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

Kingdom of the Wicked (Kingdom of the Wicked #1)
By Kerri Maniscalco

Published By: Hodder and Stoughton
Publication Date: October 27, 2020
Date Read: August 8, 2021
Genre: NA – Fantasy
Source: Bought
Format: Hardback
Pages: 372

From Goodreads:
Emilia and her twin sister Victoria are streghe – witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Victoria 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 discover who did this, and to seek vengeance at any cost—even if it means using dark magic that’s been long forbidden.

Then Emilia meets Wrath, the outlier among the seven demon brethren, always choosing duty over pleasure. He’s been tasked by his master with investigating a series of women’s murders on the island. When Emilia and Wrath’s fates collide, it’s clear this disturbing mystery will take a bewitching turn…

Kerri Maniscalco introduces her next series, a dark tale of a beautiful young witch, a troubled demon, and their epic romance, set against a 19th century Italian backdrop.

“Love is the most powerful magic. Above all else, remember that. It wull always guide you where you need to go.”

Kingdom of the Wicked has been on my TBR since it first released. I got it as part of my Fairyloot box late 2020 and it has just sat looking pretty on my bookcase since then. I have heard so many amazing things about this book and it made me so excited to finally read it. I am so glad that I finally picked this one up. I really enjoyed reading Kingdom of the Wicked. It’s a very dark and glorious storyline and I really became very engrossed in it.

Kingdom of the Wicked is my first read from Kerri Maniscalco and I am very impressed. I know she had some fantastic success with her Stalking Jack the Ripper series, which I do have on my wishlist, I just never got around to getting it and reading. I am so glad I’ve finally been introduced to her work. I really love her writing style. It’s very easy to read and you find it so easy to just get lost in her words and devour the book in just a couple of sittings. I will definitely be checking out her other work in the future.

I loved the characters throughout this book. I really loved how she linked the lore of the seven deadly sins into the Princes of Hell. I found this super original. I have read a lot of books with demons and Princes of Hell but I’ve never seen it done before using the seven deadly sins and I really loved that twist on it. She took something that has been done a lot but brought it into something totally new. I really found myself absolutely loving Emilia and Wrath. The further I got through this book, the more I was wishing they would get together already. I’m really hoping the romance between them will be a big part of the next book.

I really enjoyed Kingdom of the Wicked but I didn’t seem to love it quite as much as a lot of my friends did. It’s a really good read but I didn’t feel like it was unputdownable. I think it definitely has the potential to get there and for me to be completely obsessed with this series in the later books, but I just felt like this one was building that up. I am really looking forward to reading the next book and I can’t wait to get it in October. This is definitely worth the read, if you haven’t read it yet, I highly recommend you pick it up soon. It would be the perfect Halloween read.

“Go be brave. Your heart will conquer darkness. Trust in that.”

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