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4.5/5 ��

Full review on my Blog: ��

��(��) cheekbones sharp enough to cut out a girl’s heart.��

I love me a cruel and tipsy Faerie prince and that’s Cardan and only Cardan.

I mean everything I said in the previous sentence. Every. Word. Is. True.

Cardan was the best thing happening to this book and if you deny this that that’s strictly your problem. He’s a charmer.

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I don’t read hyper-hyped books in general. But when I do, I read them aeons after they’re out so the hype has worn out and I can enjoy the book (or not) in peace. This one was super hyped. I was plainly curious to see if it really is worth a shot.



I truly didn’t expect the beginning of the book to scream like that. That was a power move. And I liked it.

Everything that came after that was to lure us into the Faerie world, of what, I must admit, I have only a minimum knowledge of. Everyone is beautiful, but everyone is cruel. Basically, it looks like a circus.

It is important for me to be able to grasp the world from the beginning. I feel frustrated when the whole universe unravels as if I just dropped in the middle of what was going on and no one had the time to acknowledge me. I want to feel important from the beginning.
Thank you, Holly Black, I did feel important!

“Being born mortal is like being born already dead.��

This is the story of sisters. Vivienne, Jude and Taryn are three sisters who began their lives in the mortal world and but then were forced to come to Elfhame after their parents got brutally murdered by their soon-to-be foster father �� Vivienne’s real father. Vivi is one of them; Jude and Taryn, the twins, are not. This is the story of the sisters�� struggle to be accepted in a world that doesn’t want them to be part of.



Although Jude and Taryn are twins, they are completely different from each other. Where Taryn is ladylike and delicate, silent and obedient, Jude is determined and loud and wild. Where Taryn wants to be granted a place in the Faerie world through marriage, Jude wants to be a knight and play at war.

The story is narrated from Jude’s point of view. That is probably why many people find her annoying. The whole story sounds like her own roaring thoughts and feelings. Maybe she annoys herself too as many of us get annoyed with ourselves and our own thoughts.

“You’re like a story that hasn’t happened yet.��

In a purely honest note, I kind of liked Jude in this book. Sure, she was a bit annoying sometimes, but truth be said, I liked her better than Taryn. There was something about her twin sister that made me repel her. Jude was interesting in a way that made me relate to her. I could totally see me sometimes in her actions. I felt like she was full of her own personality.

She’s power-thirsty. But this is how she was raised to be. To fight, to scheme, to seek and seize power. She’s the foster daughter of the great general of the Faerie after all. I still consider that a badass trait about her. Don’t you think?



Now, as I previously stated, I think I might have a soft spot for Cardan, the youngest Prince of the Faerie.

“There’s safety in being awful.��

Cardan Greenbriar might seem cruel, reckless, thirsty for violence, but I think he is totally the good boy in disguise type. I mean, at first, I couldn’t stand him (even though I hated his friends more than I despised him). Then, there was this period of transition where I had mixed feelings about him. 65% in and I just slowly but steadily started to fall in love with him. I started to realise things about him as presented by his actual, intimate actions. And how couldn’t I fall like a fool? He was a lonely and broken boy. All he wanted was to love and be loved, but no one seemed to care about him enough to grant him that little. What is the whole power in the world of Faerie without an ounce of affection to it?

“Most of all, I hate you because I think of you. Often. It’s disgusting and I can’t stop.��

He hates. Hates because he loves. Hate because he’s not loved.

His relationship with Jude starts and unfolds slowly. They have that wonderful love-to-hate relationship that I actually enjoy in books in general.

I consider their relationship a bit unhealthy though. What happens between the two of them is a peculiar kind of hate-love. It’s a game played out of spite. It’s all about power and desire. I am not sure this is right, but I do believe that this type of relationship is going to improve because from hate to love to hate to love again �� that’s an endless wheel that could be stopped anytime, anywhere. One can make a beautiful thing out of something hideous, but one can also ruin the beauty of a thing. Their relationship, in this book, is dangerous ground.

Indeed, something about the book seemed off. Even though the world-building was very good and the action was fantastic, the depth of the characters was somehow missing. I wanted them to be more individualised, but I think that’s just because we see the story through only one character’s point of view. When you personalise the action, it’s hard to create well-developed individuals.

That, I think, it’s the only contradictory thing I have to say about this book. Really. I even enjoyed all the bloodshed there. And that’s not okay. But it was so cleverly crafted that I just had to enjoy it somehow??
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Also see:
#2. The Wicked King (⭐⭐⭐⭐��)
#3. The Queen of Nothing (⭐⭐⭐⭐��)