19 books we can’t wait to get our hands on in 2019

The Wicked King – Holly Black

Earlier this year, Holly Black’s The Cruel Prince took readers on an adventure to the dark and whimsical world of Faerie. She introduced Jude, a young girl who was taken to Faerie by her mother’s former lover and raised there, despite being a human being. She spends the majority of The Cruel Prince trying to prove herself worthy of knighthood, an attempt to “best” the faeries who sneer at and reject her for being mortal.

In the second Folk of the Air novel, The Wicked King, Jude will return with a new mission in mind: to protect her younger brother Oak, the rightful heir to Faerie’s throne. To do that, she must keep Cardan on the throne until her brother comes of age—an onerous task given that he’s the “wicked king” the novel is named for.

It doesn’t help that Cardan appears determined to sabotage all of Jude’s efforts to help him, even in spite of his bizarre fascination with her. And to make matters worse, Jude discovers that someone close to her is threatening to betray her and those she loves—something she must put a stop to if she has any hope of successfully seeing her brother to adulthood and his throne.

The Cruel Prince laid the foundation for the dangerous and political story Jude has fallen into, but The Wicked King seems to take tensions to an all new level. The stakes are higher for Jude, and the feelings between her and Cardan are likely to become even more complicated given their close proximity. Whether readers are in it for the politics or the romance, The Wicked King doesn’t sound like it will disappoint.

The Wicked King hits bookstores on Jan. 8, making it the perfect book to kickstart the year.