review: the cruel prince (the folk of the air #1) by holly black

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. ~ Goodreads

Source: Library

Review:

I am not a huge fan of fae stories but I did enjoy Holly Black’s The Darkest Part of the Forest about them, so I was looking forward to giving The Cruel Prince a try. Avoiding spoilers and hype while awaiting my copy from the library was a struggle but I think the delay helped temper my expectations and I ultimately enjoyed it!

Jude her twin, Taryn, and their older sister, Vivianne, are taken from the human world after Vivi’s fae father finds and murders their parents to claim Viv. Under some twisted sense of honor, he believes he is required to raise and care for all of the girls – not just Vivi – in Faerieland.

Both Jude and Taryn, as humans, and struggle to fit in. They are considered ugly and weak compared to the beautiful and immortal fae and are only tolerated because their "father", Madoc, serves as the High King’s general.

Vivi has never forgiven Madoc for the death of her parents and is still defiant but Jude and Taryn, having been younger at the time, are torn between hate for what he did and a fondness for him as the only father figure they've known. It's an interesting dynamic. The half fae daughter, Vivienne fits in but longs to go back to humanity but the twins, who are human, want to find a way to fit in Faerieland. Jude by becoming a Knight for the King and Taryn through marriage. 

As the group of young Lords and Ladies – children of the royal fae – up their taunts of Jude and Taryn to dangerous levels – Jude starts fighting back leading to a game of one-upmanship against their leader, Cardon, that goes far beyond simply holding your own and places Jude as a potential King Maker.

I REALLY enjoyed this book but had a few conflicting thoughts so I’ll break them down below:

Worldbuilding: I love that both the human and Faerieland co-exsist and the sisters travel between the two. There are cool creatures like goblins and mermaids and of course the fae and Black does a good job of describing them without getting bogged down in all the details. That might be a negative to some readers who want lush descriptions but as someone who gets lost while reading fantasy – this was a plus for me.

Characters: Everyone has dueling motivations and complex backgrounds that shape their actions. I loved this. I particularly liked the complexity of Jude’s relationship with Madoc. He killed her parents yet shows a tenderness to the the girls that leaves her conflicted. It was weird how she almost forgave and admired Madoc – yet hated the other fae for lesser transgressions.

I didn’t love the portrayal of the royal heirs. Yes, they were creepy and cruel yet alluring but it felt overly simplified. They acted like a frat/sorority of spoiled rich kids engaged in a hazing ritual. This was generic mean kids material. Although the overall story gets much darker later in the book.

And of course we have the tortured soul/bad boy/potential romance material type - Cardon. Yes, there was more to him and I think he's going to be SUPER interesting in book #2, but in this book, I didn't get the attraction.

I should add that the romantic elements are very minor. The Cruel Prince is not about a girl going gaga over a guy. Jude has way more going on and isn't afraid to throw down to get it.

As they play their games, their fates start to intertwine.. They must make allies out of enemies and enemies out of friends and loved ones.

And despite all these complexities and the moral ambiguity – I never felt too attached to anyone or wowed overall by the story.

Yet, I really liked it. Does that make sense??? lol

The Cruel Prince is a dark, twisty tale of jealousy, cruelty, betrayals and political intrigue and I thoroughly enjoyed it but I wasn't in the OMG this book was amazing camp.

If you're interesting in a few different reviews for The Cruel Prince - here are my pal Amber from Du Livre's positive 4.5 star review or Aimee, Always 2.5 star review