A Wicked Trilogy

A Wicked Trilogy is Armentrout's adult paranormal romance set in New Orleans - fae, forbidden romance, and a secret society protecting humanity from the Otherworld.

A Wicked Trilogy is one of Jennifer L. Armentrout's most beloved adult series - a paranormal romance set in the atmospheric streets of New Orleans, where the city's famous flair for the dramatic conceals a supernatural underworld that most of its inhabitants will never see. It is a series built on a foundation of fae mythology, urban fantasy world-building, and the kind of slow-burn romance that Armentrout does better than almost anyone else in the genre. Darker in tone and more mature in register than her YA work, the Wicked trilogy showcases the full range of what she can do when writing for an adult audience, and it has earned a devoted following that returns to it again and again.

The world of A Wicked Trilogy operates on a simple and deeply effective premise: the fae are real, they are dangerous, and they have been slipping through rips between the mortal world and the Otherworld for longer than anyone can fully account for. The Order - a secret society whose existence is unknown to the humans they protect - exists for one purpose: to find the fae, drive a stake through their hearts, and send them back before they can feed on human life. It is thankless, relentless work, and it attracts the kind of people who have already had something taken from them. The New Orleans setting is not incidental here; the city's gothic atmosphere, its layered histories, and its particular brand of seductive menace give the series an exceptionally strong sense of place that permeates every scene.

Ivy Morgan is twenty-two years old, a college student by day and a fae hunter by night, and she has been shaped entirely by both roles. Four years before the series opens, she lost everything to the creatures she now hunts, and the protagonist with trauma quality of her characterisation gives the series an emotional anchor that makes her feel genuinely real rather than merely functional. Her life is controlled, purposeful, and carefully walled-off - which makes the arrival of Ren Owens, an Elite member of the Order sent from another region to help with a new and more dangerous wave of fae activity, an intrusion she has no interest in accommodating. The forbidden romance that develops between them is grounded not in arbitrary prohibition but in the very real dynamics of trust, history, and the question of what it costs to let someone in when everything you've lost was taken without warning.

The witty banter & sharp dialogue between Ivy and Ren is one of the trilogy's most immediate pleasures - Armentrout writes their dynamic with the kind of crackling energy that makes even their most antagonistic exchanges enjoyable to read, and the slow shift from wariness to something more complicated and more real is handled with her characteristic patience and timing. The faerie courts mythology that underpins the series is introduced across the trilogy with genuine care; this is a fae world with its own internal logic, political structures, and history, and the dark secrets that surface about both the Order and the fae themselves give the world-building a depth that rewards attentive readers.

The betrayal that runs through the trilogy as a structural force is one of its most effectively deployed elements. Armentrout layers revelations across three books in ways that make each one feel consequential rather than cumulative, and the question of who can be trusted - within the Order, outside it, and in the space between - keeps the narrative tension high even during the quieter character moments. The strong female protagonist quality that Ivy embodies is never asserted but consistently demonstrated: she is capable, emotionally complex, and fully in command of her own agency even when the circumstances around her are conspiring to take it away.

Books in the Wicked Trilogy

Wicked (2014) is the first book in A Wicked Trilogy and the introduction to Ivy Morgan's New Orleans. When a new and unusually powerful wave of fae begins appearing in the French Quarter, the Order sends Ren Owens to assist - and his arrival disrupts Ivy's carefully controlled existence in ways she didn't anticipate. Wicked establishes the trilogy's tone with confidence: urban fantasy world-building that uses its New Orleans setting to full atmospheric effect, a slow-burn romance built on genuine friction, and a secret society with enough internal complexity to feel like a real institution. The protagonist with trauma quality of Ivy's characterisation is introduced with care, and the witty banter & sharp dialogue between her and Ren is immediately compelling.

Torn (2016) is the second book in A Wicked Trilogy. Following on from where Wicked left us, Ivy is navigating a reality considerably more complicated than the one she understood at the series' opening. The dark secrets surrounding both the Order and the fae begin to surface with a clarity that recontextualises much of what came before, and the betrayal thread that will define the trilogy's second half takes decisive shape in Torn. The romance between Ivy and Ren is tested by revelations that neither of them anticipated, and the forbidden romance quality of their dynamic deepens as the stakes around them escalate.

Brave (2017) is the third and final book in A Wicked Trilogy. The full scope of the threat to New Orleans - and to the boundary between the mortal world and the Otherworld - comes into focus, and Ivy must face consequences that draw on everything she has become across two books. Brave brings the faerie courts mythology of the series to its fullest expression and delivers a finale that honours the emotional investment of the trilogy while committing fully to its supernatural stakes. The resolution of the romance and the supernatural threat alike is handled with Armentrout's characteristic generosity and earned feeling.

The Summer King Novellas

The Wicked world extends beyond Ivy's story through three novellas - The Prince (2018), The King (2019), and The Queen (2020) - which follow Brighton Jussier and the Summer King Caden in a story set within the same universe. These can be read after completing the main trilogy and offer readers who are invested in Armentrout's New Orleans fae world a substantial and emotionally engaging extension of it, collected in the omnibus The Summer King Chronicles.

A Wicked Trilogy stands on its own within Armentrout's catalogue as a series for readers who want fae mythology, a richly atmospheric setting, and a romance built on patience and genuine character depth. It is adult paranormal romance at its most accomplished.