Kingdom of the Cursed
It’s been a while since I read a sequel that disappointed me like this one did.
Emilia sold her soul to be the Queen of the Wicked, so she can avenge the murder of her sister. But now that she’s in Hell, all of her plans are falling apart. She’s on a mission, though, and now she must find some magical objects that may finally give her answers.
I honestly didn’t like this one as much as the first. It was very jumpy. Emilia jumped to a lot conclusions, the plot jumped to a lot of different scenarios (some that didn’t make a lot of sense?) and the setting jumped all over the place.
Emilia, darling. We have got to stop *assuming* shit solely based off of…really nothing. Why did she assume she’s the first witch? That came out of nowhere. Why did she never actually go to Celestia about Envy’s curse, or ask her if she was the Crone? Come on, fight smarter not harder. There were a number of times where I was well and truly lost because Emilia didn’t stretch before reaching. Honestly, it feels like a lot of things were cut out to shorten the book.
Speaking of, there’s a lot that happens between the covers, and not all of it made sense. Why did the mirror suddenly matter again in the last 20 pages? Emilia didn’t seem too pressed beforehand. What happened with her lessons? She had a short one with Anir and then nothing, but now she knows how to wield her dagger like a pro? What about the rest of the Feast of the Wolf? It didn’t just END after they went to the room. Come on. Antonio???? Anyway. I’m gonna need Maniscalco to up her page number if we’re gonna be doing all of this, because the spice was nice but come on. I will gladly trade smut to fix plot holes.
One more plot hole though: why the fuck did they end up back at House Wrath? One minute Emilia’s drugging Wrath at House Gluttony to run to that tree and the next she’s confronting him in the kitchens of House Wrath. How? Why? When?? I know she needed the book to wrap up, but in the last 30 pages? The ending was SO RUSHED. This is a book, not a movie. You don’t have to cap yourself out (unless you’re under contract and they cap you OR you’re SJM, in which case: yes, you absolutely do. No more 800 pages of boring shit).
I liked that this book upped the genre though (YA to NA). I appreciate the transition to an older audience, because a lot of people in their 20’s have to dig through YA to find books like Kingdom of the Wicked to enjoy. NA allows us to both be old AND enjoy the fiction we grew up with.
Looking forward to the third and please, for the love of the goddesses, fill the plot holes. They’re messing with my brain’s suspension.
Trigger warnings: sexual content, violence, blood
⛈⛈⛈🌧☁️
