Minus 100 stars for that POV switch. I’m so disappointed! 😢 I love Holly Black. I love this universe. And, in a way, this was a good story. A twisty plot that completed this duology and tied into the first Cruel Prince trilogy storyline. With interesting characters, lots of whimsy, and fae who physically cannot lie (their dialogue tickles by brain in the best way).

But. BUT—

The first book in the duology was single POV, entirely from our heroine’s POV.

This second book was also single POV, entirely from our hero’s POV.

Not in a ‘same events, different perspective’ way. In a ‘the story kept going and we switched POVs completely’ way.

Sounds fine, right? Nope, I didn’t like it at all. The plot, from the outside, continued on just fine. But how this plot ✨felt✨ for the POV character? Not continuous, at all.

And maybe I’m weird? Because apparently that’s all I care about 😅

For me, it was like everything we built up from her perspective in book one—how our heroine felt about the political intrigue, the start of their romance, her powers, the betrayals—ended up with zero closure. At least, no interior closure.

And then in book two, all from his perspective, it felt like I was dumped into a story with no foundation or build up. None of his emotional build up, anyway. Which made me feel so disconnected from how he was experiencing his POV—and therefore the whole plot itself.

Does that make any sense? Props to Holly Black for being experimental. But she experimented my favourite parts right out of the book 😅