The Cruel Prince
Folk of the Air
Young Adult
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
January 02, 2018
Hardcover
384
By #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black, the first book in a stunning new series about a mortal girl who finds herself caught in a web of royal faerie intrigue.
This Barnes & Noble exclusive edition features a special jacket and bonus story starring fan-favorites Kaye and Roiben of the bestselling Tithe series, allowing readers to witness the pivotal coronation scene from an alternate point of view.
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 years old 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.
In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war 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.
WrensReads Review:
I want to begin with saying that what probably killed this book for me was the hype. I was literally expecting the feels I got when I read A Court of Mist and Fury or Strange the Dreamer. Instead, I would have gotten the feels like when I read A Daughter of Smoke and Bone or Caraval: It was good, but like it wasn’t astonishing or mind-blowing.
So, story begins with a Fae coming and murdering the parents of a pair a twins and their half-Fae older sister. After witnessing this tragedy, Jude and her twin sister Taryn and her older sister Vivi are forced to live with the Fae-murderer as their father figure in the world of the Faes.
Fast forward ten years, and Jude is well on her way to becoming a warrior. She knows she isn’t ever going to become as good as the rest of the fae with their skills in weaponry and their reflexes, but she is trying her best if she is allowed.
But, her classmates and the faes never let her and her twin sister forget that they are mortal. Always playing cruel tricks on them and pushing them around and glamouring them. Jude is done being the butt of the jokes, even though Tayrn just tries to keep her head down.
One of these bullies happens to be a prince. When Jude pushes him too far, she finds herself in the middle of a game of politics that could cause a war between all the Fae Kingdoms.
Doesn’t that sound so legit and epic?
The writing was exquisite and I just could feel the world building around me and through me and it was such an amazing experience. The faes in this world have horns or tales or different colored skin like blue or cat eyes or wings. I absolutely love those kind of fae books, which makes me believe I should pick up more of these books.
Then.. there’s the reason why the stars are so low: Jude.
Jude was beyond A N N O Y I N G . She was aware that she wasn’t a fae and she wanted to be one of them or better than them. But she never stopped complaining about being mortal. Ever.
I get it: You hate being human and want to be fae.
I get it: You are mortal and you want to be fae.
I get it: You are weaker than the immortal beings and you want to be like them.
I get it: You are slower than the faes and you want to be one of them.
She never shut up about it to the point that I found myself rolling my eyes. And her character half the time did exactly the opposite of what she said she would be doing. I was just completely over her; but not to the point that I didn’t love the book and wouldn’t want to continue on with it. I mean, the end was a little more calm for me than I would have liked (I need more war/blood/twists.. because I obviously need to see a professional about that) but I still enjoyed it well enough.
But I didn’t think it needed the hype it got. It’s good, but it isn’t obsessively dramatically good.
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