Actual rating: 4.5/5

"Kingdom of the Wicked" by Kerri Maniscalco is a story about a young woman who's revenge sends her straight into the arms of demons.

Emilia is the quiet twin. Where her sister sneaks out and parties, she stays in with a good book or busies herself coming up with new recipes for their family's trattoria. That is, until she stumbles on Vittoria's body who is the latest victim of a killer targeting Palermo's twelve witching families. Her twin's death and the grief that follows transforms her as she becomes more daring and driven. The more Princes of Hell she encounters, the more her desire for vengeance grows into an all consuming emotion. Even though Vittoria dies early on, Emilia's character is well established enough that the effects of her grief are startling. Her journey is interesting and well done, adding complexity to her character as she struggles to understand and handle her newfound desires. In fact, the closer to Wrath she gets, the more these come out. A subtle way this come out is the clothing, specifically Emilia's outfits. In the beginning, Emilia strives to be comfortable, specifically choosing that quality in her dresses, she also rejects the clothes Wrath offers her because of this. As her determination grows, she turns towards more elaborate and darker outfits.

Wrath is an interesting character. All her life, Emilia's been warned away from the Prince of Hell, but he's never dangerous towards her but, even when she attacks him, he's civil (if a bit sarcastic). The more we get to know him, the more his aloofness hides away a deeper, more complex personality. His growing closeness to Emilia inevitably brings this out as they play off each other. Meanwhile the enemies to friends dynamic they have going on is so deliciously complicated and good.

When it comes to relationships with secondary characters "Kingdom of the Wicked", isn't at the top of its game. Emilia's relationship with her family is very important in the beginning of the book, but the more the book progresses, the more it drops off the radar for no obvious reason. I found that to be disappointing given how much its emphasized early on.

Maniscalco's use of the 1st person POV gives the audience a one sided view of the story. However it also allows her to really centre the plot around Emilia's grief, which works really well. I found the plot to have a good pace, it starts out slow and picks up the pace the closer it gets to the climax, and kept me engaged throughout.
The writing in general is really good. It's full of metaphors and descriptions, but it only adds to the magic of the story as they're not so abundant that they bog down the text. For example, Emilia's family has a restaurant and the cooking features heavily in the first few chapters, helping to build the scene.

I did find the worldbuilding a bit lacking in some respects. The Princes of Hell, and their kingdom is described in detail, with customs and history adding to the world. However, there's very little information on the witching families or how magic works, beyond the interactions between the witches and the demons. I liked what Maniscalco has given us and I wish there had been more, especially given the fact that Emilia is a witch rather than a demon.

All in all, I really enjoyed "Kingdom of the Wicked" by Kerri Maniscalco. It's a fascinating story that I will definitely be continuing in the sequel!