Book review: Kingdom of the Wicked

 

Title: Kingdom of the Wicked

Genre: YA Fantasy

Pages: 372

My rating: 2/5

Synopsis:

Two sisters.
One brutal murder.
A quest for vengeance that will unleash Hell itself...
And an intoxicating romance.

Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria are streghe - witches who live secretly among humans, avoiding notice and persecution. One night, Vittoria 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 find her sister's killer and to seek vengeance at any cost—even if it means using dark magic that's been long forbidden.

Then Emilia meets Wrath, one of the Wicked—princes of Hell she has been warned against in tales since she was a child. Wrath claims to be on Emilia's side, tasked by his master with solving the series of women's murders on the island. But when it comes to the Wicked, nothing is as it seems...

I have a lot to say about this book, I don't usually write notes about what I want to write on a review, but unfortunately, Kingdom of the Wicked has shocked me in a negative way, and here I am, ready to show you why I didn't like this fantasy young adult.

There isn't much to explain about the plot and the concept. Our main character, Emilia, has a twin, Vittoria. Their life in Palermo is a life made of magic and fear, fear of the Wicked. They’re seven demons, brothers of the devil, and witch's sworn enemies. As witches themselves, the two sisters grow up hiding their gifts but always believing to be protected by two amulets: Kerri Maniscalco calls them Cornicelli, a south Italian superstitious symbol.

As time goes by, Vittoria and Emilia's grandmother-- Nonna Maria--, is extremely terrified by those demons, even though nothing seems to happen. Vittoria's life keeps going and for that, she gets killed. Emilia finds her dead body in the catacombs of a monastery, a man looms over the corpse, tasting the dead girl's blood. But the odds change, and so Emilia, while investigating her sister's murder, must team up with one of the Wicked.

“There are seven demon princes, but only four di Carlos should fear: Wrath, Greed, Envy, and Pride. One will crave your blood. One will capture your heart. One will steal your soul. One will take your life”

 

I don't want to say more about the plot, I don't want to do spoilers, since I want this review to be read even by those who still don't know what Kingdom of the Wicked is about.

Before analyzing the plot holes and inaccuracies I found while reading the book, I have to point out that even though my opinion isn't positive, it doesn't mean that you're not going to like the book. I'm talking as an Italian girl, a girl that wants to read an accurate representation of her own country and traditions, that's what made me dislike Kingdom of the Wicked in the first place. But as I said, it depends on your personal tastes and nothing more. So in this review, I'm not saying that Kingdom of the Wicked isn't a good book, it isn't in my personal preference.

Now let's delve into what really made me turn up my nose. Italy isn't a big country, but it has a lot of traditions and folklore that differs from region and region. Kingdom of the Wicked takes place in Palermo during the 19th century. Sicily, in general, is full of different traditions that I personally don't know, but by reading books about legends and folklore I'm quite certain that the author had a lot of material to use in her book, especially about witches and magic. But what did she choose to use? Nothing. What I read about folklore was from all over Italy, and it was just quoted or changed altogether. We don’t see anything typical, any tradition or costumes of the time.

The twins have two Cornicelli. They are known and used as lucky charms, and their shape resembles a red chili. Their power is to keep someone safe from hexes-- we call it malocchio--. But that's not the matter, since this "amulet" is used in Italian noon, so it could fit in a certain way, but it's the use that I didn't understand. I can't do spoilers, but the real usage of these two Cornicelli doesn't have any sense! Nonna Maria advise multiple times that the two Cornicelli should not be pulled together, and guess what they do when they’re still children? Yes, they kind of bring them closer, combining them. That’s what I really can’t understand! How could you unite and keep them closer as a whole as a single element if their shape doesn’t allow them to hook? Probably I lost some line where it’s explained (I hope so).

“When I grow up, I want to be a green witch,” Emilia said later, cradled in the nook of her sister’s arms. “I’ll grow all kinds of herbs. And have my own trattoria. My menu will be crafted of magic and moonlight. Like Nonna.”

Italy is beautiful, its gorgeousness still leaves me speechless, and reading this book, left me particularly upset by the lack of descriptions: no view, no physical description-- if not for Wrath's spectacular body--, we don't know anything about the historical setting. Palermo has its history and places that could have enriched the plot itself, but we have no background, no reference to what's happening, and TOO MANY plot holes. What we know about Palermo is Emilia and Vittoria's trattoria (I want to highlight that not only Kerry Maniscalco describes a ton of recipes, but they're also wrong. I kind of remember a bruschetta with pesto (?), or it had a Caprese on it (?), I'm not quite sure, but I was upset), then the city's features are blurred. The book could have been set in any other city in Italy even during our days, and it would have made no difference since there is no peculiar trait to the landscape and city.

Kerri Maniscalco dwells on witch hunters, benandanti (figures proper of north Italian folklore) that are extremely different from what they could traditionally do, types of magic that aren't explained, and questions that will never have an answer in book one. The fact that this book hasn't a real magic system left me confused about the story itself: we don't know what witches can and can't do, their source of power, or if words are necessary to conjure a spell since we watch Emilia use her magic sporadically. I can easily remember when she conjured Wrath, I was crying for what I was reading, but we should proceed in order. Even in the previous quote, we don't know what a green witch is, or a shadow witch and most of the time I was confused by all those things that seemed to have no answer.

Emilia calls Wrath using Latin words she didn't know that magically and totally by sheer luck, binds her to the prince of hell in a bond that prevents him from hurting her, but we quickly understand that there's something more about their link. What I'm trying to explain is that a well-thought-out magic system can't have a witch invoking demons by muttering unknown Latin words. It doesn't make sense.

 

“ I cursed him the entire way home, wondering why I’d gotten stuck with such a clothes-obsessed snob of a demon.”

Plus, we don't see Emilia using her magic. She's always in danger, but she's a witch, she has power and has the possibility to use her magic! She was always overwhelmed by fear, a human feeling, good, but she's not a simple human.

On the other hand, in that same chapter, we found a curse written in Neapolitan dialect that doesn't belong to Sicilian dialect. It's totally wrong and that made me understand that there has been no kind of research. It made me laugh, but it's a book published by a publishing house, I would have wanted to read the right Italian words!

What am I trying to say? Italy is stereotyped. What's the only trait of the main character? Cooking. She doesn't do magic, and she's a witch (no, I'll not stop repeating it because it doesn't make sense!) and yet she only cooks just like her whole family!

Doing research is what really creates a good book, but I don't see anything that made me think about Italy during the 19th century, and I'm so sad about that. Italy has a lot to offer, especially if we talk about traditions and unfortunately, there are few books that can picture my country in the right way.

Now let's talk about the two main characters. I normally prefer books where there are more characters than the main one and the love interest, but if they're characterized well I don't mind. In Kingdom of the Wicked, we meet Emilia as a young witch who cooks and cooks and cooks, nothing more. The author doesn't dig into her character, we don't know if she loves doing something, if she has a hobby, nothing. What we understand during the first pages of the book is that Emilia is kind of "in love" with a young priest who seems to flirt with her. It was quite awkward, but the most bizarre part was surely when Emilia summons Wrath. As a demon, I expected him to be mischievous, frightening, an immortal being that cannot be ruled by a witch that can't even cast a spell. Wrath is welcomed in a cave with his chest naked, and only a pair of leathery pants covering his legs. The author dwells a lot on Wrath's description-- a lot, really a lot-- and we suddenly know that we are in front of a beautiful man, the usual type of love interest in YA.

I wanted to like Wrath, but it wasn't easy, believe me. He doesn't have any back story, nor a characteristic that made him really interesting, he was simply gorgeous and not as clever as he thought to be.

“There was something about him that came across as lethally angelic. But if he ever had a halo, it was broken now.”

Their relationship looked too forced, I didn't feel the tension, nor the angst. They were strangers from the beginning till the end. I wanted at least their love story to be good, but I was disappointed all over again.

The resolution of the mystery was quite confusing and predictable. As I said before, Kerri Maniscalco introduces a lot of mythical figures from Italian folklore and others that were simply the common that I usually see in fantasy books. Benandanti (figures from North Italy) aren't shapeshifters, as the author describes them in the book, their real essence is far more complicated than that concept. All those things confuse the reader! There are also vampires and werewolves, they are only quoted a bunch of times, but we don't see them in action since they are not important for the plot.

I gave the book 2 stars because I liked how Kerri Maniscalco handled Emilia’s grief in a certain part of the book. The book ends with a cliffhanger, but I was quite disappointed because book one has been a mere “let’s get Emilia out of trouble” and I felt sorry for Wrath lol!

In the end, I can assure you that Kingdom of the Wicked is quite messy. It's an easy reading for sure, a book that can be easily enjoyed. I read a lot of positive reviews all over Instagram and bookstagram and I'm happy that a lot of people liked it, but unfortunately, it wasn't the same for me.

It's just my point of view, I don't want to criticize the author, but as I reader I need to express my honest opinion at least on this place that represents me 100%. I hope you liked my review, and the book too!