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A review by kaylaramoutar
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
3.0
WELL.
I enjoyed this a lot more the second time around. I think I was just so hyped up on the ACoTaR series that this, another faerie novel/series, fell flat. This time around though I felt a lot more connected to the characters and actually cared what happened to them, so I'm glad I gave it another chance.
My dumb human girl and my dumb cruel prince!!!! I can't wait to see what idiotic shenanigans they get up to in the next book.
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(January 22, 2018)
Sometimes a lot of hype is a good thing, sometimes a lot of hype is a bad thing. For me, and this book, the hype was the latter.
There's nothing inherently wrong with The Cruel Prince. There's world-building, secrets and schemes, bloodshed, romance (for me, if I squinted, but I digress). The novel starts off with a brutal double murder. Basically, it had all the aspects a novel would need to be a 5 star - or even 4 star - book for me. Unfortunately, it fell flat.
I think one of the main reasons this book was a disappointment to me was because of how much I loved Maas' series ACOTAR. It's the only other faerie YA I've read and I couldn't help but compare the two. For me, Maas' books had better writing, better plots (except maybe the first one but this isn't the place for that discussion), and better characters. Maybe if I had read The Cruel Prince without having read the ACOTAR series I would have liked it more. We'll never know so there's not really any point in dwelling on it.
Having said that, I did enjoy The Cruel Prince to an extent. It was enthralling enough to keep me reading until the end and the secrets and schemes were compelling enough to have me attempting to figure it all out. But there were also the paragraphs that described such inane actions and thoughts that Jude had about being mortal that I could not STAND. We didn't need her thoughts over and over about how she was mortal and not fae and how different they were. We know.
All the characters felt a little one-dimensional to me which was boring and a hindrance to what they could've become. Even the cruel prince was one-dimensional despite Black attempting to change our minds about that. Sorry, but that doesn't work when there's no real reason he's been so cruel. It was unimaginative. The reasons why half the characters did and said what they did felt flat to me; it might be because of ACOTAR and how those characterizations were nothing short of Incredible, but it also could be because there's only been one book in this particular series.
Overall, I enjoyed this novel and will read the second book, but I won't carry these characters in my heart or head like I have with other faeries in other series.
I enjoyed this a lot more the second time around. I think I was just so hyped up on the ACoTaR series that this, another faerie novel/series, fell flat. This time around though I felt a lot more connected to the characters and actually cared what happened to them, so I'm glad I gave it another chance.
My dumb human girl and my dumb cruel prince!!!! I can't wait to see what idiotic shenanigans they get up to in the next book.
--------
(January 22, 2018)
Sometimes a lot of hype is a good thing, sometimes a lot of hype is a bad thing. For me, and this book, the hype was the latter.
There's nothing inherently wrong with The Cruel Prince. There's world-building, secrets and schemes, bloodshed, romance (for me, if I squinted, but I digress). The novel starts off with a brutal double murder. Basically, it had all the aspects a novel would need to be a 5 star - or even 4 star - book for me. Unfortunately, it fell flat.
I think one of the main reasons this book was a disappointment to me was because of how much I loved Maas' series ACOTAR. It's the only other faerie YA I've read and I couldn't help but compare the two. For me, Maas' books had better writing, better plots (except maybe the first one but this isn't the place for that discussion), and better characters. Maybe if I had read The Cruel Prince without having read the ACOTAR series I would have liked it more. We'll never know so there's not really any point in dwelling on it.
Having said that, I did enjoy The Cruel Prince to an extent. It was enthralling enough to keep me reading until the end and the secrets and schemes were compelling enough to have me attempting to figure it all out. But there were also the paragraphs that described such inane actions and thoughts that Jude had about being mortal that I could not STAND. We didn't need her thoughts over and over about how she was mortal and not fae and how different they were. We know.
All the characters felt a little one-dimensional to me which was boring and a hindrance to what they could've become. Even the cruel prince was one-dimensional despite Black attempting to change our minds about that. Sorry, but that doesn't work when there's no real reason he's been so cruel. It was unimaginative. The reasons why half the characters did and said what they did felt flat to me; it might be because of ACOTAR and how those characterizations were nothing short of Incredible, but it also could be because there's only been one book in this particular series.
Overall, I enjoyed this novel and will read the second book, but I won't carry these characters in my heart or head like I have with other faeries in other series.