“What could I become if I stopped worrying about death, about pain, about anything? If I stopped trying to belong? Instead of being afraid, I could become something to fear.”
― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince
Title: The Cruel Prince {The Folk of the Air #1}
Author: Holly Black
Publication Date: January 2nd,2018
Publisher: Little, Brown
Pages: 384 pages
Format: ARC received from publishing house
Description: 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.
Disclaimer: I have received a free copy of this book from the
publishing house and chose to review it. This in no way impacts my opinion of
the novel.
When it
comes to fae YA novels, these tend to be an auto-buy for me. However, not
everyone can capture the true fae characteristics that make them cunning and
devious. Holly Black has held true to the fae identity and crafted a dark
enchanting fae novel that will leave you wanting more.
The thing
I enjoyed most about Cruel Prince was the story. The fae felt real and
terrifying. This book awakens the sense that a mortal would not want to stumble
across the fae courts. This novel invoked all the elements that captivate
mortals but brought them into a new light. Anytime soon if they had any
senses. The storyline was paced at a good speed, I felt like I got a lot of
this book without scenes feeling rushed. It had enough action and trickery to
keep any reader on their twos. A lot of elements kept me guessing, things would
happen that would come out of nowhere, but then make complete sense after. This
story felt new, and concepts added were intriguing. This book is meant to be
the first in a trilogy and thought the ending leaves you wanting more, it wraps
up this segment of the tale nicely.
