The Cruel Prince. Holly Black. Young adult/Fantasy. 2018. 384 pages. 5 stars.
I do not year to be their equal.
In my heart, I yearn to best them.
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.
“No one needs to know that my hopes were dashed. No one needs to know I ever had any hope at all.”
My first 5-star rated read for 2018! I’m so happy about this because I’ve been anticipating The Cruel Prince for a few months and finally reading it was nothing short of fantastic. Fae books are the current trend (see: ACOTAR, An Enchantment of Ravens, TOG, etc.) and Holly Black is well-versed in this genre.
The story revolves around human twins taken under the care of the Fae world’s general. Growing up surrounded by Fae, it’s no surprise they want to be like them. However, the Fae don’t look highly upon them. Jude and Taryn find themselves mistreated, bullied, and even attempted on as they try their best to be accepted.
I loved the projection of the story! It started with the right amount of backstory and the world building was well-integrated into the narrative of Jude’s life so it wasn’t too much information to take in but at the same time intriguing enough to keep me hooked.
The Cruel Prince also breaks common tropes such as the mean older half-sister. Here, the older half-sister is the nicest being I’ve ever met. Vivi is real, purposeful, and apologetic, yet she knows her duty as an older sister to Taryn and Jude. She protects them fiercely yet wants a life of her own outside of the Fae world despite being one of them. We root for Vivi (and not a certain traitorous lying bitch cough cough cough cough).
It does, however, play into common hate-to-love and the-antagonist-isn’t-really-the-antagonist tropes. If you’ve loved series like these such as Falling Kingdoms and Shatter Me, I have a good feeling you’ll love this! The first book tends to have a chaotic plot because it’s setting up for its sequel. I was a bit put off by the second half because of that chaotic nature, but it was pulled off quite nicely!
The only issue I had with this book was the excess of rhetorical questions by the main character. A few would have been okay, but there were a lot of them in each chapter that I felt irked and somewhat annoyed. I also would have liked more background on Nicasia and Valerian. I understand that they are minor characters, but they were too stagnant and flat even though their roles were nothing more than catalysts.
Overall, I loved this and am giving it 5 stars! That ending was devastating and made me yearn for more. I can’t believe I have to wait a year to read more of Jude and Cardan’s story.
Have you read The Cruel Prince? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
I ADORED THIS BOOK, I’m so glad you gave it five stars!!
The relationship between Jude and the main “antagonist”, Prince Cardan, was so fascinating and I couldn’t help but ship them with ALL MY HEART. I also looooved the character of Vivi—like you said, it was so refreshing to break that overused trope and have the half-sister be so fun, bubbly, and likeable.
I really didn’t care for Taryn at all, either, but I’m pretty sure that she’ll be somehow redeemed in the next book—I refuse to believe that she would willingly be so cruel to her own sister!! )):
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Great review!
That jab at Taryn actually made me laugh aloud.
And honestly the last lines, both to the last chapter and epilogue had me screeching in the middle of night! Such a good book!
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HARD SAME
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I absoluuutely loved this book! I read an eARC – I pretty much jumped and danced when I got approved – and devoured it in no time! My actual physical copy hasn’t arrived yet but I’m SOOOO rereading it as soon as it does! Can’t wait to dive in again really – and I never ever ever do that, haha!
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I loved the emoji for the raiting!!! Hahahaha
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YESSS! I cannot wait to read this book! So far, everyone’s been giving it great reviews and high ratings so I have a feeling this might become a favorite.
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lmao amazing gif??? this book sounds so great i might actually have to read it (despite my complicated relationship with good ol’ holly black)
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This was my first 5-star book of the year too! I didn’t notice there being too many rhetorical questions. Isn’t it funny how people notice different things? 😊
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Everyone is talking about this book! It must be an amazing one. I’m moving it up my tbr list now after reading your review!
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That’s great to hear!! We can’t wait for you to read it 😀
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I’m so glad you loved this book! I haven’t read it yet but I’m hoping to read it soon. Great review BTW! 🙂
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i’m so glad I found your blog!!!!! it’s so gorgeous and this review is AMAZING ❤ I need to read this book!!!!
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I loved this book! It was awesome 🙂 Great review! Its funny that all the rhetorical questions bugged you because I didn’t even notice there were any, but now I kinda want to go back and see.
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I really liked this book but I don’t like the romance. But I do like Cardan as a character. I kinda want to reread it because my mind is a little fuzzy on the details.
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