This book has further convinced me that I like very specific kinds of assholes in my books, and Cardan is one of them. This book fully embraces the idea that faeries are the worst, but it makes for great world building, I think. The book starts out very intense with two murders being committed in the first few pages. It was honestly, surprising. What was even more surprising to me is that the human world is separate from the faerie world and is set in modern day. I usually expect stories like this to be set in the middle ages or some time period in the past. In this case the human world is modern and exists in parallel to the faerie world. It was a unique take on what I'm used to. 

I also thought that Vivianne would be more central to the story, but Jude ends up being the true main character. Jude and Cardan are definitely my favorite characters in the book, which is nice because I like being able to like my lead characters. I'm sure a lot of people have issues with Cardan as a future love interest for Jude, but I really like him. He's not a good person by any means, but he has limits to the kind of cruelty he perpetuates, which many of the other characters don't have. As we find out later, which is something that even surprises Jude, Cardan may find enjoyment in inflicting pain on others, but he's no murderer. Jude makes many morally questionable decisions too, so I think the points of reference for morality we have in this world make Cardan out to be pretty tame. I don't romanticize him as a character. He is definitely cruel and has poor excuses for friends. I use the term friends very loosely here. He's prideful, arrogant, and irresponsible. Overall, a mess really. I still like him, though. I think he's an original lead character that is complicated and unpredictable in the way he makes decisions. That's what intrigues me about him really. I won't sit here and defend everything he did to Jude or his obvious prejudice against humans, but I think he is an excellent representation about how people aren't black and white. He has romantic feelings for Jude and he hates himself or it, which I found hilarious when I found out. The funniest part of the book pertaining to his conflicting romantic feelings is probably finding out that his way of coping was furiously writing Jude's on a paper and staining it with blood. It's reasonably clear that she also feels something for him, even if she prefers not to admit it. I'm very compelled to continue to follow their relationship and see how it develops. I don't expect him to change as a person or become better solely because he feels something for her, and I think that's also something I appreciate in this story. Yeah, Cardan cares about Jude, but that doesn't make him any less of a jerk. He's still more interested in his own needs and wants than anyone else's. He remains his own person despite his romantic attachment, which shows that he has a sense individuality. I hate stories where individual characters lose their identity because of a love interest.

As for Locke, I think it sucks that he's as bad as I thought he was going to be, but in a way I hadn't predicted. When he first started showing a romantic inclination towards Jude I thought that Cardan had put him up to the task of courting her. Since I had that suspicion from the beginning, I never trusted him. I expected him to try and embarrass Jude openly by cheating on her or something. Unfortunately, it was worse. Jude had to find out that her sister Taryn had been lying to her the whole time about being with him. I'm really curious to see if Taryn and Jude can salvage their relationship. It feels like Jude and Taryn are both trying to find their place in the faerie world and both are morally ambiguous on different levels. At least Jude tried as much as possible to not have her decisions affect her relationship with her sister. Taryn on the other hand, knew that her decision to be with Locke and hide it would directly affect her sister and did it anyway. I don't like her or Locke at the moment, but I'm curious to find out how Taryn even got involved with Locke. Locke is the literal representation of fairy lies, though. Half truths shrouded in mystery is what they are. 

This book was super enjoyable and I'm suffering as I wait for the sequel. I enjoy the complexity of all the relationships between the characters and I like that there isn't really a solid definition of who is "good" or "bad". Everyone just seems to be trying to get what they want and are using whatever means they need to in order to get there. Madoc's relationship with Taryn, Jude, and Vivianne is super complicated and I'm curious to see where they stand now after Jude and Vivianne's betrayal. He does love them in his own way, after all. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a dark fantasy and loves morally grey characters. I definitely plan on picking up more books by Holly Black after this!