Review: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Title: The Cruel Prince

Author: Holly Black

Series: The Folk of the Air #1

Genre: YA/Urban Fantasy/

Publisher: Little, Brown Books

Publication Date: January 2nd, 2018

Edition: Hardcover, 370 pages

Source: Purchased

Purchase: Amazon US | Kobo | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | BAM | iBooks

Synopsis:

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 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.

   As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal 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.

   This book was far more enjoyable than I expected. The early reviews were very positive, then the more negative ones started coming out so I wasn't sure what to think of this book. It turned out to be a very enjoyable book. But I have several things to say.

   First off, you can hardly call a one-sided thing a romance. When one party has romantic feelings but also has hatred for them, and the other person just out-right dislikes/hates them. It's not a romance. Maybe as the series goes on it will turn more into a hate-to-love thing, but right now it can't be called that.

   Tayrn is the worst sister ever. All the comments I heard from people not liking Jude, who I will get to in a sec, most had nothing to say about her. But what she did was really shitty and I want her to have misery.

   Vivi is an interesting character, she is trying to get her sisters to see how toxic life with the fae has been for them. But doesn't seem to understand that they have been in one life longer than the other. And Faerie is what has become normal for them, especially Jude, and it would be jarring to be ripped away from what has become normal for them. 

   Jude, she was really boring for a good chunk of the book. For me she was. I honestly wish that there was more than one POV for this book. Honestly, just anyone else who was part of this would have been a nice reprieve. She complained a lot and she really did cause a lot of her own problems. She should have seen what a little shit Locke was.

   Cardan, I don't know why people talk about him the way they do. Yeah, he's awful. But he's not evil, just an asshole. But I hope he gets more character development in the next book. He seems like a character who has layers.

    Now, the plot. It was a little all over the place. There was a lot of set up for Jude and her abilities with swordplay and strategy. Which is needed, the book did show, not tell, what she was good at. But, the last third of this book was so rushed that they pay out was rushed. The book could have used about 20 more pages for the ending.