The Cruel Prince by Holly Black on January 2, 2018
Genres: Young Adult Fiction / Action & Adventure / General, Young Adult Fiction / Fairy Tales & Folklore / General, Young Adult Fiction / Fantasy / Dark Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction / Royalty
Pages: 384
Format: Paperback
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“Most of all, I hate you because I think of you. Often. It’s disgusting, and I can’t stop.”
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.
I want to begin with saying that what probably killed this book for me was the hype. I was literally expecting the feels I got when I read anything from Sarah J Maas. Instead, it was good, but like it wasn’t astonishing or mind-blowing. The world building was lacking a bit for me. I found myself having to google a few words for creatures that I was not familiar with. But the biggest reason why I scored so low, was Jude. Jude was beyond annoying to me. She was aware that she wasn’t a fae, and she wanted to be one of them or better than them. But she never stopped complaining about being mortal. Ever. She never shut up about it to the point that I found myself rolling my eyes. And her character half the time did exactly the opposite of what she said she would be doing.
I ended up giving this book a 3.5 star-rating. I definitely don’t think this is the groundbreaking, earth shattering read that many are making it out to be, but I’m glad I read it and I’m hoping the later books in the series will be stronger. I am still undecided if I will complete this series or not.