The Cruel Prince
Author: Holly Black
Series:The Folk of the Air #1
Genre: Fantasy Young Adult
Published: January 2, 2018
Source: Hardcover
My Rating: 4/5 Stars
Purchase: Kindle I Amazon
Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.
And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.
Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.
To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.
As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.
I'll share my reasons as to why I gave this book such a high rating, the world. I loved the faeries in this book, they're mean, conniving, and treacherous and that's what I'm here for. I didn't like the characters, or the plot, just the twists lol. Yep you read that right. I've never read a book like this before where there are unlikable characters but I still like the story.
Jude, the protagonist in this story is a human is a faery world and she is trying to prove that she is no fragile human, she can face anything thrown at her and she goes to great lengths to prove that. the twists and turns of this story are seriously everything. Prince Cardan is a cruel spoiled royal brat and not even for a second is this story a romance novel. With Jude and Cardan it's like who hates who the most and who could do the most harm. One of the cruelest aspects of this novel is the fact that in Jude and her sister were made to live with their other sister's father who killed her parents. I thought that was absolutely insane and for a child to go through that it had to have been so traumatizing.
For a book named after a Prince, it's not in his perspective the story is more about Jude. This book has a trigger warning for bullying so intense that it's the worst bullying I've ever read about. I kept waiting for the book to get better and it did when the intense bullying stopped. I don't have a favorite character and the plot is ok as well but what keeps me reading the series is the magical world building and the political intrigue. I also love that the books are so short but filled with such a huge stories. I have to say that Holly Black is the Queen of faeries and this book as well as The Wicked King have gotten me to read many of her other books.
Jude, the protagonist in this story is a human is a faery world and she is trying to prove that she is no fragile human, she can face anything thrown at her and she goes to great lengths to prove that. the twists and turns of this story are seriously everything. Prince Cardan is a cruel spoiled royal brat and not even for a second is this story a romance novel. With Jude and Cardan it's like who hates who the most and who could do the most harm. One of the cruelest aspects of this novel is the fact that in Jude and her sister were made to live with their other sister's father who killed her parents. I thought that was absolutely insane and for a child to go through that it had to have been so traumatizing.
For a book named after a Prince, it's not in his perspective the story is more about Jude. This book has a trigger warning for bullying so intense that it's the worst bullying I've ever read about. I kept waiting for the book to get better and it did when the intense bullying stopped. I don't have a favorite character and the plot is ok as well but what keeps me reading the series is the magical world building and the political intrigue. I also love that the books are so short but filled with such a huge stories. I have to say that Holly Black is the Queen of faeries and this book as well as The Wicked King have gotten me to read many of her other books.
Quotes:
“Most of all, I hate you because I think of you. Often. It's disgusting, and I can't stop.”
“If I cannot be better than them, I will become so much worse.”
“What could I become if I stopped worrying about death, about pain, about anything? If I stopped trying to belong? Instead of being afraid, I could become something to fear.”
“So I am to sit here and feed you information,” Cardan says, leaning against a hickory tree. “And you’re to go charm royalty? That seems entirely backward.”
I fix him with a look. “I can be charming. I charmed you, didn’t I?”
He rolls his eyes. “Do not expect others to share my depraved tastes.”
“Most of all, I hate you because I think of you. Often. It's disgusting, and I can't stop.”
“If I cannot be better than them, I will become so much worse.”
“What could I become if I stopped worrying about death, about pain, about anything? If I stopped trying to belong? Instead of being afraid, I could become something to fear.”
“So I am to sit here and feed you information,” Cardan says, leaning against a hickory tree. “And you’re to go charm royalty? That seems entirely backward.”
I fix him with a look. “I can be charming. I charmed you, didn’t I?”
He rolls his eyes. “Do not expect others to share my depraved tastes.”
Next book in the series is The Wicked King which I will be doing a review on really soon. These pictures are my own from my instagram account @bookishgirlreads
About The Author
Holly Black is the author of bestselling contemporary fantasy books for kids and teens. Some of her titles include The Spiderwick Chronicles (with Tony DiTerlizzi), The Modern Faerie Tale series, the Curse Workers series, Doll Bones, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, the Magisterium series (with Cassandra Clare), The Darkest Part of the Forest, and her new series which begins with The Cruel Prince in January 2018.
She has been a a finalist for an Eisner Award, and the recipient of the Andre Norton Award, the Mythopoeic Award and a Newbery Honor. She currently lives in New England with her husband and son in a house with a secret door.
She has been a a finalist for an Eisner Award, and the recipient of the Andre Norton Award, the Mythopoeic Award and a Newbery Honor. She currently lives in New England with her husband and son in a house with a secret door.
