Friday 23 February 2018

Book Review: The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1) by Holly Black

Book: The Cruel Prince
Series: The Folk of the Air book 1
Author: Holly Black
Genres: YA, fantasy

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. - Quoted from Goodreads


My Rating: 4/5 STARS

My Review:
I enjoyed The Cruel Prince a lot.  Before reading I was interested in this book but the blurb made it sound like it was centred on a typical YA romance between a cold hearted boy and a girl who just can't seem to stay away and that the rest of the story was in the background and that made me feel a bit wary of it but I was pleasantly surprised that the political intrigue and twisted court life that is mentioned briefly in the blurb is what the book is mostly centred on instead, which is great.

I really enjoy reading books about the fae.  I find faeries so interesting to read about and I love to see how an author makes a unique spin on them.  I was really dragged into the story at the beginning with the opening scene of Jude's (the main character) parents being murdered and her being forced to go to faerie and the story continued to be interesting.  It was full of twists and turns and I loved how embroiled Jude became in all the political aspects of faerie.  I liked how she made her own choices and decisions.

I liked how complex all the characters were.  A lot of them were so fun to read about because they were very morally grey and unpredictable.  Jude was an alright character, I didn't really feel fully connected to her.  I found Madoc to be the most interesting character and was so intrigued by his relationship with Jude and her sisters.  I didn't really care for Jude's twin sister, Taryn.  I thought she was a very weak character and I didn't feel much of a bond between her and Jude which was a bit of a disappointment.  I didn't like Cardan either.  He's too much of a cliched tortured bad boy stereotype for me and he did a lot of bad things in this book that I don't think I can look past.  I did find the ending interesting and I'm excited to see where the story will go next.

Overall I enjoyed The Cruel Prince.  I liked how it centred on faerie politics and how twisted that became.  There were some typical YA cliches, mainly in the romantic aspects of the book, but apart from that I think it's a good read and the ending really makes me wonder what is in store for the next book. 


2 comments:

  1. I'm so, so, interested in this one and every review I come across only ends up making me want to pick it up as soon as possible! I haven't yet read a book about fae (appalling, I know!) but this one sounds like a good start as any ahahah. I love complex characters and palace politics so this one does so sound like my kinda book! Great review, Kyla! Thanks for sharing!

    Ruzaika @ The Regal Critiques

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope you like it too when you read it. Thanks! :)

      Delete