ŷ������

Once upon a time, a wicked girl with a cold, cold heart traipsed through a forest so light and stark. Trees of clean bark. Branches dangling with folk art. And it was thus she came upon a hole so, so dark.

Our restless little devil looked through the hole and glimpsed trees of bark covered in blood, branches twisted and falling with a thud, screams coming out of the mud that had seen much brutal flood.

So the girl backed up, and ran, and jumped.

I fell into the Holly Black hole for fun so dark.
And now, it seems, I am stuck.
Oops.

“Nice things don’t happen in storybooks,�� Taryn says. “Or when they do happen, something bad happens next. Because otherwise the story would be boring, and no one would read it.��

Before picking up The Cruel Prince I, of course, had expectations. No, scratch that, I didn’t have expectations, I never do, never dare hope—I usually try to not expect much of a book so I wouldn't be disappointed—what I had was simply assumptions about how it was gonna be. And I was completely and utterly wrong. People make this seem like a romance-oriented book; it is not. This book is less about the romance (which only starts to show itself a little by the end) and more about games, intrigue and, most importantly, the characters. It’s about anger. Betrayal. Revenge. Secrets and, above all, power. This is the dangerous tale of a human girl who grew up in faerieland and has endured much cruelty and pain, is bullied at school, because of being mortal and weak.

She will show you she is not.
Let no one call Jude Duarte weak.

That’s what comes of hungering for something: You forget to check if it’s rotten before you gobble it down.

She will be the human who looks at all that faeries have, acknowledges that she, as a human, is unworthy of those things, still wants them anyways, and thus takes them. Faeries might always be better than her, but she can be much, much worse. It should not surprise you that I adore her, then.

The Cruel Prince is a cruel, enchanting tale of a cruel, enchanting people in a cruel, enchanting world. And all that I said are the reasons why I will love it forever. With you, to the ends of time. As always, you can check out my chosen soundtrack for the series at the end of the review—I went slightly wild there and made a mash up of the three books�� covers to create one for my playlist.

The odd thing about ambition is this: You can acquire it like a fever, but it is not so easy to shed.

CW �� abuse, bullying, drugging, speciesism (faeries over humans rather than humans over animals), self harm



�� Storyline ��

One ordinary night a not so ordinary man drops from the sky into an ordinary human neighborhood riding a not so ordinary horse. He dismounts and walks up to one of the many ordinary houses and, raising his not so ordinary fist, he knocks.

The night is no longer ordinary.

For inside the house, three little girls watch TV and eat fish sticks with ketchup. For one bears half-faerie blood, while the pair of full human twins do not. For an scared woman comes running from the kitchen and the man calls her wife and traitor. For he kills her and takes the three little girls to faerieland. For in Faerie, there are no fish sticks, no ketchup, and no television.

“Because you’re like a story that hasn’t happened yet. Because I want to see what you will do. I want to be part of the unfolding of the tale.��

What there is in Fearie is a court ruled by the High King, presiding over the three factions of the Seelie Court, the Unseelie court, and the wild fey. And that king has a general—a faerie whose wife left him pregnant with his heir, a faerie who slaughtered a family one not so ordinary night and took three human girls.

Jude is the youngest of the three, the younger twin, and she wants nothing more than to belong, craves nothing more than being knighted and a permanent part of the court. Even if most of the faeries hate humans; even if she is bullied at school by the youngest prince and his gang; even if she is belittled and bloodied and nearly killed. So it should come as a surprise to no one that she would lie and spy and become a vengeful murderess who changes the game. It does anyways.

“I am tired of caring,�� I say. “Why should I?��
“Because they could kill you!��
“They better,�� I say to her. “Because anything less than that isn’t going to work.��

�� Storytelling ��

Shame on you, Mary, for waiting so long to pick up a masterpiece of Holly Black’s. A tale so well told. A twisted fairytale so mesmerising. An atmosphere so immersive and pulsing. An eye for detail and consideration and clever themes and additions. A hand wielding words and metaphors as a master swordsman would a sword.

I read my first Black book and did not look back.

“I’ve seen many impossible things. I have seen the acorn before the oak. I have seen the spark before the flame. But never have I seen such as this: A dead woman living. A child born from nothing.��

�� Characters ��

�� Jude: Call her a wrecking ball if you want, call her an annoying bitch if you dare, I would only say you don’t comprehend the joy of jumping into the canyon of anger, the peace in throwing rules and caution into the wind, the freedom in crossing the line and embracing the glorious beauty of revenge. ��It’s the thrill of leaping without being able to see the ground below you, right before you realize that’s called falling.�� I would say that you’ve never known the colours. I would say you are blind.

She is a prideful, unyielding fighter who hates being vulnerable, being controlled. She is a vengeful, violent liar who adores power, adores attention. She is angry and dark and probably needs to see a therapist but, if you told her so, would most likely tell you to go eff yo self and that she can manage herself quite nicely thank you very much. And if you think she’s starting to sound like me...then whatever do you mean *smiles sweetly*

“If you hurt me, I wouldn’t cry. I would hurt you back.��

I’d heard criticism of Jude’s reaction to the trauma of her childhood and agreed with it for the beginning chapters, but then I realised that it’s merely that she handles the trauma differently.

What Jude does is escape thinking about what happened, flee her feelings and fear; and it naturally results in her becoming out of touch with her emotions. She endures and pushes it into the back of her brain due to not knowing another way to cope and that’s the way that comes naturally to her. She is always afraid, always on alert, so she’s grown numb and used to it, so she’s turned tired and angry, so she lashes out. In fact, her mental state is captured accurately, because our personality shapes our response to trauma the same way trauma shapes our personality. She doesn’t have nightmares not because her trauma has been ignored, but because she can’t calm her nerves enough to even sleep.

Before, I never knew how far I would go. Now I believe I have the answer. I will go as far as there is to go. I will go way too far.

And if you put that kind of personality under pressure, it acts much like an elastic object: springing upon release, going wild and hitting everything at close range. She was raised in a house of butchery by a man who delights in war and death and conflict. And because such a man was her father and such a man killed her father, this is the birth of a murderer. Her composed smiles coming unraveled, coming undone.

“I thought I was supposed to be good and follow the rules. But I am done with being weak. I am done with being good. I think I am going to be something else.��

�� Cardan: A few months ago a friend of mine forced me to watch the kdrama Boys Over Flowers in exchange for me asking her to watch the BBC Sherlock; the deal was that we’d each watch 6 episodes of our respective shows and stop after that if we’re no longer interested. I, ofc, stopped after 6 because I just can’t connect with kdaramas. But I’m glad I watched those episodes, because I can now write this: Cardan Greenbriar is literally and thoroughly Gu Jun-pyo from Boys Over Flowers.

But where I only found Jun-pyo entertaining, I love Cardan, probably because of Jude’s difference from the female lead of the show. With Jun-pyo it was just a petulant boyo lashing out and being angry and bullying and abusing a powerless girl (who still got back at him impressively but still, their personalities where the opposites) while with Cardan it’s a sparring match.

I called him “a simple old-school bully�� the very first time we were introduced, and I was both right and wrong. Right because he is an old-school bully, yet wrong because he is not simply so but playfully; Cardan is a clever cruel prince, an angry spoiled/abused child, and a charming adorable coward. Too young, too weak, too mean, too precious! But not ambitious, not like Jude. I blame you guys for being disappointed at first; it was unfair to feel annoyed that he couldn’t fill the shoes I’d thought Holly Black was intending for him when she �ɲ�����’t intending those shoes for him. He has his own shiny shoes to stand in and THANK GOD.

“There’s safety in being awful.��

�� Locke: First character who intrigued me with his bored, manipulative ways. I spent a long time just repeating what’s his game what’s his game in my notes, I swear, and I find it rather perfect that his game is just that—a game. This drama-loving fox is one I simultaneously want to kiss and kill and absolutely cannot get enough of.

�� Taryn: Jude’s twin sister is much like her while still being the opposite. She, too, wants to belong and would do anything to achieve it; she, too, can be cold and manipulative as the faeries and craves their exotic danger, growing used to recognising bad things as good; and she, too, has had to become something else to survive, something not so human. But where Jude is wildfire, she is ice; one is raging, the other composed. Both burn you in the end.

“Desire is an odd thing. As soon as it’s sated, it transmutes. If we receive golden thread, we desire the golden needle.��

�� Those aren’t the only ones that made an impact: Madoc with his anger issues and twisted love, Vivi with her raging selfish heart that encourages the same trait in others, Oriana who is way more than she seems. All layered, none all-evil, being a mix of cruel and gentle. I heard someone say this book has an all-Slytherin cast, and I’m inclined to agree—no wonder I enjoy them all so much.



�� Relationships ��

“Like taking a dare to run over knives, like an adrenaline strike of lightning, like the moment when you’ve swum too far out in the sea and there is no going back, only cold black water closing over your head.

�� Romance: Can I just say Chapter 25 & 26? BECAUSE CHAPTER 25 & 26! To be frank with you, I �ɲ�����’t sure at first about these two as I had my doubts regarding Cardan being someone who could possibly match Jude in strength, but I now adore them because I realised the nature of dynamic is a game where she is the one with the power (while being terrified of him ever having any power) and he is drawn to that. He likes to challenge her, question her, try to best her, while actually delighting in her holding a dagger at his throat.

They spar; they fight; they have (more or less) the same personality, liars and deceivers and and power-oriented people. Their only difference is that he’s a pleasure-seeking coward where she’s a purposeful warrior, and that somehow makes them an even better match.

“He’s flint, you’re tinder.��

�� Familial Bonds: I’ve already talked too much so I’ll just say that the sisterhood, brother-sister bond, father-daughter relationship...all are written tangibly, conveying the complicated and contradictory feelings that come with being a family (and one so messed up as this) quite perfectly. It was a gem to read.



�� Worldbuilding ��

Faerie might be beautiful, but its beauty is like a golden stag’s carcass, crawling with maggots beneath his hide, ready to burst.

This land of beautiful nightmares, these creatures of twilight and glamours, these clawed hands bearing nevermore and faerie fruit with their superstitious-like practices (e.g. having a necklace of dried rowan berries or wearing your stockings inside out) that are not simply superstitions, all serve to exceptionally bring this world into life and prove that world building is, indeed, Holly Black’s ultimate strength.

In the end, reading The Cruel Prince with its mythical magic and all the cruelties, deceptions, and (hypocritical) prejudice of its people, feels like wandering through a fairytale that chose the path on its left somewhere down the road, refusing to go right. And you bet I always choose the path on my left as well.



�� Companions ��

Book series playlist:
Books in series:
�� The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1) ★★★★��
�� The Lost Sisters (The Folk of the Air, #1.5) ★★★★��
�� The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air, #2) ★★★★��
�� The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air, #3) ★★★★��
�� How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (The Folk of the Air, #3.5) ☆☆☆☆��