The third book in Kerry Maniscalco’s Kingdom of the Wicked series, Kingdom of the Feared, published 27 September 2022, is hailed as YoungAdult/16+ on the big retail platforms. It’s not, trust me. It’s so adult that you can’t even call it New Adult.

In book 2, Kingdom of the Cursed, Emilia was openly lusting after Wrath and there were some explicit scenes in the novel.

I didn’t expect book 3 to have less sex, but it’s supposed to be a fantasy romance. Imagine my surprise when Emilia basically offered herself on a silver platter from page one. Where’s the romance in that? Sex is not romance and I shudder at the thought that this novel might be read by YA readers thinking it was.

If you want to read the book(s) without spoilers, please stop reading here.

Tiny recap: Book 1 introduces Emilia and her twin sister Vittoria, who are witches in a long line of Sicilian witches. They’ve been told not to engage in black magic and to fear the demons of hell. Vittoria is killed at the beginning of the story and Emilia tries to find her killer. She summons a demon of hell to help her, who turns out to be Wrath, a prince of hell.

In book 2 Emilia and Wrath make their way to the seven kingdoms of hell. Emilia is to marry the Devil, who turns out not to be Pride, but Wrath. At the end of the book all that is left for Emilia and Wrath to do to seal their marriage/bargain is to have sexual intercourse; and by that I mean penis in vagina, any other form of sex they’ve had before was just foreplay. But, just as they are about to get down to business, Emilia finds out that her sister Vittoria might still be alive.

Book 3 then opens with Emilia trying to seduce Wrath, who still goes out of his way to give Emilia space and breathing room to decide whether she actually wants to enter this marriage. Emilia wants this marriage, or does she just want to bone Wrath? Not quite sure. Whenever they are together Emilia’s libido is in overdrive and all she can think about [and tells the reader all over and over and over] is how hot and bothered Wrath makes her feel and how much she wants and needs him. Before you reach chapter ten, Emilia has taken off her clothes several times and tried to climb her prince of hell in different ways, she even went down on him in a gondola.

Unfortunately, every time Emilia wants to seal their bargain by banging Wrath, a tiny bit of plot happens. For example, Vittoria is not dead, she’s in league with werewolves. Also, Vittoria tries to force Emilia to remember her former life, because Emilia is neither a mortal, nor a witch. Furthermore there are vampires and all the princes of hell and machinations. Secrets are unravelled, the ancient curse is lifted [yay!] and it all feels bland. Just as bland as a porn film, where some sort of plot has to happen that leads you from one scene of bippity-boppety to the next.

The last chapter of the book hints at a spin-off series about Pride and Vittoria and Lucia. If that happens, I’m rooting for Lucia and Vittoria to get together, but would expect some sort of threesome to happen. [If you are wondering who Lucia is, it’s a character from book 1 on, but I won’t spoil who exactly here.]

Long story short: Read this book if you liked SJM’s ACOTAR. Or if you like shifter literotica/romance stories with possessive males and strong-yet-not-in-need-but-actually-kind-of-in-need-of-protection females. The whole family of princes of hell reminded me of a werewolf pack and/or a coven/seethe/sucking(?) of vampires – or maybe I just read too many Patricia Briggs and JR Ward novels.

2/5 Harpy Eagles