Als Abschlussband der Wicked-Reihe hatte ich hohe Erwartungen - leider wurde ich stark enttäuscht. Die Geschichte war voller Plotholes, und viele Aspekte, die zuvor als wichtig dargestellt wurden, wurden plötzlich irrelevant. Das wirkte, als hätte man den roten Faden verloren. Hinzu kommt der völlig unpassende Einsatz von Spice an den unpassendsten Stellen. Statt die Handlung voranzutreiben oder Spannung aufzubauen, wirkte es oft fehl am Platz und störend. Besonders frustrierend war, dass zentrale Konflikte oder Probleme scheinbar durch Sex "gelöst" wurden - das machte einfach keinen Sinn und wirkte oberflächlich und erzwungen. Insgesamt hat das Buch für mich leider jegliche Konsistenz und Tiefe verloren. Ein enttäuschender Abschluss für eine Reihe, die vielversprechend begann.

📚 Inhalt Emilia befindet sich noch immer in der Hölle, doch nicht nur physisch sondern mittlerweile auch psychisch. Denn ihre totgeglaubte Schwester Vittoria wurde nicht ermordet. Sie hat ihren eignen Tod vorgetäuscht um sich ihr Leben in der Hölle ungestört aufbauen zu können. Emilia muss sich eingestehen, dass ihre Schwester nicht diejenige ist, für die sie sich gehalten hat. Inmitten von Hexen, Dämonen und Gestaltwandlern muss Emilia sich in ihrer neuen Situation zurecht finden, bevor sie in den Intrigen der Höllenprinzen untergeht. 📖 Meinung Zum Glück ist es endlich vorbei. Ich bin so enttäuscht, wie sich die Geschichte entwickelt hat. Mit jedem Satz wurde die Handlung unglaubwürdiger und abgedrehter, ich weiss gar nicht wo ich anfangen soll. Emilia muss ursprünglich eine Aufgabe lösen. Doch mit dem Lösen der Aufgabe kommen zwei neue. Und dann wieder und wieder… Dann ist die Hölle plötzlich Hotspot der Fabelwesen. You name it, we’ve got it. Alles, was man sich irgendwie vorstellen kann, tummelt sich gemütlich in der Hölle und möchte auch noch kurz für 2 Sätze Erwähnung finden. Nicht zu vergessen der für mich schlimmste Part: die so genannten spicy-Szenen. Ich hätte kotzen können, so furchtbar war es. Alle 3-4 Seiten wurden die beiden Hormonbomben Emilia und Wrath von einer Lust gepackt, dass sie sich kaum mehr kontrollieren konnten und eigentlich an Ort und Stelle los gelegt haben. Man merkt also, dass die Geschichte ziemlich voll ist. Und zu den ganzen Themen kommen Plottwist hinzu, dass mir die Handlung nur so um die Ohren flog. Es war unlogisch und manchmal fast ein wenig lächerlich. Der ganze Fokus liegt auf Emilia und Wraths Liebesleben. Doch die wirklich spannenden Dinge finden kaum Platz. Vittoria erhält kaum Gelegenheit, sich zu äussern. Sie wird ganz plötzlich als Antagonistin präsentiert und ich konnte das kaum nachvollziehen. Auch Emilia ging es gleich und richtig aufgelöst wurde es nie, es war wichtiger noch eine Sexszene zwischen Emilia und Wrath aufs Papier zu bringen. Auch die Auflösung des Cornichellos erhält nur einen netten Nebensatz. Man hätte so viel mehr daraus machen können, als es die Autorin aufgelöst hat. Sehr schade, wirklich. Leider muss ich zum Abschluss der Trilogie sagen, dass es einfach nur schade ist, wie sich die Geschichte entwickelt hat. Das Setting und die Zeit waren ungewöhnlich und anders als gewohnt. Die Paarung kochende Hexe und griesgrämiger Dämon hatte ebenfalls viel Potential, genauso wie ihre gemeinsame Suche nach dem Hexenmörder. Doch diese guten Ideen wurde verdrängt für Sex und Ballkleider. Einfach nur schade. Leider kann ich die Reihe gar nicht empfehlen. Aber mein Herz hängt trotzdem am ersten Teil.

Giving KOF this rating really hurts my soul. My heart is aching but sadly for the wrong reasons. Don't get me wrong! I love Kerri, she is my all-time favourite author and I would read everything she writes even if it's just a recipe book. But compared to her other works KOTF just kind of felt lack luster and anticlimatic. There wasn't much tension and that for a multitude of reasons. The first half of the book felt like Emilias and Wraths romantic connection only existed because of sex. Even though we as a reader knew they shared a history together, it made no sense that Emilia thought of him as her soulmate when all they did was doing the devils tango in every situation that occured. I usually don't mind a good smut scene if it's in tasteful measurement and if the timing of it is chosen visely. But a lot of smut scenes in this book took away from the importance and supposed urgency of the ongoing plotlines. And that got quite annoying after a few chapters. Also the murder mystery sadly felt really forced and out of place and I think there were enough more important plotlines Kerri could've focused on and fleshed out more instead. What was refreshing and nice though was that we got some more interactions between the seven princes of hell. That was very nice and in some way absolutely wholesome. In the end I am just left dissatisfied and with a lot of unanswered questions in my head. For example, what did they do with the loaded Blade Of Ruination? Where did the Crone go and what is her purpose/goal with all of this? What went down in heaven so that all the seven princes got banished to hell in the end? Who hurt Envy? And what got stolen from the other princes besides Wrath and Pride?

I’m happy to report I finally finished the series and after reading part three, I have to say that part two remains my favorite. In this book I got so annoyed sometimes, especially with the ways the author interrupted the relationship between Emilia and Wrath yet again. Some scenes were immensely cringe, as a young person of this century would call it. The story was ok, it just never gave me the feeling of being completely hooked. Still a nice read with a couple of plot twists and a gothicy setting in hell.

Firstly I must admit this book took me months to finish. I cannot describe how many reading slumps it caused me to have. Despite that it turned into a good end to the Trilogy. Due to the long reading procress I cannot really give an adequate review on the book as a whole. 𝗪𝗵𝘆 3 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘀? ⭐ As mentioned I couldn't enjoy this book until I read the last 20% of it. I truly enjoyed the vibes and world and storyline but also at some points it was quite repetitive and sadly not as exciting. Nonetheless I am glad to have finished this series and I can say it was an okay experience.

This book was good overall but not my favorite of the series. There were some nice plottwists and after this book I want to read more about the other princes and their lives. The realtionship between Emilia and wrath was a bit to much at some points. There were moments in this book as well as in the entire series where I wished for more plot and less of their love. I’m glad Vittoria got her reputation back and that the sister’s relationship moved on. Would love to have a story about pride and Lucia.

Rating actually 2.5 stars. I honestly don't know what to say about this read. It was ok, I guess? Not great (but not necessarily bad), just... ok. The plot twists and "revelations" in this book were wild. So wild that at some point I questioned whether the storytelling was consistent. Perhaps memory loss is not my favorite trope. I can't really point out the things that irritated me without spoilers so I'm just going to point out that, like with the other books of the series, I can see the appeal. It just didn't appeal to me. This series will never be one of my favorites but that's fine (except Sloth. I'll cherish that character lol). I crossed it off my tbr and can now move on.

Ich habe diese Reihe geliebt!! Die Protagonisten und auch fast alle anderen Charaktere, wie zum Beispiel die anderen Prinzen, haben es geschafft mein Herz zu erobern. Die Reihe hat immer wieder weitere Geheimnisse hervorgerufen, die es halt zu entlüften und nach und nach ist dies in dem letzten Band gelungen. Das ganze Buch war eine Mischung aus Spannung, Brutalität, Romantik, Spice und so vielen anderen Dingen. Es hat alle Aspekte eines guten Buches erfüllt.

I loved the writing as always, Kerri Maniscalco truly has some magic to her words. The story itself unfolded nicely und surprisingly for the most part and I enjoyed it. Though I liked her crime series better, I feel like it suited her better than fantasy. It also felt like that there are some loose ends and potential for a fourth book and missed chances to dive deeper in certain plot events that kept hanging loose. Also like with the last book it was sometimes weird to me as a Christian to read about this version of Hell but that’s just a personal issue. All in all it was an enjoyable read and I’m so excited what she’s going to write next!!!

Die Rezi ist leider nicht spoilerfrei. 🚨‼️ 😫 KotW3 hätte so gut werden können aber ich bin einfach nicht (wieder) warm geworden mit der ganzen Geschichte. Emilia als Hauptcharakter hat eine Entwicklung gemacht, ich fand sie in Band 3 tatsächlich weniger nervig als davor, aber sie war immer noch sehr whiny. 🥲 Wrath konnte das ganze für mich auch nicht retten ehrlich gesagt. Überrascht haben mich die anderen Höllenfürsten und Vittoria. Vittoria war eine bad ass queen 👑 und ich habe es geliebt. Auch die Hintergründe von Pride, Greed und Envy fand' ich sehr interessant. Wenn alle Höllenfürsten versammelt waren, hatte ich auch immer was zu lachen. 😋 Das ist auch der Grund wieso ich dem Spin Off noch eine Chance geben werde. 😌 Das Buch hatte einige gute Twists und Geheimnisse die endlich gelüftet wurden ABER trotzdem hat für mich einfach die Spannung gefehlt und die letzten 200 Seiten des Buches hätte ich gar nicht gebraucht. 😅🫣 Und können wir bitte über die 🌶️ Szenen reden!? Bei Band 1 und 2 war der Slow Burn richtig gut aber als es dann richtig zur Sache ging aber immer nur angedeutet wurde, das hat sich unglaublich unbefriedigend angefühlt. Vor allem da die beiden es irgendwann Treiben wie die 🐇. 1/5 🌶️ für den Spice von mir. Das Buch war insgesamt nicht schlecht aber war einfach sehr langatmig. Das Ende am Schluss vom dritten Band fand' ich auch sehr unbefriedgend. Ich hasse diese erzwungenen Happy Ends. 🙃 Die Reihe insgesamt konnte mich nicht überzeugen, ich würde die Bücher nicht nochmal lesen. Kingdom of the Wicked - Königin der Racher erhält 3.5/5 ⭐ von mir.

After the second book has been quite disappointing I still wanted to know how the story resumes. Plot wise it is a really good story. It feels like the author includes many small hints that could blossom into more inside the plot and enrich it, but are buried beneath the story mainly existing between the two main characters again. All in all I'd say great story idea but not so well put into action. It could have been a lot more than it was.

As above so below - was the topic of the series. Josi and I did this as a buddy read and the English audiobook was so good! I highly recommend giving them a try! Talking about the story, while I did love the overall story line of the series and the characters within, I did get somewhat annoyed about the constant repetition of certain plot points in book three, as well as the constant thing of Emilia and Wrath never truly being completely honest with each other. They kept having secrets, hiding things and actions but also being entirely enveloped in each other the whole time. I adore so many of the side characters, who were developed enough to make them lovable and made me wish to see more of them. There are some plot points still open in the world, but since we are getting more books, I truly hope that those will be explained and entertained in those.

And it's a wrap up - never thought that the series ends with that kind of banger. I had thousands assumptions but those informations and omg chapters were finally here. We finally got answers to all the questions BUT on some there was still something missing, as something is not going to deep and only scratch the surface. Gods goddesses, we finally understand the wicked and the feared. *Mwah* And behold: we get finally, what we anticipated since book one: those two finally make out. I hope for our minds that we get a spin off or a book for Vittoria. Those hints? I would love that.

It felt like a fever dream. I have read book 1 and 2 in my native language (German). When I then saw that book 3 will not be published in German until June 2023, I just had to grab the English version, because I did not want to wait any longer, as I loved the previous books so much. If it weren't for the third book, I could have titled this series easily my reading highlight of this year. Sadly, the final volume ruined it for me. Let's start with the positive points, though: Despite being a fantasy story, I, as a non-native English speaker, find the English level very easy. It is pretty easy to understand, so there is no need to be afraid to try the English version. I found Wrath's brothers, the other princes of hell, much more likable in this book. You didn't get to know too much about them, but I could really warm up to Envy in particular. I wish the brothers had been given much more importance and development in the series. The role of Emilia, her real self, I found quite good. I had wondered how they were going to resolve this issue with Wrath being immortal and her mortal and all. Now for the reasons why the final book was a letdown for me: There was just TOO MUCH going on. There were too many twists and turns and nothing hinted at where the story was headed. At times you really could not see a goal, nothing the story is building towards, just a lot of events, some of which became insignificant again. In books 1 and 2 there was a clear goal: to resolve Vittoria's murder. But as this has now become obsolete, there was no clear goal after that. There were also many events given so much importance that were ultimately completely unimportant in the end. [ATTENTION SPOILER: e.g. the thing with Vesta, the "right hand" of Greed. There was a suspicion of murder, but then she was alive after all. Emilia fixated on this so heavily that I thought this would play some major role. But it didn't. Vesta was simply a woman who was unhappy and wanted to get back to her pack. SPOILER ENDS] The relationship between Emilia and Wrath was so dull. You could tell there was love between them, but you didn't feel it. You are always told how important they are to each other, but nothing of that really came across (except when they jumped each other again and again). In general, it felt more like we were just looking at everything superficially. The relationships of the individual characters just didn't come across. Emilia and Vittoria's sisterly love didn't feel real. A very big negative point is that many questions are left unanswered. Who were Emilia's "parents", really? Did the restaurant even exist? The series could have been finished in two books. Book three just felt like an extension filled with all sorts of content that didn't even make sense in the end, or was unimportant.

3,75⭐ Ich muss sagen, dass ich den letzten Teil etwas schwächer empfand als die Vorgänger, besonders das Ende (so schön es auch war). Dennoch mochte ich die Entwicklung zwischen Wrath und Emilia sehr, ihre Dynamik und ihr Knistern. Und auch die ganze Wahrheit des Fluches und alle anderen gelüfteten Geheimnisse zwischen ihrer Vergangenheit fand ich sehr spannend. Mit der Situation von Emilia's Schwester und ihren Taten konnte ich mich dennoch nicht 100 prozentig anfreunden, auch wenn ich die Beweggründe teilweise nachvollziehen konnte. Es gab wirklich viele Lügen in beider Leben... Ein bisschen mehr Action und Emotionalität haben mir insgesamt aber dennoch gefehlt. Nichtsdestotrotz kann ich die Reihe auf jeden Fall empfehlen.

3,75⭐ Ich muss sagen, dass ich den letzten Teil etwas schwächer empfand als die Vorgänger, besonders das Ende (so schön es auch war). Dennoch mochte ich die Entwicklung zwischen Wrath und Emilia sehr, ihre Dynamik und ihr Knistern. Und auch die ganze Wahrheit des Fluches und alle anderen gelüfteten Geheimnisse zwischen ihrer Vergangenheit fand ich sehr spannend. Mit der Situation von Emilia's Schwester und ihren Taten konnte ich mich dennoch nicht 100 prozentig anfreunden, auch wenn ich die Beweggründe teilweise nachvollziehen konnte. Es gab wirklich viele Lügen in beider Leben... Ein bisschen mehr Action und Emotionalität haben mir insgesamt aber dennoch gefehlt. Nichtsdestotrotz kann ich die Reihe auf jeden Fall empfehlen.

I am happy that I could close the book, today. It was not what I expected. Too many things did Not make sense for me and we had some jumps between different places which I could not follow. Specially, in the last 100 pages. I think the idea of the story is good but it was not good implemented.

It felt like a fever dream. I have read book 1 and 2 in my native language (German). When I then saw that book 3 will not be published in German until June 2023, I just had to grab the English version, because I did not want to wait any longer, as I loved the previous books so much. If it weren't for the third book, I could have titled this series easily my reading highlight of this year. Sadly, the final volume ruined it for me. Let's start with the positive points, though: Despite being a fantasy story, I, as a non-native English speaker, find the English level very easy. It is pretty easy to understand, so there is no need to be afraid to try the English version. I found Wrath's brothers, the other princes of hell, much more likable in this book. You didn't get to know too much about them, but I could really warm up to Envy in particular. I wish the brothers had been given much more importance and development in the series. The role of Emilia, her real self, I found quite good. I had wondered how they were going to resolve this issue with Wrath being immortal and her mortal and all. Now for the reasons why the final book was a letdown for me: There was just TOO MUCH going on. There were too many twists and turns and nothing hinted at where the story was headed. At times you really could not see a goal, nothing the story is building towards, just a lot of events, some of which became insignificant again. In books 1 and 2 there was a clear goal: to resolve Vittoria's murder. But as this has now become obsolete, there was no clear goal after that. There were also many events given so much importance that were ultimately completely unimportant in the end. [ATTENTION SPOILER: e.g. the thing with Vesta, the "right hand" of Greed. There was a suspicion of murder, but then she was alive after all. Emilia fixated on this so heavily that I thought this would play some major role. But it didn't. Vesta was simply a woman who was unhappy and wanted to get back to her pack. SPOILER ENDS] The relationship between Emilia and Wrath was so dull. You could tell there was love between them, but you didn't feel it. You are always told how important they are to each other, but nothing of that really came across (except when they jumped each other again and again). In general, it felt more like we were just looking at everything superficially. The relationships of the individual characters just didn't come across. Emilia and Vittoria's sisterly love didn't feel real. A very big negative point is that many questions are left unanswered. Who were Emilia's "parents", really? Did the restaurant even exist? The series could have been finished in two books. Book three just felt like an extension filled with all sorts of content that didn't even make sense in the end, or was unimportant.

GERMAN BELOW This series had me in chokehold. So much that I couldn’t wait for the German June release. And having to live with it being finished for now is tough. Book 3 in particular pulls many strands together nicely. Emilia's development was insanely fun and especially compared to book 1, she just became so much more confident and a fucking badass. I found her thought processes even more understandable. The spicy scenes were excellent and if there was a sequel with wrathemilia in Adult, I would probably inhale it. Wrath definitely ranks in my top3 bookboyfriends (maybe even Top1

Soo where to start... This was quite the mess of twists and turns, it was a bit much for me tbh. I still really liked the writing and I love all the characters and their development I just think one or two twists less would have been benefitial for my enjoyment of the story. Also... the ending. I was really angry at it first because of this stupid trope that I just hate but I am glad because the solution in the end was satisfying for me. All in all I just really loved this book series and the book still was a very enjoyable read for me and I did like how it all went down.

Ich habe eigentlich gar keine Zeit Rezessionen über Bücher zu schreiben aber ich bin so enttäuscht über das dritte Buch dieser Reihe, dass ich meinen Frust niederschreiben muss. Emilia fing schon in Buch 2 mir unsympathisch zu werden aber in Buch 3 mochte ich sie irgendwie gar nicht mehr. Wrath wurde zu einem Nebencharakter und am Schluss mochte ich vielleicht nur noch ein paar unwichtige Charaktere weil ich von den Hauptcharakteren nur noch genervt war. Ein paar Sachen waren ganz gut und etwas "spannender" - deshalb 2 Punkte. Der Schluss war nur schnell - schnell, alle offenen Fragen schnell und abgehackt beantwortet oder hinter sich gebracht. Es fühlte sich so an als wollte die Autorin das Buch einfach nur schnell beenden und einfach noch 1000x Sex einbauen, was mich nur noch genervt hat. Schade, Buch 1 war gut aber ab Buch 2 und besonders Buch 3 war einfach nur... anstrengend.

Puuh, lange hab ich ein Buch nicht mehr so frustrierend empfunden wie Kingdom of the Wicked 3 🙈. Erstmal zu dem guten Punkt. Emilia ist viel erträglicher als in den Büchern davor! Trotzdem hat diese Reihe für mich einfach so viel Potential, das verschenkt wurde 😳. Der Weltenbau, gerade die Hölle und die Fürsten sind so gelungen. Ich könnte stundenlang darüber lesen 😊. Aber dann kommt die Handlung...und dahingehend war Band 3 für mich am schwächsten. Es passiert zwar einiges, aber gefühlt werden verschiedenste Handlungsstränge random in die Geschichte geworfen, um dann nicht mehr erwähnt zu werden und am Ende doch noch aufgelöst zu werden. Etwas weniger davon und dafür mehr zusammenhängende Storyline wäre viel angenehmer gewesen. Was mich zum nächsten Punkt bringt. Ich hab nichts gegen Spice in Bücher lese es tlw auch echt gerne, aber hier war es gefühlt 50% des Buchs. In Kapitel 26 passiert zum Beispiel nichts anderes. Da hab ich mich auch nicht gewundert, wenn Emilia mehrfach entführt wurde. Für Sicherheitsmaßnahmen war ja schließlich keine Zeit. Normalerweise würde ich so ein Buch schnell abhaken und mich weniger ärgern, aber die Fürsten, die tolle Welt und Magie hätten mich so begeistern können. Ich wollte das Finale so gerne lieben 😬.

Ich habe in den ersten beiden Teilen Emilia und Wrath lieben gelernt, daher musste ich den dritten Teil einfach lesen. Leider muss ich sagen, dass für mich einige Sachen zu verworren waren. Die Geschichte ist immer wieder gesprungen und es fiel mir zunehmend schwerer durch die Vergangenheit durchzublicken. Leider sah ich auch keine große Charakterentwicklung bei den Hauptpersonen. Während Vittoria großes Potenzial hatte, wurden ihre Gefühle und Beweggründe für mich nicht verständlich und kamen zu wenig vor. Auch das Ende hat mich nicht vom Hocker gerissen. Eine unverständliche Opferbereitschaft. Noch dazu das fehlende Wissen darüber, welche Flüche auf den anderen Fürsten lag… Nichts desto trotz wurde eine tolle vielfältige Welt erschaffen, von der wir hoffentlich noch mehr erfahren werden. Genauso wie von den Fürsten der Hölle, die zwar schon angerissen, aber sonst noch nicht näher beleuchtet wurden. Ich freue mich dementsprechend auf „Throne of the Fallen“, in dem Envys Liebesgeschichte behandelt wird.

It's a wrap! Overall, I enjoyed the series. This book, however, is a bit of a letdown, unfortunately. It has the most anti-climactic, unimpressive, unsatisfying and boring climax EVER. In fact, there isn't even one to begin with. No drama, big action or conflict at all. Everything is resolved too easily. While reading the last chapters I kept asking myself "okay why isn't this book ending now?". I liked that the ending is not rushed, don't get me wrong, but because there isn't a spectacular and suspenseful climax, it just felt like a way too long epilogue that somehow wasn't earned. I WAS BORED!! Moreover, the plot (the "plot", there isn't one) in this book feels really choppy and episodic almost and I couldn't really see a golden thread. Also, the writing is a bit cringey at times and Emilia is still so naive. Somehow, Wrath turned out to be boring in this book and barely present except for the steamy scenes. Emilia only has sex in mind which gets annoying at some point lol. Everything in this book or this series, in general, is so superficial and we only scratch the surface of things. It makes me mad because the series could have been SO good! With that being said, I'm pleased that a particular "trope" has not been fulfilled by the end of the book though lol. Oh, and there is a lot of spice in here so if you like to have spice in your books you will love this book. To me it was too much sometimes. I don't want the spice to overshadow the plot in my fantasy books, tbh. If we get a lot of spice but the plot isn't or is barely moving forward, I can get bored pretty quickly. Also, can we please understand that romance doesn't equal sex? Where are the fluffy and cute romantic scenes? HOWEVER, I still like this series overall and I'm glad I decided to pick it up. I also like the other characters aka the Princes, and I can't wait to read Envy's book (though I am dying to read more about Pride), especially because it will be an adult book so I hope we get some darker and gloomier scenes and themes (and more world building and details pls).