The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air) by Holly Black (Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads)Published by Bonnier Publishing Fiction on January 2nd 2018
Genres: Curiosities & Wonders, Death & Dying, Fairy Tales & Folklore, Family, Fantasy & Magic, General, Juvenile Nonfiction, Legends, Myths, Fables, Parents, Social Themes, Social Topics, Young Adult
Pages: 448
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.
Admittedly, this book started out pretty slow for me. I love Holly Black so I was so excited to get a copy of this one early… but it took a bit of time for me to get into the characters and the story more than usual. Honestly, I think that this is because the characters were so not at all what I was expecting, AND I ended up loving it because of that so, so much!
Jude is human… and living in the fey world. She stands out because she’s so unlike those around her and all she wants is to find her place in this world she’s been forced to inhabit. The fey hate humans though, and Prince Cardan is worse than all the rest in how he treats her. And she hates him. He torments her in ways that I found unexpected because OMG this is the main dude of the book and how am I supposed to love him… nothing will redeem him. Only, Black finds a way to make me appreciate his character in a way that was completely unexpected.
When we meet Jude, she is determined to become a knight of the high court… it’s the only way she feels like she’ll truly fit in. But as the king announces his ‘retirement’ the royal family makes their plans to pass the throne to one of Cardan’s brothers. Jude is approached by one of the princes and offered a position as a spy and from there… well, let’s just say things do not go smoothly, and as plots are schemed and plays are made for the crown, so many unexpected things will happen that you’ll be staring in awe at the pages you’re reading.
This book has a bit of everything and Black has created a brutal Fey world of politics and deception, and twists and turns that you will devour. Her storytelling is engaging and her characters are so captivating and unique that if you’re like me, you’ll get to the end of the story and immediately look to see how long you have to wait for book 2.
Thank you to the publisher for an early copy in exchange for my honest thoughts!
About Holly Black
Holly Black is the author of bestselling contemporary fantasy books for kids and teens. Some of her titles include The Spiderwick Chronicles (with Tony DiTerlizzi), The Modern Faerie Tale series, the Curse Workers series, Doll Bones, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, the Magisterium series (with Cassandra Clare), The Darkest Part of the Forest, and her new series which begins with The Cruel Prince in January 2018.
She has been a a finalist for an Eisner Award, and the recipient of the Andre Norton Award, the Mythopoeic Award and a Newbery Honor. She currently lives in New England with her husband and son in a house with a secret door.
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