Kingdom of the Wicked - Review

 

Book Review:
Title: Kingdom of the Wicked
Author: Kerri Maniscalco
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton 

“Balance. Light and dark. The sun and moon. Good and evil. A snake winding through a bed of wildflowers. Offering a taste of the most forbidden fruit. Scales of justice were tipped; a choice hanging there for me to decide. To right a wrong, or damn us all.”

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 . . . 

 The easiest way to get me to read your book:

• Dark fantasy
• Antiheroes/Demons (that can turn into love interests)

That’s it. I’m a simple girl.

Thankfully Kingdom of the Wicked had both of those elements, so it was already off to a good start. This is the first book I’ve read by Kerri Maniscalco, and I can definitely see the appeal – it was a fun book that kept me engaged throughout. Being in my final year of university, I no longer have the luxury of binge reading a book in a couple of sittings, and therefore I had to read this book over an entire week, reading a few chapters every day. In these situations, it’s very easy for me to be pulled out of the story and struggle to immerse myself again, but I never had that issue with KotW because it’s so extremely easy to fly through and follow.

What managed to make this book so fun and readable was the atmosphere Kerri Maniscalco created from the very start and carried throughout until the very last page. There was always this dark air of mystery, magic, danger, and a hint of seduction which all tied together so well and really helped keep me curious and invested in the story.

And then we also have some great characters in Emilia and Wrath. Emilia is loyal to her family and people, wanting to get vengeance on whoever killed her sister, as well as trying to protect other witches from the same fate. I loved seeing her slowly descend into the darkness.
Wrath is a prince of hell (already a winner in my eyes) and is probably the most fascinating character in this book because you never know what his true intentions are.
The back and forth between these two was wonderful and ignited such fantastic chemistry. One thing I really appreciated was that Emilia held her own against Wrath and although there are fragments of something romantic between these two, not much really happens between them and the main focus is on the murder mystery. Now I am a sucker for romance, but I hate it when the MC starts prioritising their love story over the actual plot and just cares about how hot their love interest is, so in that sense the slow build-up between Emilia and Wrath was a breath of fresh air. I can’t wait to see how their story continues in the sequel.

The thing that stopped Kingdom of the Wicked getting a higher rating from me was the lack of shock and surprise. Like I said, there was this air of mystery and tension, but the plot was also a little predictable and I did guess pretty early on who was behind Vittoria’s murder, so as a result I did spend some of this book like “c’mon Emilia, it’s not that hard to figure out, it’s obviously *insert name*!” Predictability isn’t always a bad thing, but I would have liked a stronger shock factor in a murder mystery.

However, saying that, the ending had me completely hooked (and a little confused – in a good way) so I am still wholly invested in the story and seeing what happens next for Emilia and Wrath. I’m sensing that this is a series that grows and becomes darker and crazier with each book.
Roll on Oct 2021 !

3.5 Stars
Goodreads