Book Review: Kingdom of the Wicked

 Book Review: Kingdom of the Wicked

By Kerri Maniscalco

Emilia and Vittoria, twin sisters who are also witches living among humans. Together with their family, live in hiding to keep from prosecution for being who they are. One night, when Vittoria fails to come home Emilia looks for her sister only to find her body cut open without her heart. Emilia is heartbroken from the death of her twin and vows to figure out what happened to her. 

Using dark magic Emilia conjures Wrath, one of the Wicked-princes of Hell. Throughout her childhood Emilia was told stories of the princes and their evil doings, but there is more to Wrath than old stories. He hateful but seems to be on Emilia's side. But as a prince of Hell is he trustworthy? Because in these trying times, not everything is what it seems.

Kingdom of the Wicked is the first novel in Kerri Maniscalco's newest series. Following Emilia, a young witch searching for whoever or whatever killed her twin sister. She had always been told stories of the Kingdom of the Wicked and princes of Hell. After using dark magic to conjure a demon to help her find who murdered her sister, she conjures Wrath one of the princes of Hell. 

The story continues with meeting the other princes of Hell, learning more about Emilia's family and the intentions of the characters. 

I liked the character of Emilia, she is innocent and doesn't have a lot of knowledge of the Wicked besides from the stories during her childhood. She knows some magic but makes mistakes. She does seem hotheaded but it's understandable considering her sisters death, but in some moments she did strange things and could be annoying. 

Wrath, while likeable does remind me of Thomas Cresswell from Maniscalco's Stalking Jack the Ripper series. While his character is well written, I do think Maniscalco has practice writing that type of character from her other books. 

I did really like the setting and the story of the Kingdom of the Wicked. The plot was intriguing but the mystery was easy to figure out. I did guess what happened to Vittoria instantly after Emilia found her body. 

Overall, I would give this novel ⭐⭐⭐✯ (3.5) review. I did enjoy the novel as a whole, I didn't care for it being left on a cliffhanger but I would read the next books. I enjoyed the characters but they did have their moments I thought were downfalls to their character development but I liked the plot and excited to see where the story goes. 

This novel was published on October 27, 2020

Thank you Jimmy Patterson and NetGalley for ARC in exchange for a honest review! 💛