Review of Kingdom of the Feared (Kingdom of the Wicked #3) by Kerri Maniscalco
“I always knew you. And always will. Your soul calls to mine. It’s a feeling of coming home. Of peace. No magic can duplicate it.”
– Kingdom of the Feared
Kerri Maniscalco
I am left with a couple of questions but overall a lot of fond feelings for this series
Synopsis
Emilia is reeling from the shocking discovery that her twin sister, Vittoria, is alive. But before she faces the demons of her past, Emilia yearns to claim her king, the seductive Prince of Wrath, in the flesh. Emilia doesn’t simply desire his body, she wants his heart and soul—but that’s something the enigmatic demon can’t promise her.
When a high-ranking member of House Greed is assassinated, Emilia and Wrath are drawn to the rival demon court. Damning evidence points to Vittoria as the murderer and she’s quickly declared an enemy of the Seven Circles. Despite her betrayal, Emilia will do anything to solve this new mystery and find out who her sister really is.
Together Emilia and Wrath play a sin-fueled game of deception as they work to stop the unrest that’s brewing between witches, demons, shape-shifters and the most treacherous foes of all: the Feared.
Emilia was warned that when it came to the Wicked nothing was as it seemed. But, have the true villains been much closer all along? When the truth is finally revealed, it just might end up costing Emilia her heart.
Two curses.
One prophecy.
A reckoning all have feared.
And a love more powerful than fate. All hail the king and queen of Hell.
Review
Oh, how I’m sad this series is over! I have followed Wrath and Emilia since the beginning, and I have seen them open up and grow. It’s going to be hard to say goodbye, but how the story progressed and ended in Kingdom of the Feared does feel like a good way to end things for Wrath and Emilia.
There were quite some plot twists in Kingdom of the Feared, some I expected and some I didn’t see coming. Overall, the plot did make sense – even if some things were a bit of a reach, and this book does conclude Emilia and Wrath’s story. Though I don’t feel like we got closure for most of the other characters like the princes, Vittoria, and others. So I do suspect some spinoffs to come, and hopefully, the loose ends will be tied up in those books!
In Kingdom of the Feared, we are receiving a lot of information. Things that we didn’t know yet like for example what the curse is, where it exactly came from, what happened to Vittoria, and more are explained in this book. This makes it sometimes hard to keep up with everything. I did have some moments where I had to reread a paragraph several times because I didn’t understand what was happening. The revelations in Kingdom of the Feared are being told and not as much being shown. I feel like a lot of the revelations were just coming up in conversations instead of being revealed in scenes.
We also got to know the other six wicked princes a bit better in this book, and I’m so curious about them! We already got to know Pride, Lust, and Envy as well as Greed a bit. But Gluttony and Sloth are a total mystery. In Kingdom of the Feared, however, we get a glimpse of them and their personalities, and I honestly just want them to each have a book of their own. I feel like they’re such interesting and complex characters, and I want to know their history.
A theme that’s quite prominent throughout Kingdom of the Feared is love and how love is the most powerful thing there is. I did find this a bit corny, but I love the characters so much that I will accept the corniness.
The enemies-to-lovers vibe is definitely over between Wrath and Emilia in this book. Wrath is in my opinion more of a side character in Kingdom of the Feared. This book definitely was more about Emilia, her origins, and the truths she discovered. Just as in Kingdom of the Cursed, Emilia grows a lot in this book. That’s something I always love to see: character growth. And without spoiling too much, there is one prince that has grown as well in this book and that was really unexpected but fun to see.
As I said in my review of Kingdom of the Cursed, Maniscalco wants to shift the series from young adult to new adult and does so by adding explicit scenes. There are quite a lot of sex scenes in this book. So I would definitely rate this book as spicy. Some of those scenes were well-built and felt sincere, while others were maybe a bit random at times. At times, the timing of the sex scenes was a bit off. Emilia goes through some things, and sometimes it feels like she tries to hide her feelings by sharing the bed with Wrath. Anyway, be prepared for some sexy time.
I’m still left with a lot of questions after reading Kingdom of the Feared, and I do wish some of them had been answered. The ending makes me think that this won’t be the last we see of the Wicked. I do however believe that the next book will be centered around Pride. I will wait for the official announcement, but I already can’t wait for it!
Would I recommend it?
Yes! I love this series. This may not be my favourite book in the series, but I love these characters to death!
Rating
8,5/10
Details
Trigger warnings
Sexism, sexual harassment, alcohol consumption, drugging, mind control, blood & gore depiction, murder, torture, grief
Representation
/
Genre
Fantasy, romance (new adult)
Pages
464
Publication date
September 28th 2022
Publisher
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
About the author
Kerri Maniscalco grew up in a semi-haunted house outside NYC where her fascination with gothic settings began. In her spare time she reads everything she can get her hands on, cooks all kinds of food with her family and friends, and drinks entirely too much tea while discussing life’s finer points with her cats.
heavenlybookish 