I read this book as part of a bookstagram read-a-long, and it is one of my favorite books!
Format: Hardback
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Page Length: 370 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Co (January 2, 2018)
Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mr. Darcy‘s Rating: “You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”
A Chasing Mr. Darcy Review
I wasn't sure if I would like The Cruel Prince; my only experience with faeries was from the Cassandra Clare Shadowhunter books, and I didn't really like the fae folk in those books. I'm happy to report that I do like the fae folk in Holly Black's Folk of the Air series, though!
Here’s a plot synopsis from GoodReads: Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever. And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe. Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King. To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences. As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.
This book really caught me by surprise. I went in with the full expectation that I wouldn't like it TBH. I read it as part of a friend's read-a-long on bookstagram, and I blew through this book. I was just simply captivated!
First off, Jude is a bad ass if there ever was one. I love how she pushes the envelope, almost always going one step too far, to make her point. She has thirsty to prove herself, and she is desperately trying to fit into the faerie world as a human. You have to give her "stepfather" mad respect for taking both Jude and her sister under his wing, even if he was basically forced to do it by his own actions. Jude scratches and claws her way through the faerie world, and I love when she takes matters into her own hands to accomplish her goals. Is she reckless? Absolutely. Does she make all the wrong decisions? Of course. Is it entertaining as hell? YES, YES IT IS. I mean, Jude said it herself when she said, "If I cannot be better than them, I will become so much worse."
Second, oh Cardan, my Cardan. How you are the epitome of a little boy who doesn't know what to do with his feelings for the girl on the playground, so you pull her braids and dip her hair in ink instead (I mean, he would if this were Little House on the Prairie, which it's not). This is faerie, where fruit is dangerous, dancing can last for a lifetime, and the fae can be just pure mean sometimes. It's obvious from a mile away that Cardan is a tortured soul, though, and he oozes entitlement. What I enjoyed most, though, was watching those layers of entitlement slip away, inch by inch, until we caught a glimpse of the real Cardan underneath all that veneer. I love when his feelings for Jude become apparent and his motivations make more sense. He pushes Jude away because he's scared to pull her close, scared to give life to the feelings inside him. I partcularly like the interaction where he asks Jude, "Have I told you how hideous you look tonight?", and when she pushes him to tell her, he simply says, "I can't." Do you know why he can't? BECAUSE FAERIES CAN'T LIE! So, he can't tell her that because he secretly thinks she looks amazing. Boys and their games. They never change.
I also thought the secondary characters were just as interesting as the main characters in this story, and I would love to know more about some of them. I know some of that flushes itself out in the next two books, but I also think there's a lot to work with here if Holly Black wanted to write a spin-off series.
I think this is a really good introduction to a YA fantasy series. I enjoyed this book a lot, and it set up the subsequent two books perfectly. If you like YA fantasy or a good enemies to lovers trope, The Cruel Prince is for you!
Comments