BOOK REVIEW: Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco

A wonderfully dark fantasy answering the question, what would you do to avenge your sister?

This book has been on my TBR list for a really long time, and I finally decided to just read it. WOW!  I’m so glad I did and am so mad that I didn’t read it earlier. I loved it! At least I don’t have to wait for the next two books to be released! It’s the small things in life!

Emilia and Vittoria are twins living with their family in Palermo, Sicily. They help their parents in the family restaurant and share all their secrets with each other. They are also witches keeping themselves hidden in a world that doesn’t know they exist. Then the world begins to fall apart. Witches are being found murdered, and even with the warnings of their grandmother, Nonna, the girls continue their lives, until Emilia discovers Vittoria murdered. This changes everything in Emilia’s life and leads her down a path of dark and darker magic as she attempts to discover her sister’s killer.

The setting is perfect. I don’t know why an Italian/Sicilian setting seems to enhance the worlds of witchcraft, but it does for me. I’m also a little partial to Palermo because my husband’s family is from the same city. Right!?!? What are the chances?  I didn’t even know this was the setting until I started reading. The Monastery, the cave, the hidden establishments that exist right in front of everyone all add to the atmospheric development and the culture and beliefs of those in the community.

As the first book of a series, there was a lot of time and energy spent in developing the world and the history of this pretty dark world.  There are only a few families of witches and the Kingdom of the Wicked contains the seven princes of Hell, named after the seven deadly sins with Pride basically being the devil. There are numerous “rules” and “protocols” and “limitations” regarding how the worlds work together and how the Princes can be summoned into our world.

Emilia learns more than she ever knew about her lineage, her sister and Nonna. (Nonna is one of my favorite characters!) As the story progresses more and more information is provided, slowly filling in the gaps with details that help explain what is happening and why. These tidbits impact Emilia’s own character development as she slips further and further into the world of vengeance and dark magic. There is clearly a reason that she is able to summon Wrath over anyone else.

But, as the gates of Hell begin to crumble, we get to see some of the lesser demons. The creativity in how the author brings these characters to life in the dark allies of Palermo or in the dark tunnels of the Monastery just make the book more engaging. There just always seemed to be something around the corner that you didn’t see coming…literally.

I feel for Emilia as she is more than she knows and that ignorance causes certain things to happen to her. As her self discovery grows, her anger grows. She becomes more of an anti-hero than your classic fantasy heroine. Maybe that’s what I find so intriguing about her. She is fueled and motivated by grief and vengeance, and she is willing to sacrifice herself if it is a means to achieving her endgame. However, she is very protective of her family. That is a softer side of her that helps to balance her character. She definitely is not one dimensional.

We learn a lot about Wrath because he is summoned by and connected to Emilia. There is clearly more than meets the eye about him, and he is holding out on telling her everything. We love him one second and then hate him the next. He protects Emilia but what is his own endgame? Is it connected to the curse that Pride is trying to break? A curse that while not directly the cause of Vittoria’s death, is ultimately the reason she and the other witches are being killed.

As you all know, I have big opinions about the endings of books. This one was great. I loved the solution of who killed Vittoria and the other witches. Like, it was great. Definitely caught me by surprise. And while I wasn’t overly surprised by how book 2 was set up regarding some of Emilia’s decisions, I did really enjoy how she has come to fully embrace the darker side of who she is.

Where does this land on my bookshelf?

Top shelf for sure!  I hadn’t read a fantasy book in a while and really needed to read something in my comfort genre, and this book has been sitting on my shelf for a while. I couldn’t have been happier with my choice, and now I’m trying to figure out when I want to read book 2. We got to met five of the seven brothers of Hell, and I’m certain that we will see Sloth and Gluttony at some point in the next one. I loved the “snake” scene and the immediate fallout. I loved how closely the side characters impacted Emilia. There was just so much I loved that I found it really hard to put down. I highly recommend this book to any fantasy lover!

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