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eliotts_library 's review for:
The Cruel Prince
by Holly Black
The Wicked King: ★★★★★
The Queen of Nothing ★★★★★
I'm so pleasantly surprised by this! I did think that I would like it, but I thought it would be more like a 3 star to be honest. But this was a solid 4 star read and I'm actually looking forward to the sequels (although I'm kind of satisfied by the ending of this, I'm not sure if it really needs sequels. But I'll still read them)
So what's going on here?
Twins Jude and Taryn, along with their faerie half-sister Vivi, are whisked away to the land of Faerie one night as children when Vivi's biological father brutally murders their parents in front of them. And so begins their lives in Faerie, where they are treated better than most mortals, but that's not saying much. Jude deals with daily threats that, if not for the protective charms she wears, would lead to the end of her life. The Cruel Prince follows Jude as she navigates life in Faerie, complicated politics in Court, dangerous love triangles, and a secret that she is bound to never reveal, all leading up to the coronation of the new High Kind of Faerie. The question that Jude must find out is, who will wear the crown?
What I loved
I loved that this was not a typical YA plot line, and especially not a typical YA heroine. Jude is not a good person; she is brutal, cold to all but her family, angry, and overall entirely unlikeable. And that's exactly why I love her. Don't get me wrong, I love the hero main character thing, I love being able to root for them. But sometimes it's nice to shake things up a bit, and Jude certainly does that. She steals, sneaks, murders, and plots. She talks back, has a hot temper, and is maybe a little bit too arrogant at times. She was really fun to read and try to figure out which questionable decision she would make next. I loved most of the characters for the same reason to be honest; no one was truly a good person in this book. There were some that were worse than others, but overall everyone is at least a little bit of a prick. That's one of my favourite things about faerie lore, is that they're all ass holes lmfao. And Holly Black does a great job at depicting that, and not sugar coating it or making them nice just to appeal to the masses. I'm not sure how I feel about the romance(s) yet, but I don't dislike them at least.
What I didn't love
In terms of plot, it was fairly predictable to be honest. I didn't see the final plot twist coming until the last second, but everything else wasn't really surprising. This isn't something that I'm mad about, but it's really the only reason this got a 4 star instead of a 5. The plot was still good and engaging, it just didn't have me sitting on the edge of my seat.
Overall thoughts
Solid read, really glad that I finally read this. Ordering the next two books in the series ASAP. While I stand by my thought that this would be fine as a standalone, I do want to see what happens with Jude and Cardan going forward, I think it'll be entertaining to say the least. Also, am I the one seeing the similarities between this and Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb? They have the exact same premise, except this one is YA and has faeries, but otherwise there isn't much difference in terms of premise (plot is totally different, I'm just talking about the general idea of it)
The Queen of Nothing ★★★★★
I'm so pleasantly surprised by this! I did think that I would like it, but I thought it would be more like a 3 star to be honest. But this was a solid 4 star read and I'm actually looking forward to the sequels (although I'm kind of satisfied by the ending of this, I'm not sure if it really needs sequels. But I'll still read them)
So what's going on here?
Twins Jude and Taryn, along with their faerie half-sister Vivi, are whisked away to the land of Faerie one night as children when Vivi's biological father brutally murders their parents in front of them. And so begins their lives in Faerie, where they are treated better than most mortals, but that's not saying much. Jude deals with daily threats that, if not for the protective charms she wears, would lead to the end of her life. The Cruel Prince follows Jude as she navigates life in Faerie, complicated politics in Court, dangerous love triangles, and a secret that she is bound to never reveal, all leading up to the coronation of the new High Kind of Faerie. The question that Jude must find out is, who will wear the crown?
What I loved
I loved that this was not a typical YA plot line, and especially not a typical YA heroine. Jude is not a good person; she is brutal, cold to all but her family, angry, and overall entirely unlikeable. And that's exactly why I love her. Don't get me wrong, I love the hero main character thing, I love being able to root for them. But sometimes it's nice to shake things up a bit, and Jude certainly does that. She steals, sneaks, murders, and plots. She talks back, has a hot temper, and is maybe a little bit too arrogant at times. She was really fun to read and try to figure out which questionable decision she would make next. I loved most of the characters for the same reason to be honest; no one was truly a good person in this book. There were some that were worse than others, but overall everyone is at least a little bit of a prick. That's one of my favourite things about faerie lore, is that they're all ass holes lmfao. And Holly Black does a great job at depicting that, and not sugar coating it or making them nice just to appeal to the masses. I'm not sure how I feel about the romance(s) yet, but I don't dislike them at least.
What I didn't love
In terms of plot, it was fairly predictable to be honest. I didn't see the final plot twist coming until the last second, but everything else wasn't really surprising. This isn't something that I'm mad about, but it's really the only reason this got a 4 star instead of a 5. The plot was still good and engaging, it just didn't have me sitting on the edge of my seat.
Overall thoughts
Solid read, really glad that I finally read this. Ordering the next two books in the series ASAP. While I stand by my thought that this would be fine as a standalone, I do want to see what happens with Jude and Cardan going forward, I think it'll be entertaining to say the least. Also, am I the one seeing the similarities between this and Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb? They have the exact same premise, except this one is YA and has faeries, but otherwise there isn't much difference in terms of premise (plot is totally different, I'm just talking about the general idea of it)