I heard a lot of different things about this book, I saw it everywhere in booktok and luckily it was the bookclub reading choice for the month of August, so I had an excuse to finally be able to read it.
The reviews I saw before starting were really general, so I didn’t know what to spect more than witchcraft, demons, and that kind of dark fantasy I actually enjoy a lot, so I tried to have an open mind at the beginning.
Kingdom of the Wicked is the story of Emilia, a witch who lives with her family in Sicily, she has a twin sister, Vittoria, and they must live in secret to avoid all the persecutions and assaults against them. One day, witches are brutally murdered but no one knows who’s the responsible of those horrendous acts. Then, one of those victims is Emilia’s twin sister Vittoria, Emilia ignored all the warnings and started a journey to find out who was the killer of her sister, and of course, revenge.
I would like to divide this review in three points that for me explain perfectly this book.
1. Italian Food
If you read the author’s dedication at the beginning you would know she has a very strong connection with Italy because her great grandparents immigrated from Sicily and they used to have an Italian restaurant who inspired a lot the story, and it’s true, because the story is settle in Italy, and the amount of recipes I want to try now is crazy lol, sometimes I was hungry while reading.
2. Witchcraft… the real one.
Ok, maybe not the real one, but a pretty close one. I’m a big fan of the dark fantasy, gothic style. Since we’re located in the nineteenth century Sicily, I think that was a better touch for the perfect dark ambience, plus all the witches, demons and more paranormal creature we love in this type of stories. I really like the type of witchcraft Kerri presented here, it was realistic, and honest, nothing out of normal and very similar and connected to actual Wicca, so many plants and colors and nature, you know, that kind of magic people ignored its magic. The mention of hell, the Devil, demons, etc… it reminded me a lot of the kind of witchcraft we saw the first seasons of Sabrina, but better.
3. Wrath
You cannot tell me the freaking dreamy hot guy / love interest is a demon… like, I already have enough book boyfriends to add a prince of hell to the list. I mean, I’m going to add it anyways and love him but still hahaha. Wrath is a charming prince, you cannot tell me he’s not. I LOVE the enemies-to-lovers trope, it’s one of my favorites, Wrath is very dark, obviously, his a prince of hell, but his actually dangerous. When their paths collided, it’s very obvious that Wrath darkness started changing a little bit when he’s with Emilia, they have amazing chemistry and you actually wanted to know more about them.
I have to admit that at the beginning I was a little bit concern because it was way too slow for my taste, but I liked a lot more when I continued reading (and of course because of Wrath hehehe). This novel is very interesting, with a good amount of mystery and dark love, I didn’t like a couple of things but overall its a great story and you’ll eat very fast this novel if you’re into this genre. I really want to know what’s going to happen next.
4/5 ⭐️
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