Kingdom of the Wicked (Kingdom of the Wicked #1)

So if you were raised by a powerful witch your entire life and your sister died and you needed help solving it would you not call on her for aid? The heroine literally had a powerful witch at her disposal that she could have used to be her mentor in witchcraft and to learn how to defend herself but nope she decided to be stubborn and secretive. The secretive part wouldve have bothered me so much if she knew how to defend herself and had reasoning skills. Everytime she runs into one of the sin demons shes reduced to kelly. She doesnt know how to properly defined herself yet continue to put herself in situation where her life is in jeopardy. Im all for courageous heroines but this trend of giving a heroine courage but no company sense is aggravating as a reader. Your sister dies and your granny is warning you. What do you do? You decide to pursue every lead with no basic with training that could get you killed. With not even a weapon or use the other main character as back up. Also can we stop with the instalove plots? When did they have time to develop feelings. They had a few conversations but nothing deeply personal. The author had a chance to redeem herself with the poor heroine and couldve given us an expansive history of the love interest. I see numerous directions she couldve taken it from the tattoos, to the lord, and even customs where hes from. Instead were provided with instalove and little to know backstory. The story unfortunately was slow with pacing and did not develop the characters enough for me to be invested in the sequel.

If you enjoy a well written book, this book is not for you.
The writing style was so horribly boring and bland that I had to force my way through this book.
If you are someone that has not read a lot, try it out. Could be great for a young reader.
Otherwise, please dont do it. I literally could give you a summary of this book in about 30 seconds, and trust me, it is far from riveting. I honestly cannot believe this book got published with how horrible the writing is. There is absolutely no character development, the plot is hard to follow, predictable, and extremely uninteresting and dull, the characters are not written well… I do not understand these 5 star reviews at all. If you love fantasy, try Court of Thorns and Roses or Name of the Wind. Anything but this.

I was so excited to get my hands on Kingdom of the Wicked because I loved Kerri Maniscalco’s Stalking Jack the Ripper series. The idea of witches and the seven deadly sins as princes of Hell grabbed my attention from day one when she announced she was writing this. I loved all the incorporations with food and the family owned Sicilian restaurant and the closeness of the family. Even though going into the book I knew right away that Vittoria would be murdered I was still a little shocked when it happened. I enjoyed how even though they were twins Kerri gave them each their own personalities that seemed polar opposite at times.

Emilia was an interesting character but I did find myself growing irritated with her quite a bit to the point that I almost wanted to put the book down. I understand she’s 18 and her twin sister was murdered, but weeks/months later she was just so impulsive and selfish that I found it really hard to root for her anymore. At one point after just being attacked and being told to stay in and recover, she proclaims that Wrath isn’t the boss of her and she can leave if she wants because what’s going to happen to her. Umm hello, you were literally attacked in the past 24-48 hours so a lot can happen. I also couldn’t stand how she felt like her sister and grandma betrayed her by keeping secrets from her when she literally was keeping secrets from the both of them the whole time. I’m hoping she grows up a bit in the next book and isn’t so immature and annoying.

Wrath was not really what I would have expected. For being a Prince of Hell and apparently hundreds of years old, he too acts immature, almost teenager-ish in his moments with Emilia. Don’t get me wrong, I figured there would be a hate to love romance with these two from the beginning but for being the demon price of Wrath we never actually saw much wrath. I felt like his brothers acted and showed their natures more then he did.

The story did keep me on my toes and normally I can guess the killer right away (I’m not sure how several people said they figured it out shortly after the murder) seeing as how I went back and reread chapters even after knowing who it was and still didn’t see the hints or clues. All in all it was very well written and I’m excited to see what happens next.

This book was simply fantastic! It was exactly the fantasy book I needed to read to pull me out of my reading slump. I loved her SJTR series and couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book. I absolutely love her writing style. Dark and atmospheric. Rebel heroine MC.

Emilia and her twin, Vittoria, are witches. Charms, incantations and blessings are big parts of their lives. When tragedy strikes, Emilia is looking for vengeance. She accidentally summons a Prince of Hell, Wrath, and is now stuck with his help to find out who the murderer is. How will she trust the enemy to help her?

Each of the seven deadly sins is a Prince of Hell in this book and I find that fascinating. Wrath, Envy, Greed and Lust make appearances in this book and they’re done so incredibly well. I can’t wait for the next book

Kingdom of the Wicked follows Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria, witches who live secretly among humans in order to avoid notice and persecution. One night, Vittoria misses dinner service at the familys renowned Sicilian restaurant. Emilia soon finds the body of her beloved twin, then sets off to seek vengeance at any cost even if it means using dark magic thats been long forbidden.

This book has been my most anticipated read of the year, being a huge fan of Kerri Maniscalcos works and admiring her skills as a writer. So, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to love this book, I just didnt expect to love it quite this much.

Emilia made for an absolutely brilliant protagonist. Shes brave, self-assured and slightly stubborn at times. Shes someone who takes no nonsense, not even from demons from Hell, and is desperate to avenge her twin sister, no matter what that would cost her. Shes an incredibly admirable protagonist, and it was a joy to read her journey from start to finish.
Wrath was another character who was deeply enjoyable to read about, exploring his relationship with Emilia with the use of luscious description and bouncing dialogue. They interacted beautifully together, spitting bile at one another until their relationship softened more and I loved every moment I read about them.
Although, Vittoria wasnt mentioned much within the novel, her character meeting an unfortunate end quite early on, there was still a lot of character modelling involved in Maniscalcos writing. This was a brilliant technique, making you feel for the characters after her death and caring about them; I was truly devastated, Emilia and Vittorias relationship being wonderful to witness up until that point.

The writing itself is wonderfully written, with lengthy descriptions and entertaining dialogue. The setting was explored beautifully through interactions between the characters, with explanations dotted around for those experiencing language barriers. Thats not to say that this book holds your hand however, being subtly done to not draw you away from the story itself.

Overall, I adored this book. Maniscalco truly has a talent for writing and that shines through in this novel. It was an absolute joy to read and I will be returning to it again and again.

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