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I love this series so so much. I read it in a few days. It was immensely enjoyable- but it wasn't as good as the second book, The Wicked King (my favorite) or even the first book.

What makes this series amazing is Jude, the lead character. She is downright power hungry, pissed, and ready to kill and betray to get what she wants. She thinks about doing some downright villainous things and I love it. Too often female characters (especially in YA books) are just so.... wet cardboard. They're ~so~ nice and can't stand the sight of blood and just fawn over the male lead and are otherwise extremely boring Mary Sues. Jude is one of the best female characters I've read in a while. She's vicious but terrified, and goes to great lengths to secure power.

Every character has their moments where you hate them and then you like them. Characters are complex and their motives are very well thought out. Taryn, Vivi and Madoc are all characters I hated in one moment but then grudgingly respected the next.

The enemies to lovers thing is actually done really well and is present throughout the series- not just the first bit of them knowing each other. There's this crazy I hate you but have feelings for you dynamic not just at the beginning- but through it all. Mix in some gnarly political intrigue and you've got a match made in enemies-to-lovers heaven. Many books with this trope begin with tension, but then they fall in love and that's that. The Folk of the Air does the trope exceptionally well and it makes Cardan and Jude's relationship so much more interesting and complex.

Also- I just can't get enough of Madoc as a father figure who is also a huge villain. It brings so much complexity into his relationships with his daughters. I felt like with this series Holly Black took. it. there. It's all I ever wanted in YA Fantasy- a bit of grit and intrigue. So often YA books are basic full of fanservice with no real grit. I'm glad that this series really subverted a lot of YA tropes.

I wouldn't say that The Queen of Nothing was perfection though, as I felt like some storylines wrapped up too quickly and neatly, and there could have been more tension. It felt like this book played things a bit more safe, and in doing so took away some of the things that made the previous books so delicious. (view spoiler)[For one, I wish Locke had a better death, or at least there was more to Taryn's motives. It just seemed a bit too... easy? A missed opportunity for some tension and drama. Secondly, I thought that the excuse for Jude's exile was a bit weak. I think it could have been done a lot better. Also, I kind of wish something a little darker happened- I mean, we all knew that Jude and Cardan would end up together, but I wish Taryn or Vivi got killed or there was some major betrayal. This book played out pretty linearly. (hide spoiler)] In general it just seemed like there wasn't as much depth to the characters- everything was quite straightforward which made it not as compelling as the other two books.

Still, it was enjoyable and even though there wasn't as much strife in this book compared to book 2, I still really liked it.

I wholeheartedly recommend this series to any fantasy fans who appreciate an interesting fae world with some great political intrigue, three-dimensional characters and a great enemies to lovers romance.