Trigger warnings: Severe instances of bullying
Synopsis: 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.
Review: I finally did it. I read The Cruel Prince. Let's talk about characters. I don't like Cardan. At all. I don't understand the hype around character who are supposed to be a love interest, but are mean to the main character. And Cardan takes that to a whole new level of ugh. It just seems like everyone loves Cardan, and I don't understand why. Not every person who comes from an abusive household becomes a terrible person themselves. Maybe he isn't meant to be a love interest. It just feels that way. I liked Jude well enough. She's an interesting character, and I really enjoyed seeing how strategically minded she is. I also liked seeing Taryn's place in this world. She and Jude both want to find where they fit in Faerie, and I appreciated that Holly took the time to develop both of them.
I enjoyed the story well enough. It was definitely interesting and engaging. There were aspects of the story that I saw coming, but I appreciated how Holly built up to them. We do get a few moments of going to other courts and seeing how they are structured, but I wish there was more of that. It was nice to see familiar characters from Holly's other books, but I wish this book built a little bit more around them. I had some deeply personal issues with Locke. I hate him about as much as I hate Cardan, so I didn't enjoy his part of the story much at all. Still, The Cruel Prince is a fun read and I definitely see why people love it as much as they do.
Great start to a new fae based fantasy from Holly Black
4 howls
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