Kingdom of the Wicked (Kingdom of the Wicked, 1)
A James Patterson Presents Novel From the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Stalking Jack the Ripper series comes a new blockbuster series! 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...
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Community Reviews
This was a wild ride. The relationships in this were so full of twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. The witchy magic was well written and it was interesting seeing the different sides to magic. So much happened in this book and a lot of it I wish we could’ve seen more of, hopefully the second book addresses a lot or if. What’s the deal with Nonna’s power? Where’d Greed go? Werewolves? A lot of new players were mixed in at the end and it built the tension up significantly but I feel like a lot of aspects were introduced and then ignored. I’m assuming we will see more in the sequel.
Overall I enjoyed it. I loved the portrayals of the Princes we did see, the setting was wonderfully conveyed and left me very hungry (literally) multiple times. The descriptions were brilliant and made things so much easier to visualize. I look forward to what the sequel will bring!
Overall I enjoyed it. I loved the portrayals of the Princes we did see, the setting was wonderfully conveyed and left me very hungry (literally) multiple times. The descriptions were brilliant and made things so much easier to visualize. I look forward to what the sequel will bring!
Would I recommend this book? Mid. The book has fun characters but flawed and obvious plot twists, but still enjoyable and woven with feminism. The book has its obvious flaws, but for some reason, I still want to keep reading it.
Witchy twins Emilia and Vittoria work at their parent's restaurant trying to blend in the human world in nineteenth-century Italy, when someone starts killing off witches, including Vittoria. With one twin tragically murdered, the other's Wrath is set off, and Emilia sets out for vengeance in a world of the Wicked that she will soon realize she knows little about.
The princes of Hell are demons and, well, evil, and they were. We saw Wrath take care of Emilia at times, but only because he had to because, ultimately, he was working for himself. I'm not sure how his character will change or grow in the next book, but in this book, he is wholly a Prince of Hell and acts like it: confident and selfish (but not without manners)
The lore woven through the book kept me hooked, and I loved meeting the different Princes of Hell. Meeting the others cannot come soon enough. Eagerness cannot describe how I feel about learning how the realm of Hell works, too, especially with Emilia now infiltrating it.
The writing was uncomplicated and easy to follow. The descriptions of characters, settings, and events were basic and clean.
Something that kind of nags at me is how unwise the MC could be at times. The character that can be a bit frustrating to me is the strong heroine MC that is supposed to save the world, but she's not that clever and cries a lot. Listen, I know she is going through grief and is supposed to be relatable, but I have read too many books with strong female leads that cry, choke back a sob, weep, and have eyes that well with tears that I quickly got over it and am now annoyed by it. If I'm being honest, many characters were annoying in this book. Why did the grandma keep so much of the truth hidden from the twins and then act resigned and shocked when shit started going down?
While the plot was fairly quick, it was obvious, convenient, and inconsistent. For an MC who is rarely smart enough to enter knowingly dangerous situations armed, she is saved quite a lot with no help from herself and her lack of clever thinking. There is also a LOT that isn't explained and just glossed over. Such as what the Hell Vittoria was up to, especially since so much of the plot started with her; once she died, we didn't learn or gain much from what she left behind, except for questions that kept piling up. I hope many of the holes left in this book are patched up in the next one.
Now let's talk about romance. I feel like the relationship between Wrath and Emilia persuades readers to pursue this book, but I didn't sense a connection between them, and after a while, I don't think it would have worked out in this book anyway. Wrath is an evil demon prince who lies, and Emilia is fighting her way through grief and is working through her entire world changing. Now, if a romance does bud between them somehow in the next book… obviously, I'll gobble it up as long as it's done right, but if anything happened in this book beyond primal instinct and lust, I don't think it would have worked, so I'm glad not much happened in this book.
Witchy twins Emilia and Vittoria work at their parent's restaurant trying to blend in the human world in nineteenth-century Italy, when someone starts killing off witches, including Vittoria. With one twin tragically murdered, the other's Wrath is set off, and Emilia sets out for vengeance in a world of the Wicked that she will soon realize she knows little about.
The princes of Hell are demons and, well, evil, and they were. We saw Wrath take care of Emilia at times, but only because he had to because, ultimately, he was working for himself. I'm not sure how his character will change or grow in the next book, but in this book, he is wholly a Prince of Hell and acts like it: confident and selfish (but not without manners)
The lore woven through the book kept me hooked, and I loved meeting the different Princes of Hell. Meeting the others cannot come soon enough. Eagerness cannot describe how I feel about learning how the realm of Hell works, too, especially with Emilia now infiltrating it.
The writing was uncomplicated and easy to follow. The descriptions of characters, settings, and events were basic and clean.
Something that kind of nags at me is how unwise the MC could be at times. The character that can be a bit frustrating to me is the strong heroine MC that is supposed to save the world, but she's not that clever and cries a lot. Listen, I know she is going through grief and is supposed to be relatable, but I have read too many books with strong female leads that cry, choke back a sob, weep, and have eyes that well with tears that I quickly got over it and am now annoyed by it. If I'm being honest, many characters were annoying in this book. Why did the grandma keep so much of the truth hidden from the twins and then act resigned and shocked when shit started going down?
While the plot was fairly quick, it was obvious, convenient, and inconsistent. For an MC who is rarely smart enough to enter knowingly dangerous situations armed, she is saved quite a lot with no help from herself and her lack of clever thinking. There is also a LOT that isn't explained and just glossed over. Such as what the Hell Vittoria was up to, especially since so much of the plot started with her; once she died, we didn't learn or gain much from what she left behind, except for questions that kept piling up. I hope many of the holes left in this book are patched up in the next one.
Now let's talk about romance. I feel like the relationship between Wrath and Emilia persuades readers to pursue this book, but I didn't sense a connection between them, and after a while, I don't think it would have worked out in this book anyway. Wrath is an evil demon prince who lies, and Emilia is fighting her way through grief and is working through her entire world changing. Now, if a romance does bud between them somehow in the next book… obviously, I'll gobble it up as long as it's done right, but if anything happened in this book beyond primal instinct and lust, I don't think it would have worked, so I'm glad not much happened in this book.
I’m not typically a horror fan, and I’m not a gore fan…but Kerri Maniscalco has captured my heart!
I absolutely love her books, Stalking Jack the Ripper series had me on the edge of my seat the whole time!
So when I heard about this new series I couldn’t wait to devour it!
Steamy and HAWT! But dear god, Witches and Demons just waiting to steal your soul and sell it to the literal DEVIL!
With the devil so enticing how could you resist!
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