Title: The Cruel Prince (The Folk of Air #1)
Author: Holly Black
Publication: 2018
Genre: YA Fantasy
My Rating: ★★★☆☆.5
Favourite Quote: “That’s what comes of hungering for something: you forget to check if it’s rotten before you gobble it down.”
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.
Let me just start my review by saying i'm not a massive fan of the fantasy fiction (though saying that The Chronicles of Narnia is one of my favourite book series so perhaps I'm lying to myself). Anyway, i'd seen a lot of recommended posts of The Cruel Prince on Instagram and Youtube. It seemed intriguing so I thought I'd buy it and give it a read, and it's safe to say, i'm impressed by it.
The Cruel Prince is a rich, dark and wicked story. It's about power. The power to overcome fear. The power to find your place. The power to stand up to people who are more powerful than you.
Some books take so long pulling you in, don't they? Not this one. The book opens with a shocking and tragic event: the murder of non-faerie twins' parents at the hand of their mother's faerie ex-husband, Madoc. He takes the young twins and his daughter (the twins faerie half-sister) to live with him in the world of Faerie, raising them as though they were his own daughters. The rest of the book takes place in the Faerie world, 10 years after the opening scene.
What I love the most about the author, Black, is that this faerie tale isn't all roses, sunshine and daisies. It's dark, and the faeries are cruel and cunning immortals. At first glance, the High Court of Faerie is a beautiful place with balls where the guests dance until morning. However, delving beneath the surface you see that darkness hides this beauty. For example, mortals are drugged on faerie fruit and made into mindless servants.
The story is told from the point-of-view of 17-year-old Jude Duarte and 10 years since the murder of her parents, she has adjusted to the fae world and believes it's where she truly belongs. Though she never lets go of her hate towards Madoc she lets him train her to fight and she attempts to learn as much as she can to join the royal fae court as a knight. Jude, however, doesn't get the chance to prove her skills and pledge herself and so she finds another path to the acceptance of the faerie world she so desperately craves. This path reveals to her the cruelty of the High Court and the bitter hatred of the High Prince, Cardan. Jude soon finds that not only her own life is at risk, but the lives of her family as well.
If I cannot be better than them, I will be so much worse.”
The Cruel Prince is a rich, dark and wicked story. It's about power. The power to overcome fear. The power to find your place. The power to stand up to people who are more powerful than you.
Some books take so long pulling you in, don't they? Not this one. The book opens with a shocking and tragic event: the murder of non-faerie twins' parents at the hand of their mother's faerie ex-husband, Madoc. He takes the young twins and his daughter (the twins faerie half-sister) to live with him in the world of Faerie, raising them as though they were his own daughters. The rest of the book takes place in the Faerie world, 10 years after the opening scene.
“No matter how careful I am, eventually I’ll make another misstep. I am weak. I am fragile. I am mortal. I hate that most of all.”
The story is told from the point-of-view of 17-year-old Jude Duarte and 10 years since the murder of her parents, she has adjusted to the fae world and believes it's where she truly belongs. Though she never lets go of her hate towards Madoc she lets him train her to fight and she attempts to learn as much as she can to join the royal fae court as a knight. Jude, however, doesn't get the chance to prove her skills and pledge herself and so she finds another path to the acceptance of the faerie world she so desperately craves. This path reveals to her the cruelty of the High Court and the bitter hatred of the High Prince, Cardan. Jude soon finds that not only her own life is at risk, but the lives of her family as well.
Characters worth mentioning
Jude
I love a book or film with a strong female lead, and this is one of them.
Jude's an interesting character: she's humanly flawed which sometimes makes her unlikeable. She's impulsive, greedy, ambitious and even brutal at times. But she's also very strong-willed and loving. The girl knows what she wants and will do her best to get it. Jude has the heart and talents of a warrior but the more you get to know her, you understand that she's always afraid because she's an outcast in a place where mortals are frowned upon and she never knows what could happen to her.
What I didn't like about Jude is her attitude to death and violence. There's a fair amount of bloodshed in this book and I found it unbelievable that it didn't seem to have much of an impact on her at all. I think Black has written Jude's character so well because it's hard to write a character who's ruthlessly cold and calculating whilst also being so humanly and compassionate.
Tayrn
"Unlike me, Taryn is adaptable. She will fall in love, just as she said. She will metamorphose into wife or consort and raise faerie children who will adore and outlive her."
I don't know what it was about Taryn, Jude's twin sister, but she just annoyed me. She plays her cards much differently to Jude. Taryn tries to fit into fairy society by attempting to find a faerie husband to secure her place. Whilst Jude is fiery and kind of in your face, Taryn is quiet, passive and more submissive. We never discover enough of Taryn for us to really feel anything for her, so she's merely a background character in Jude's story. Taryn is loyal to her sister but there are secrets she keeps that soon get in the way of their loyalty.
One thing that really irritated me is that the twins, along with their older sister, Vivienne, weren't scarred from seeing their parents brutally murdered right in front of them! I mean, they were young children when it happened so surely something so savage as that will leave an impression on them and probably leave lasting psychological effects. Black simply dismisses this and the memory of it is only drawn upon by Jude's a couple of times whenever she's in the presence of Madoc.
Prince Cardan
Is it possible to loathe a character and love them at the same time? Yes it is because I present to you the only and only Prince Cardan. It takes real skill to take the villain of a story and make him not only sympathetic but precious too. I wanna stick him in a box, tie a ribbon around it and then stick it on the top shelf to keep him safe. He's the youngest prince- known to be useless and a bully amongst the fae people. Cardan is cruel, lazy, arrogant and most of the time, drunk. He treats Jude and Taryn quiet poorly, bullying them (Jude mostly) to the extreme. Why though? Because the silly boy secretly likes Jude of course. He loathes the fact that he desires a mortal and so he tries everything possible to make her hate him so there's no chance of reciprocation. If anyone tries to harm Jude though, Cardan immediately stops them which confuses Jude even more. Believe me, if you hate Cardan at the start, which you will, you'll love him by the end.
**
Aside from that first chapter, the story is quite slow to begin with, though as the plot thickens I was always kept guessing about what happens next and anxiously did so. In some ways, the slow start seemed worth it because the characters were well established by the time the power plays were being made and I enjoyed it the darker it got. There's constant tension surrounding every choice Jude makes and I was surprised to find myself rooting for her most of the way through.
The Title
In the beginning, it's easy to assume that the title refers to Cardan but as the story progresses and the fae court politics are introduced, you soon start to question who the eponymous cruel prince is. With everyone's motives unknown to Jude, you have to guess and make assumptions as to who it is.
“Nice things don’t happen in storybooks. Or when they do happen, something bad happens next. Because otherwise the story would be boring, and no one would read it.”
So, why not 5 stars?
Chiefly because the first part of the story is underwhelming, I was wondering when something super significant would happen, however, when it does, my god does it escalate quickly!
I read that many people thought that far too many pages were spent with Jude and Cardan constantly antagonising each other, but I enjoyed that. Not the bullying, but the witnessing of the character dynamic between them and watching how their relationship evolved.
Furthermore, I think Cardan should've featured more in the story than what was seen of him. You start to like him so of course, you want to see more of him. At certain points of the story I thought, "well where is Cardan in all this?/Cardan should be here for this part." I'm assuming that Black has a lot more Cardan related content in book two!
It was only until I finished the book that I realised there was going to be a second book. I suppose The Cruel Prince is more of a foundation for the next book(s) to come. That's not to say that this book isn't intense, because it is. In all, The Cruel Prince is engaging with some jaw-dropping scenes and an intriguing, cliff-hanger ending. With murders, secrets, lies and betrayal in a faerie land, I can see The Folk of Air series being very successful. I mean, there's a lot of hype over this book already. I can't wait to find out how Black will develop the story and the characters, especially Jude playing the fae-politics with Prince Cardan. There are much bigger things to come, I'm sure!
*collage photos not my own.
“I have lied and I have betrayed and I have triumphed. If only there was someone to congratulate me.”
I love a book or film with a strong female lead, and this is one of them.
Jude's an interesting character: she's humanly flawed which sometimes makes her unlikeable. She's impulsive, greedy, ambitious and even brutal at times. But she's also very strong-willed and loving. The girl knows what she wants and will do her best to get it. Jude has the heart and talents of a warrior but the more you get to know her, you understand that she's always afraid because she's an outcast in a place where mortals are frowned upon and she never knows what could happen to her.
What I didn't like about Jude is her attitude to death and violence. There's a fair amount of bloodshed in this book and I found it unbelievable that it didn't seem to have much of an impact on her at all. I think Black has written Jude's character so well because it's hard to write a character who's ruthlessly cold and calculating whilst also being so humanly and compassionate.
Tayrn
"Unlike me, Taryn is adaptable. She will fall in love, just as she said. She will metamorphose into wife or consort and raise faerie children who will adore and outlive her."
I don't know what it was about Taryn, Jude's twin sister, but she just annoyed me. She plays her cards much differently to Jude. Taryn tries to fit into fairy society by attempting to find a faerie husband to secure her place. Whilst Jude is fiery and kind of in your face, Taryn is quiet, passive and more submissive. We never discover enough of Taryn for us to really feel anything for her, so she's merely a background character in Jude's story. Taryn is loyal to her sister but there are secrets she keeps that soon get in the way of their loyalty.
One thing that really irritated me is that the twins, along with their older sister, Vivienne, weren't scarred from seeing their parents brutally murdered right in front of them! I mean, they were young children when it happened so surely something so savage as that will leave an impression on them and probably leave lasting psychological effects. Black simply dismisses this and the memory of it is only drawn upon by Jude's a couple of times whenever she's in the presence of Madoc.
Prince Cardan
His eyes are bright as coals, his hatred a living thing, shimmering in the air between us like the air above black rocks on a blazing summer day.”
Is it possible to loathe a character and love them at the same time? Yes it is because I present to you the only and only Prince Cardan. It takes real skill to take the villain of a story and make him not only sympathetic but precious too. I wanna stick him in a box, tie a ribbon around it and then stick it on the top shelf to keep him safe. He's the youngest prince- known to be useless and a bully amongst the fae people. Cardan is cruel, lazy, arrogant and most of the time, drunk. He treats Jude and Taryn quiet poorly, bullying them (Jude mostly) to the extreme. Why though? Because the silly boy secretly likes Jude of course. He loathes the fact that he desires a mortal and so he tries everything possible to make her hate him so there's no chance of reciprocation. If anyone tries to harm Jude though, Cardan immediately stops them which confuses Jude even more. Believe me, if you hate Cardan at the start, which you will, you'll love him by the end.
**
Aside from that first chapter, the story is quite slow to begin with, though as the plot thickens I was always kept guessing about what happens next and anxiously did so. In some ways, the slow start seemed worth it because the characters were well established by the time the power plays were being made and I enjoyed it the darker it got. There's constant tension surrounding every choice Jude makes and I was surprised to find myself rooting for her most of the way through.
The Title
In the beginning, it's easy to assume that the title refers to Cardan but as the story progresses and the fae court politics are introduced, you soon start to question who the eponymous cruel prince is. With everyone's motives unknown to Jude, you have to guess and make assumptions as to who it is.
“Nice things don’t happen in storybooks. Or when they do happen, something bad happens next. Because otherwise the story would be boring, and no one would read it.”
So, why not 5 stars?
Chiefly because the first part of the story is underwhelming, I was wondering when something super significant would happen, however, when it does, my god does it escalate quickly!
I read that many people thought that far too many pages were spent with Jude and Cardan constantly antagonising each other, but I enjoyed that. Not the bullying, but the witnessing of the character dynamic between them and watching how their relationship evolved.
Furthermore, I think Cardan should've featured more in the story than what was seen of him. You start to like him so of course, you want to see more of him. At certain points of the story I thought, "well where is Cardan in all this?/Cardan should be here for this part." I'm assuming that Black has a lot more Cardan related content in book two!
It was only until I finished the book that I realised there was going to be a second book. I suppose The Cruel Prince is more of a foundation for the next book(s) to come. That's not to say that this book isn't intense, because it is. In all, The Cruel Prince is engaging with some jaw-dropping scenes and an intriguing, cliff-hanger ending. With murders, secrets, lies and betrayal in a faerie land, I can see The Folk of Air series being very successful. I mean, there's a lot of hype over this book already. I can't wait to find out how Black will develop the story and the characters, especially Jude playing the fae-politics with Prince Cardan. There are much bigger things to come, I'm sure!
*collage photos not my own.
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