felt like ‘this is awkward’ or ‘come on, that was so unnecessary’. For all the characters that ended up being brought into the storyline, it never got confusing and each had their own distinct voice that made me love some and hate others.
I would definitely recommend this series if the wanted to ease into fantasy and love both Young Adult and New Adult.
Solid 4.5/5 (the 0.5 taken off because there aren’t any confirmed books within this universe).
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