wednesday, june 7, 2023
this is a book I primarily knew as a Tik Tok book. and with it came all of the implications of that, negative or otherwise. previously hailed as the pinnacle of enemies-to-lovers trope, I saw a booktube video that rectified this misconception and said it was a political intrigue story first with a romance subplot in the distant background.

I'm glad I went into this with the allure of false advertising dropped. I could enjoy it for what it was, instead of going in expecting something and being met with a story with different priorities.

the novel follows Jude, a human brought to the world of Faerie by the man who killed both of her parents. it’s best, in my opinion to go into the story not knowing much else.

I will tell you what it's not: this is not a romance novel. romance is an attribute, as it often is in young adult fiction—but it is not the central theme. In the foreground, The Cruel Prince is a political intrigue story among Fae. in the background, an enemies-to-lovers story that is not the main priority. if you go into it expecting only that, you will find this novel lacking.

as far as character work goes, it took a while for me to warm up to these characters. despite that, Jude, in particular, stands out to me as a pretty unique protagonist—she’s selfish and conniving without ever coming across as evil.

the story is supremely engaging with a power beyond my understanding. The moment I picked up the book I couldn’t put it down. I just had to finish it to see what would happen next. and that sense of total enthralled engagement remains until the end.