Kingdom of the Wicked: Pick it up or put it down?

I love stories about witches and demons and vampires, oh my! Usually I can pick up those books and devour them with about as much gusto as a 100-year-old vampire devouring that 17-year-old, innocent girl in high school (but I mean…which is rarer – the vampire or the innocent teenage girl???). 

I get so psyched when books come out about witches and demons so you know I got excited about Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco. The ratings were good, Amazon and Goodreads kept recommending it to me, and every young adult list from here to Book Riot included it. So of course I picked it up…and then put it back down in disappointment.

The Gist

Kingdom of the Wicked follows two twin witches, Emilia and Vittoria, with magic beyond their own imagination. When they dabble in magic they don’t completely understand, the consequences are life and death. After Emilia finds Vittoria’s body, she will stop at nothing to find her twin’s killer. Demons are summoned and Emilia goes on a quest for vengeance in this story full of mystery and a dash of forbidden romance.

How can a story that sounds so good be so bleh? 

That’s a fantastic question. And to be honest, the story itself is pretty good. The history and the characters are really thought out and imaginative. I think my main problems lie with the main heroine and the pace of the story.

Our Lovely Heroine 

I pretty much detested the heroine, Emilia, the entire book. She is so wishy washy, unreasonable, and stubborn. I wanted to shake her out of the hole she kept digging for herself. I really couldn’t stand her. The main squeeze in this book, the dark and deviant demon Wrath, kept me reading this story. Otherwise I would have thrown in the towel after the 12th time Emilia felt she was 100% certain of something before being shown how truly wrong she was. And the “Will she? Won’t she?” that goes on with Wrath made me grind my teeth!

The Pace of the Story

Well folks, this story was not Usain Bolt. More like that poor tortoise that slowly gets through the race. The beginning starts off with a bang but after Emilia’s twin sister dies the story kind of goes with her. Chasing murderers should be gripping but I felt my attention drifting often. I started to skim through some parts of the book because I didn’t think they added anything particularly riveting. Emilia spends the entire book looking for Vittoria’s murderer and never actually uncovers the mystery of Vittoria’s death. 

I get it’s a series but the plot line was so stagnant. It felt like the story repeated itself – (1) Emilia thinks it’s a certain demon; (2) Emilia believes herself to be super duper powerful and confronts said demon; (3) Emilia gets thrown out. Repeat ad nauseum.

Is the sequel in my future?

I really wanted to like this book so I almost talked myself into reading the sequel, Kingdom of the Cursed. After giving it due consideration, I’ve decided to pass on the rest of this series. I just can’t get behind Emilia so I think the story is just not for me. The series has garnered a LOT of good reviews though so feel free to pick it up for yourself and let me know what you think!