It already has been several years since I’ve read the original version of Kingdom of the Cursed by Kerri Maniscalco. This is the second book in the “Kingdom of the Wicked” series and as much as the first book pulled me out of a reading slump, as much did I struggle with this one. Earlier this year, I did a Dutch reread of Kingdom of the Wicked and now it was time to do the same with this second book. When i read it the first time, I felt it was mediocre. Did rereading change my experience?

• Title: Kingdom of the Cursed
• Author: Kerri Maniscalco
• Series: Kingdom of the Wicked #2
• Publish date: Ocotber 5, 2021
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
• ISBN: 9780316428477
• Number of pages: 448
• Genre: New Adult, Fantasy

After selling her soul to become Queen of the Wicked, Emilia travels to the Seven Circles with the enigmatic Prince of Wrath, where she’s introduced to a seductive world of vice. She vows to do whatever it takes to avenge her beloved sister, Vittoria . . . even if that means accepting the hand of the Prince of Pride, the king of demons. The first rule in the court of the Wicked? Trust no one. With back-stabbing princes, luxurious palaces, mysterious party invitations, and conflicting clues about who really killed her twin, Emilia finds herself more alone than ever before. Can she even trust Wrath, her one-time ally in the mortal world . . . or is he keeping dangerous secrets about his true nature? Emilia will be tested in every way as she seeks a series of magical objects that will unlock the clues of her past and the answers she craves . . .

This book picks up where Kingdom of the Wicked left off. emilia closes a deal with Prince Wrath and travels to his kingdom in hell with him. There, she hopes to find answers on who murdered her twin sister Vittoria, but she also has to maintain an engagement to Prince Pride, one of the other demon princes. Will she succeed in both without losing herself?

To be quite honest, I had a hard time writing this little synopsis because I barely can remember anything that happened. In my opinion, it’s not much after all. It’s interesting to see that the plot picks up right after the ending of its predecessor, but this leads to the first chapters only consisting of travel. I usually dislike that, because it’s slowing the pace down. This is no different for this book. I already felt my eyes closing countless times during this first part of the book alone. Unfortunately, the story keeps dragging. It might pick up for others, but for me it was that same slow-paced story with nothing much interesting happening. No, even the plot twists and revalations didn’t spark my attention. Plotwise, this book suffers a lot from “second book syndrome” and therefore a slump was trying to find its way to me. This was happening to me both times reading this book.

The writing was okay, but not sucking me into the story. Of course this is connected to the plot absolutely not being intriguing at all, but also the writing itself is mediocre. I mean, everything is logic and makes sense, but I zoned out a lot.

Okay, don’t get me started on the characters. Oh Emilia, Emilia, Emilia. Why are you SO stupid in this book? She was the queen of naivety and stupid decisons. I liked her in Kingdom of the Wicked, but now she kept annoying me. Besiedes the fact she’s doing stupid things – and yes I know she’s being manipulated and tested – she’s boring. Her actions don’t get me curious for her further development, because her character development was almost non-existent.

Unfortunately, Kingdom of the Cursed by Kerri Maniscalco doesn’t happen to be the book for me. I already expected that and I was quite disliking Kingdom of the Wicked upon rereading as well, but I still wanted to give it a try. I thought that it would maybe depend on the language, but no. The story and characters didn’t intrigue me at all. The writing was mediocre but still easy to follow. I was therefore able to squeeze good chunks of the book into my commuting times. However, I’m not intrigued enough to be eager to know what will happen in the final book, Kingdom of the Feared. If I have to believe reviews, most people were let down by that book anyway. I think, this author’s work is just not for me, earlier reading experiences taken into account.