Apparently this book was one that everyone knew was coming out and was super excited for! So excited that I actually received two copies of it in different subscription boxes. And then my sister got another copy in another box! So because there was so much hype about it, I was concerned that maybe I wouldn’t like it? However that was a stupid thought. Because generally, if something is well liked, I know I’ll like it too (Harry Potter and ACOTAR anyone?) But I’m getting ahead of myself! Here is the book blurb:
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.
So there we go. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t intrigued from the very beginning! And Holly Black is renowned for being the ‘Fairy Queen’ of writing so I was very interested to see how these fae were depicted. I’m used to the Sarah J Maas fae, and while there were some similarities, Black’s fae seem to have the extra bit of ‘scary’ attached to them!
I liked Jude as a character. She made some choices that I thought were a bit strange, but hey – she saw her parents murdered in front of her when she was 7! So I reckon some different choices are okay 😉 now Cardan I have some issues with, but can’t go into them fully because *spoilers*. Let’s just say that I’m interested to find out some of his reasonings and more of his story.
I liked the flow of the story, but if I’m completely honest, I felt like some of the middle dragged. I’d read a lot of people saying that it picked up when it got to ‘Book 2’ and it did. Not that I didn’t like the beginning, but it was very ‘setting up the world’, and less story moving forward. But once the story did start moving, boy did it move! Some of the plot points happened so fast that I had to reread to make sure I’d read it properly! And don’t even get me started on the twist at the end. Because I did not see that coming! At all!
Overall, I was incredibly impressed with the world-building (even though I just said it was slow) – it really made the world real and believable! I loved that they could still visit the human world – things like that just reminded me that world like this could possibly exist (I know, I know – in my dreams right?) but some small part of me wishes. I am very excited for the next book to come out because I’m dying to know what happens! And I give this one a solid ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5 stars.
Tell me your thoughts on it! Or grab your copy here – https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Cruel-Prince-The-Folk-of-the-Air-Holly-Black/9781471407031?a_aid=princessbecreads
Happy reading friends
-Bec
Bec's Bookish Reads 