Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco is a dark story featuring witches who have the power to keep demons embodying the seven deadly sins in hell, but also possesses the power to bring them to the surface for good. Kingdom of the Wicked is the goriest and darkest story from Maniscalco and that is saying something since her last series was Stalking Jack the Ripper. This novel has throats getting slit, hearts getting ripped out, and demons tasting blood. The story opens really strong, hooking the reader from the start, the middle has nice moments here and there while keeping the pace for a pretty shocking finale, I was pretty shocked having read everything Maniscalco has written I was not expecting it. The finale acts as a ending and cliffhanger that I was really satisfied with. For readers of Stalking Jack the Ripper series, there is still the blood and the romance, where the reader pretty much knew where the Audrey + Thomas romance was going this story ramps the blood and creates a dark romance that I don’t know exactly where it is heading, which I really like. Kingdom of the Wicked is the first book in the Kingdom of the Wicked series. Thank you Netgalley and Jimmy Patterson Books for an Advanced Reader Copy for Kingdom of the Wicked which is published on October 27 2020.

The Plot: Two twin Sisters Vittoria and Emilia are witches born with powers, their grandmother supports and teaches them while warning them of demons from hell who are trying to break through. She gives the twins amulets that will protect them, and the work for many years. One fateful night Emilia finds Vittoria with her heart ripped out and a demon drinking her blood from a knife. Emilia uses her power to scare the demon away. She finds Vittoria’s diary, but can not open it because it was sealed with black magic, that only a dark witch or a demon can open. She decides to call a demon, but before the does she places a spell that any harm he does to her will harm her or vice-versa. She calls the very demon who she saw drinking her sisters blood, the demon Wrath. She uses the demon to take down the rest of the Wicked who are demons that come from the 7 Deadly Sins. Can she ever trust the demon Wrath who is eternally linked to?

What I Liked: This story is dark, when Maniscalco sticks to the dark, it is very good. Vittoria is in the story only a short time, but I liked her and cared about her character. I was shocked by some of the events more than once. I liked the idea of the demons embodying the Seven Deadly Sins. Wrath is a great character, that you don’t know if you truly trust even with his strong bond. The story has a lot of twist and turns that kept me interested. The mystery of the killer is not cut and dry which I really liked. The opening is beautiful and kept me very intrigued. The ending was really good I did not expect the story going there at all, before Manicalco has always had very safe endings, this was not the safe wrapped up in a nice bow ending that I expected, and I loved it so much. I liked the choices that were made to personify the demons with the seven deadly sins. I don’t know how Kerri Maniscalco gets the best covers, but it is true with her new series as well. I liked Sicily, Italy as the setting, it was like a character as well.

What I Disliked: The rules kept evolving, you would get told one thing only for it to be overridden later, I would have liked more concrete rules. Liked when it stuck to the demons the witch hunters part was good but way less interesting than the demons.

Recommendations: Check out Kingdom of the Wicked it is a wicked good time with witches and demons. This is the start of a very promising series. This is my second favorite book of Maniscalco so far, my favorite is The Hunting Prince Dracula which is very similar in tone and very dark. I rated Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco 4 out of 5 stars. I have read everything by Maniscalco and will continue.