Book Review: Kingdom of the Wicked

I’ve had the Kingdom of the Wicked trilogy by Kerri Mansicalco on my tbr for a while and since the last book in the series came out in the fall I recently got the box set.

Kingdom of the Wicked takes place in Sicily, Italy and follows 18 year old, Emilia di Carlo. She and her twin sister, Vittoria, are witches or streghe. For their whole lives, their nonna has told them stories about witches and demons. They are good witches who do not dabble in the dark arts. But when her sister starts acting strangely and Emilia thinks it could be more than just sneaking around with a secret boyfriend, Emilia starts to suspect Vittoria is experimenting with dark magic. A few witches have been killed recently and nonna wants the girls to be more careful going out on their own. One night Emilia finds her sister, brutally murdered with her heart ripped out like the other slain witches. Vowing to find who is responsible and avenge her sister’s death, Emilia has to team up with someone she has been taught all her life not to trust – Wrath, one of the princes of hell.

I loved the book. The world Mansicalco created is so interesting and detailed. I loved Emilia. She’s such a good character and realistic (because being a witch in Sicily is totally realistic). She’s not perfect, but she didn’t bother me/annoy me with constant bad choices either. All of her “not smart” decisions were understandable and believable. And I love Wrath! New book boyfriend alert. The tension and angst between them was perfection. I really liked how he’s supposed to be this evil prince of hell, but all his actions have shown that maybe there’s more to him than he’s portrayed as. He’s protective of Emilia, but doesn’t coddle her. I can’t wait to see what happens with them in the next two books, especially after the cliff hanger in this book.

Have you read this series?

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