Book Review: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black (The Folk of the Air #1)

 

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

Main Genre: Fantasy

Sub-Genre: Romance

I love to flip to a random page when I get a book to get me even more hyped before I read the book. The page I flipped to in this book had me SHOOK. I’m not joking when I’m saying I was staring at the cover thinking “what in the world”. I really didn’t expect that, and I was hooked. I was planning on reading another book before this one, but I couldn’t help myself and jumped straight into this book instead. 

And let me tell you something, I regret nothing. 

Read on for my full thoughts.

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.

“What could I become if I stopped worrying about death, about pain, about anything? If I stopped trying to belong? Instead of being afraid, I could become something to fear.” 

Jude Duarte was a mortal who grew up in a world full of immortal faeries after her mom’s ex-husband killed her parents in front of her eyes when she was young. That same murderer took her, her twin sister, and her older stepsister (who is a faerie, by the way) in to live with him in the world of fae. Creatures who were not only beautiful but magical too. Though their inability to lie caused them to be very deceiving and cruel. The cruelest of them all being the youngest prince, Cardan (thus, the book’s name). Jude wasn’t “one of them”, as fae’s disliked mortals, but oh how bad she wanted to be. It’s no easy job for mortals to live in the world of fae, there were so many things they had to be aware of if they didn’t want to be controlled or dead. Jude eventually started craving power, hoping to get a spot in the High Court, thinking then she would finally fit in. She knows and experiences how evil fae’s can be and she makes it her goal to become the worst of them all. A big problem in her way was that Cardan despised her and being the son of the High King of Faerie….it would be a challenge to get her spot with him in her way. She knew and accepted the fact there would be consequences for her actions and went all in to make it to where she wanted to be. Jude often found herself in dangerous situations, making reckless decisions, and becoming more and more cruel herself. 

“If I cannot be better than them, I will become so much worse.” 

This book was such a good read. It was a refreshing read since I haven’t read such a magical book in a while. The world-building was perfect (not too many or not enough details) and all the elements of the fae world were so creative and clear. I had an idea in my head of how the world looked and worked. I got the hang of everything pretty quick. 

I was very intrigued in all the different things about the fae world that made it so hard for mortals to live there. From the poisons to the hypnotizing and commanding, it was clear how difficult it was for humans to not only live but actually fit in there. It seemed difficult to be superior to the fae's as humans, compared to them, are much more vulnerable. That’s why watching Jude make her mark in this world was so impressive. Her twin sister, Taryn, just wanted to blend in, lay low and cause no trouble. Her older stepsister, Vivenne, just wanted to return back to the human world. Jude was different and that’s why I loved her character so much.

I did not expect Jude’s character to develop and become portrayed as crueler and more heartless that well. It was slow, step by step, changes that led her to transition from the girl in the beginning of the book to the woman at the end. In the beginning of the book, she did have a temper and did rebellious things that got her into bad situations with the young prince, but by the end of the book she did things and made decisions that left me thinking, wow, she did that. She became more braver, doing things she probably would’ve only dreamed of doing when the book first started. The things Jude did and got herself into were very intriguing and definitely kept me interested. I admired how determined she was to get ahold of power and surprised by the extents she went to achieve what she wanted to achieve. 

I was so surprised by how cruel Cardan actually was. Like yes, yes, I know that’s literally the title of the book, but I didn't expect him to be that bad. He was actually horrible. His minions (aka his friends) being just as bad. They were all so full of themselves and so annoying. Him and his friends actually sparked anger in me. The things they did to Jude were wicked, I felt so bad for her and hated Cardan for a good chunk of the book.

Though, Cardan, after he grew up, did change. His younger self, like I’ve mentioned before, was horrid. His older self, though, wasn’t outright cruel. He became calmer and didn’t react how I thought he would’ve in some situations he found himself in. He matured quite a bit; it took me a good minute to get used to this new Cardan because it was a sudden change for me as Jude and Cardan didn’t continuously interact throughout the whole book. Though, underneath he still had his cruel side, it just didn’t seem as prominent as it was when he was younger. 

I was aware going into this that this was supposed to be an enemies-to-lover book, but I was so confused as to how that transition from enemies to lover was going to happen. The main reason why I gave this book 4 stars and not 5 is because 90% of the book was them being enemies which I found irritating as romance was a big reason, I wanted to read this book. Though, don’t get me wrong, when the starts of romance came along it did not disappoint. Their chemistry was even better than I ever imagined it to be. I haven’t quoted anything that Cardan said to Jude in this book when the “lovers” aspect came around because those quotes are best to be read within the scene. 

This book contained some betrayal and surprises along with drama and action. You get a little bit of a taste of everything with this book. Overall, this book lived up to its hype. The beginning of the book is a little slow, but it sets up a great foundation to build upon throughout the book. Just make sure to keep on reading because it definitely gets better. This is the perfect book for if you’re in the mood to escape into a world nothing like what you’ve seen before.

Fair warning: Once you pick it up, it will be a challenge to put it down so make sure you clear your schedule before starting this book. 

“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.”

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