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A review by moth_meg
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
5.0
“Having stepped off the edge, what I want to do is fall” (48)
I was instantly obsessed with this story- this is exactly the kind of book that makes me want to stay up all night reading. [a:Holly Black|25422|Holly Black|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1589911274p2/25422.jpg]'s descriptions are so vivid, I almost feel like I watched this book rather than read it. An unfortunate side effect of getting thoroughly lost in this book is that I took hardly any notes for this review, so this might be a bit disorganized...
Let's get into it.
I went into this book expecting another [b:A Court of Thorns and Roses|16096824|A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)|Sarah J. Maas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546406962l/16096824._SY75_.jpg|21905102], and I could not have been more wrong. [b:The Cruel Prince|26032825|The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1)|Holly Black|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1574535986l/26032825._SY75_.jpg|45959123] is no fairytale retelling- although the setting may be familiar (High Faerie Courts are popular in fantasy for good reason), the story itself is sharp, surprising, and thrilling.
Jude is stolen away from her mortal life by the murderer of her parents - a faerie - when she is just seven years old. She and her two sisters, Vivi and Taryn, are whisked away to live in the faerie court under the care of their parents' killer. After ten years of living among the fae, Jude is painfully aware that she will never be one of them, but she is determined to earn her place.
Jude craves the approval of her "father", the man whole murdered her parents, yet she is also desperate to free herself from his control. She is a likable character with a healthy dark streak, which is understandable, given the circumstances of her upbringing. What begins as a quest for her own power and agency quickly evolves into something more, and Jude finds herself at the center of a plot for the throne. As the story escalates, Jude continues to ask more and more of herself. She stretches herself so thin that she risks losing herself, all in the name of proving her worth.
“I seem to have passed some kind of threshold. before, I never knew how far I would go. I will go way too far” (216)
The complex relationships between characters are one of the highlights of this book. Jude has a million reasons to hate her adoptive family, but she does not. And they don't hate her either. There is certainly tension, but also a strained sense of caring and genuine affection that feels strikingly real within a fantasy world. Jude wants to be a good daughter, but she has hit her breaking point.
“I cannot seem to contort myself back into the shape of a dutiful child.
I am coming unraveled. I am coming undone” (148)
“He has shown me just how close I am to being everything I have despised in him” (284)
The mythology behind the fantasy setting lends itself to these themes of power and control really well- as promises in the faerie world are binding. Humans are vulnerable to magic in ways that faeries are not, but they also have the ability to lie, whereas the magical creatures can only speak what they believe to be true.
The relationship between Jude and her sisters is really well done. While it's obvious that they love each other, they also keep secrets and hurt each other. They are similar, but those similarities are sources of conflict, even more so than their differences. Jude and Taryn are identical twins, both determined to find stability and security in their new lives. While Jude thinks this is something she must fight to achieve, Taryn takes a more diplomatic approach. However, they are both ruthless in their own ways, and their endeavors eventually put them against each other..
One of my absolute favorite tropes is "enemies to lovers", so it should come as no surprise that I loved the chemistry between Jude and Cardan. Originally rivals, they must work together in the face of a common threat, forcing them to explore the complex feelings behind their hatred for one another.I'm excited to see where Black takes their storyline in [b:The Wicked King|26032887|The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air, #2)|Holly Black|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1520620414l/26032887._SY75_.jpg|45959180].
I was instantly obsessed with this story- this is exactly the kind of book that makes me want to stay up all night reading. [a:Holly Black|25422|Holly Black|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1589911274p2/25422.jpg]'s descriptions are so vivid, I almost feel like I watched this book rather than read it. An unfortunate side effect of getting thoroughly lost in this book is that I took hardly any notes for this review, so this might be a bit disorganized...
Let's get into it.
I went into this book expecting another [b:A Court of Thorns and Roses|16096824|A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)|Sarah J. Maas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546406962l/16096824._SY75_.jpg|21905102], and I could not have been more wrong. [b:The Cruel Prince|26032825|The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1)|Holly Black|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1574535986l/26032825._SY75_.jpg|45959123] is no fairytale retelling- although the setting may be familiar (High Faerie Courts are popular in fantasy for good reason), the story itself is sharp, surprising, and thrilling.
Jude is stolen away from her mortal life by the murderer of her parents - a faerie - when she is just seven years old. She and her two sisters, Vivi and Taryn, are whisked away to live in the faerie court under the care of their parents' killer. After ten years of living among the fae, Jude is painfully aware that she will never be one of them, but she is determined to earn her place.
Jude craves the approval of her "father", the man whole murdered her parents, yet she is also desperate to free herself from his control. She is a likable character with a healthy dark streak, which is understandable, given the circumstances of her upbringing. What begins as a quest for her own power and agency quickly evolves into something more, and Jude finds herself at the center of a plot for the throne. As the story escalates, Jude continues to ask more and more of herself. She stretches herself so thin that she risks losing herself, all in the name of proving her worth.
“I seem to have passed some kind of threshold. before, I never knew how far I would go. I will go way too far” (216)
The complex relationships between characters are one of the highlights of this book. Jude has a million reasons to hate her adoptive family, but she does not. And they don't hate her either. There is certainly tension, but also a strained sense of caring and genuine affection that feels strikingly real within a fantasy world. Jude wants to be a good daughter, but she has hit her breaking point.
“I cannot seem to contort myself back into the shape of a dutiful child.
I am coming unraveled. I am coming undone” (148)
“He has shown me just how close I am to being everything I have despised in him” (284)
The mythology behind the fantasy setting lends itself to these themes of power and control really well- as promises in the faerie world are binding. Humans are vulnerable to magic in ways that faeries are not, but they also have the ability to lie, whereas the magical creatures can only speak what they believe to be true.
The relationship between Jude and her sisters is really well done. While it's obvious that they love each other, they also keep secrets and hurt each other. They are similar, but those similarities are sources of conflict, even more so than their differences. Jude and Taryn are identical twins, both determined to find stability and security in their new lives. While Jude thinks this is something she must fight to achieve, Taryn takes a more diplomatic approach. However, they are both ruthless in their own ways, and their endeavors eventually put them against each other.
Spoiler
I predicted that Locke was Tayrn's secret fiance pretty early on, so the twist that he'd been playing both sisters wasn't that surprising to me. But the resulting confrontation between Taryn and Jude was one of the highlights of the book. Especially this line, “I get why he chose her. I just wish she had chosen me.” (280). In the end, they aren't fighting over some guy. They're fighting because of the ways that they betrayed each other along the wayOne of my absolute favorite tropes is "enemies to lovers", so it should come as no surprise that I loved the chemistry between Jude and Cardan. Originally rivals, they must work together in the face of a common threat, forcing them to explore the complex feelings behind their hatred for one another.