Friday, January 12, 2018

The Cruel Prince

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Holly Black, is one of my favorite authors ever. I love the way she builds world, grows characters, and really shapes stories. I've previously reviewed other books by her, including (but I've read all of them, just before I was blogging time), THE DARKEST PART OF THE FORESTTHE COLDEST GIRL IN COLD TOWNTHE IRON TRIAL, and DOLL BONES. But again, I've read like everything Holly Black has ever written because I adore her writing so much. SHAMELESS FAN GIRL. HELLO.

So, imagine my shrieking delight when she wrote this, another adventure into fey stories. :D

An amazon summary, "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." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

Jude and her twin sister, Taryn, along with their older sister, Vivi, were taken away by Madoc. Madoc is the general to the High King, and their mortal mother birthed their older sister Vivi before eventually escaping to the mortal world. Madoc had gone to retrieve his heir, Vivi, and claimed the twin sisters at the same time. Jude and Taryn grew up in the fey lands alongside their sister Vivi, who is half fey and half mortal.

Jude aspires to be a knight in the High Court of Faerie. She wants to be strong, become someone who is respected, and she aspires to be something more than what her 'father', Madoc, thinks she will be. Jude and her sister Taryn, being mortals, are often teased and tricked by the fey. Their classmates are tremendously awful; the one distinct advantage they have is the power to lie. The fey cannot lie, but they are clever enough to speak around or avoid the truth as well. Madoc, Madoc also has his own ambitions.

Dain, one of the princes of the kingdom, sees something in Jude that may be mutually beneficial to them both. He aspires for the throne, and Jude aspires to be a knight, and he begins to weave her into his web. Dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnnn

That's enough summary.

I freaking LOVE this book! There's clearly going to be a sequel, I loved Jude and felt her frustrations or ways that she can overcome her weaknesses, and really admired her resilience, her persistence to overcome the odds. I loved all of the politics, how the fey world society was portrayed, and all the intricacies that came together in such a big way at the end.

Definitely. Waiting. For. The. SEQUEL.

Happy reading!

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