5 stars. A truly magical read (October 2020).
(Photo credit: Target)
“A good book [is] its own brand of magic”
This is a quote pulled from Kerri Maniscalco’s Kingdom of the Wicked, which is, itself, a quintessential example of a bewitching novel infused with magic. Within its pages, the lush, rich setting of 19th century Sicily serves as a backdrop for the gorgeously intense story of Emilia di Carlo as she struggles with tragedy, love, demons, and the battle between good and evil.
Despite Emilia’s status as a secret eighteen-year-old witch, she and her twin sister Vittoria have long lived in relative peace with their parents and grandmother (who they call Nonna), working at the family restaurant and carefully avoiding using dark magic. Yet Emilia’s world is ripped away when she finds Vittoria’s mutilated corpse in a nearby monastery. In order to avenge the death of her sister, Emilia throws herself into identifying Vittoria’s murderer; she discovers that witches all around Sicily are being killed in the same way her twin was and finds herself using the dark magic she and her family had sworn off. But as she attempts to unravel the truth, she realizes that her twin’s death is part of a much larger, much more deadly fight born in the bowels of Hell. While battling demonic princes representing each of the seven deadly sins attempting to claim her and bloodthirsty demons attacking her city, she becomes integral to a struggle of cosmic proportions.
I pride myself on being able to predict, with relative accuracy, the endings of books. However, while there were some predictable parts of Kingdom of the Wicked, its intricate plot generally kept me guessing and its twist ending left me thoroughly surprised. I did find the beginning—the first two or three chapters—a bit slow for my taste, but I am pleased to say, after this, the plot accelerated astronomically and became very enjoyable. I found the complexity of the story—and of the mystery surrounding Vittoria’s death—one of the best qualities of this book: it’s puzzling and truly gets you thinking.
The plot’s virtues are only strengthened by Emilia as the main character. Although she is not a particularly “unique” character in the realm of young adult fiction, I think she fits the story very well. She is determined, caring, and cautious, and her perspective is easy to comprehend as a reader. Also, Emilia is flawed, and these imperfections make her rich and complex to read.
Furthermore, Emilia’s character and that of the love interest work very well in harmony—their personalities are well contrasted and they highlight each other’s best and worst traits. This strong characterization greatly contributes to a beautifully written, well-developed romance that is the epitome of a slow-burn. Maniscalco’s magical writing style only adds to the intense nature of the romance with phrases like, “It was damnation and salvation wrapped into one.” However, while romance is definitely an important part of the book, it is by no means the main point; rather, the central plot and the romance are intertwined.
Maniscalco’s engaging plot, characters, and romance are set against the luscious backdrop of 19th century Sicily, which serves to add to the overall beauty of Kingdom of the Wicked. The glamour of the setting was beautifully described by Maniscalco and ultimately made the novel enjoyable to read. Although there were a few places in the book that I thought did not perfectly align with the setting, they were small, brief issues that I could set aside.
In general, all aspects of Maniscalco’s novel—plot, characterization, romance, setting—evoked a sense of magic and true fantasy. For me, what tied all these themes together was the beauty of Maniscalco’s prose. Her imagery is gorgeous; she writes that “moonlight spilled like silver blood across the rooftops, and dribbled onto the streets,” which is one of my favorite sentences in the book. Her commanding use of language and rhetorical devices meant that while I was reading her novel, I felt as if I had been sucked into an entirely new, magical world.
Although I generally loved how Maniscalco dove deeply into specific elements of Emilia’s story, there were a few things that she wrote about at length that I found relatively insignificant to the plot. For one, random words in Italian were commonplace, which could get on some readers’ nerves (personally, I found them occasionally irritating but didn’t take a huge issue). Also, there were a lot of in-depth descriptions of food which served to develop Emilia’s love for cooking. However, especially in the beginning, this food imagery was very prevalent and even overwhelming. While I don’t think such an in-depth exploration of these particular themes was truly necessary to the story, this element of Maniscalco’s book was by no means a deal-breaker for me.
Ultimately, Kerri Maniscalco’s Kingdom of the Wicked is engaging, intense, and truly magical. I immensely enjoyed reading it and am impatiently waiting for the sequel. Although it does involve a lot of young adult/fantasy tropes (enemies to lovers, prophecy, marriage), they were incorporated so well into the plot that I didn’t mind.
Very occasionally, right after finishing a book, there will be a short period of time when I just can’t stop smiling. Kingdom of the Wicked did this for me. If you love intense, complicated plots marked by luxurious imagery, slow-burn romance, and lovable characters, it might just do the same for you.
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