Kingdom of the Wicked (December 2020) Buddy Read Discussion ~ Alex & Gaea

[Aless, Discord/Readathon Procrastinator]

Welcome to the Kingdom of the Wicked Buddy Read Discussion thread! This thread officially opens on December 21st and anyone can join at any time. Please keep in mind that spoilers are allowed in this thread but only up to the group's current reading place. Do not spoil the book if you've read further than the group. Any extra days can be used to catch up!

Each day we will be reading by chapters or page numbers. Page numbers are an approximation based on the hardcover or paperback that is the default on Goodreads. The suggested Buddy Read discussion schedule is as follows:

Week of 12/21
December 21: Prologue + Chapters 1-10 or 100 pages
December 22: Chapters 11-20 or 100 pages
December 23: Chapters 21-30 or 100 pages
December 24: Chapters 31-40 or 100 pages
December 25: Chapters 41-48 or 100 pages


PARTICIPANTS
~ Alex
~ Gaea

[Alex (The Scribe Owl)]

Hi! I'm super excited to read this with you! I'm going to get a bit of an early start and start this tomorrow morning!

[Gaea]

I'm looking forward to this too! Although I'll be starting on the 21st like scheduled. I want to use tomorrow to try and clear my currently reading shelf.. (> u >)

[Alex (The Scribe Owl)]

Ah, I need to read my currently reading shelf too. I have a book I started in October but I haven't yet had time to finish!

Anyway, I read up to about page 150 today. I really love the book so far, from the Italian culture that dark tone I like so much in Kerri Maniscalco's books!

Spoiler for the prologue:
(view spoiler)[I just can't stop thinking about how it said that Vittoria got powers that she didn't tell anyone about, not just Emilia. I bet you that'll be important later! (hide spoiler)]

Spoilers for page 150:
(view spoiler)[I was wondering who that invisible demon is, and what if it's the devil? It could be one of the other seven Princes, but maybe it's the devil (hide spoiler)]

[Alex (The Scribe Owl)]

I just read another 150 pages and, no joke, I think this is a five-star read.

[Gaea]

I'm on chapter 12! It's been pretty interesting so far~

(view spoiler)[The Italian vibe is great, and the food descriptions make me feel hungry! I'm still not entirely sure what year this is supposed to be though...? It might have been in the book blurb and I just missed it. I just know it's not reading like a modern day setting.

Not going to lie, I am kind of disappointed that Wrath looks so human. Weird eyes and oddly coloured luccicare don't really spell out "demon-not-human" that well. Unless it's only a disguise to blend in with humans? And this is probably just me being picky, but the shirtless guy with a tattoo thing just... feels kind of cliched to me at this point. Actually, it's the whole tattoo / special mark thing in general that makes me go "Eh." But that's just me.

But I will admit, I like the whole enemies thing they have for each other~ Although when Emilia mentioned what words she planned to use for the summoning, I was like "Really? HA! SEE HOW WELL THAT WORKS FOR YOU." And I was right lol.

Also, I really want to know what Vittoria got herself into and why. And certain things make me wonder if Nonna has been telling the actual truth to her granddaughters - and what it is that makes her so afraid for them. Like, I haven't heard of any other witch being forced to wear a cornicello. Is it something about those twins in particular that make them so special / at risk?

So far this is looking to be a tentative 4 stars for me, but we'll see~ Still got a long way to go! (hide spoiler)]

[Alex (The Scribe Owl)]

I just finished! I didn't notice a date either, which would have been nice, but it felt like the 1800s. I agree that the tattoo thing has been a little overused (thanks Sarah J. Maas) but I didn't really mind. In the end, all the bad things were minor and drowned out by the good parts!

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Gaea]

You read it so fast! xD I read through your review (and thanks so much for the mention <3) and I agree with much of what you said, especially Emilia. I'm still on chapter 14 and the whole vengeance and power thing is already a bit much. But you mentioned her character arc, so now I have hope!

Also yes, this book should totally come with a warning label: "Beware: all readers must have food at hand before reading." lol

[Alex (The Scribe Owl)]

Thank you so much! I hope you love it! I can't wait to see your updates <3

[Gaea]

Finished, finally~ I'll admit, there were points when my attention just wavered and I had to force myself to keep reading. I ended up giving it a 3.5 star rating (and it's times like this when I wish GR would let us do half star ratings >.>).

Fair warning, I have a little bit of a (long) rant in the spoiler. ( > u > )

(view spoiler)[Ahh, where to begin...

My feelings for this are kind of all over the place. Let's see.. I didn't really find the beginning that great but it had the potential so I rolled with that thought. I maybe set my hopes for Emilia a little too high. I thought she would end up being a character I could relate to - especially in the beginning, when she mentioned that she liked getting lost in books, I thought "yes, me too, I like this girl already" - but it fizzled out with me getting annoyed by her more and more often.

The whole power and vengeance thing made me go "ehh" but that was workable. But I got irritated by how prejudiced and close minded and often hypocritical she got. I'm probably describing it worse than it was, but just what I read was enough to have me rolling my eyes at her a lot.

I think my main problem was a sense of disconnect between me and the story. It just didn't grip me enough to make me care about the characters. Like, even when poor Wrath got practically butchered, I thought he was an interesting character (far more than Emilia), even if he did seem overly fond of speaking in lengthy bursts of apparently demonic wisdom, but I still didn't feel much more than surprise and morbid curiosity and maybe a few winces considering where exactly the first stab was. Even when there was the slim chance he was actually dead, I just didn't care.

Oh, and I totally went "WT actual F" at the end. Because what. the. actual. F. Wanna predict that Wrath didn't answer Emilia's summons because he was busy being held captive by one of his arsehole brothers or, I don't know, healing from being gutted like a fish, and that by the time he pulled himself back together, his supposed bride-to-be had gone and married herself to his awful brother? Because if that was the case, then of-effing-course he is all cold and distant uncaring when he finally sees her again.

I feel like this is too negative haha, so here's some things I did like!
- the food descriptions, omg. I lost count of how many times I had to fight the urge to snack on something every time I came across one.
- Wrath being addicted to cannoli was adorable af
- the plot wasn't at all predictable! and I still have mixed feelings over the way it ended
- umm.. I like Italy? Does that count? xD

In short: Emilia is a vengeance-hungry diva who I want to slap, Wrath is a cryptic dude I want to know the backstory of and who should make the demonic equivalent of chinese wisdom cookies, and I feel like I got dragged along for a ride only to end up at a destination I still can't decide if it's good or not.

(Also, I'm not going to lie. I totally spent all this book imagining Greed as the Greed from FMA/FMAB. Because I am a terrible person. #shameless) (hide spoiler)]

[Alex (The Scribe Owl)]

Yeah, I didn't really care for Emilia. Wrath though... xD <3333

[Gaea]

Ahh, Wrath... She totally did not deserve him or his amazing level
of patience. I'll admit, at the moment I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be upset if they didn't end up together by the end. As Emilia is right now, Wrath deserves someone better.