'The Cruel Prince' by Holly Black

Review Written on 4.4.21

FTC disclaimer: I was not sent this product. I am not affiliated with the companies mentioned. All opinions are my own.

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Publish date: 2 January 2018

Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26032825-the-cruel-prince

Author Link: https://blackholly.com/

Buy Link: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-cruel-prince-the-folk-of-the-air/holly-black/9781471407277

So overall, this book gets a solid seven out of ten. This is partly because I enjoyed it, and partly because it got me out of a reading slump. The overall uniqueness of it was not groundbreaking, but the addictive-ness and intricacies of its plot were… well, addictive.

Here is the general “Polly’s reading habits arc”:

1. She finishes a fantasy romance that was really fun, funny, addictive, or generally marvellous.

2. She feels guilty that she enjoyed it and that she isn't branching out enough

3. She picks out a “good” book that will improve her intelligence

4. The book doesn’t inspire her

5. She ends up reading random chapters of fantasy books she’s read ten times already because she tells herself she won’t start a new book properly until she’s finished the ‘good’ one.

6. She just stops reading altogether and gets stressy.

I was in stage 6, and boy was it a low point. Since then, I’ve decided that when I’m stuck in stage 6, I shall have the following mantra: “I am a teenager. I am allowed to read teen fiction if I want to”. Also, before we FINALLY get to the review (sorry for the babble), just a quick thanks to my friend JMZ who recommended this to me. If ever build up the nerve to post videos of me raving and ranting about books on this website, she’s definitely coming on.

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 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.

Paranormal and fantasy aspects were deftly interwoven in Black’s setting development. The human and fantasy world co-existed; if the humans knew where to look they would find it. Usually, these Unseelie/Seelie/Fae books are either set in a total fantasy world (e.g. ‘A Court of Thornes and Roses’), or the fantasy world is a parallel/magical/darker version of the human world (such as “the upside down” in ‘Stranger Things). The combination of the two worked well, but we were left to visualise a little too much without Black’s help. I never thought I’d say this, but we needed more description.

The action was well-paced, with the opening setting the tone for the thrills that only grew throughout.

My romantic heart was dubious of the developments we had between Cardan and Jude; not finding itself 100% invested in their spark. Luckily, I trudged on to the ENDING AND JUST EXPLODED WITH THE TWIST! Authors who can keep secrets from the reader in a first person narrative novel are the real deal.

The other exciting part of this book was that Jude felt unlikable by the end. She was manipulative, because she was manipulated. She was cruel because people were cruel to her. She was a liar, because she was always lied to through omissions and word play. This cyclical theme of her character development was surprising, shocking, and simply impressive. She was a brave, morally grey pragmatist, and I loved it.

Sadly, Cardan’s character development was somewhat lacking. I got the “he’s mean because he’s dealing with a bunch of trauma” trait but that can be said for ALMOST EVERY YA MALE LOVE INTEREST EVER! We needed more from him; more that will hopefully come in the sequel. Hence, I was unimpressed by how the book was named after him when he was so lacking. Some side characters were one-dimensional and under-developed; lost in the politically-driven plot of schemes and counter-schemes. However, Madoc and Taryn were the key exceptions. The latter especially intrigued me -I’m looking forward to finding out how her relationship with Jude develops in the sequel.

Something that I always notice in books is the attention that an author pays to food descriptions. Black’s use of food to transport the reader to Faerie was expertly implemented, and was one of her most powerful descriptive devices.