Book Review: The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black (The Folk of the Air #3)
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Main Genre: FantasyThis ending has me, mostly, satisfied and happy. Such a good ending for such a good series. I ended up enjoying this series way more than I thought I would.
Reminder: Spoilers from the first and second book will be mentioned in this review.
Synopsis: Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold onto. Jude learned this lesson when she released her control over the wicked king, Cardan, in exchange for immeasurable power.
Now as the exiled mortal Queen of Faerie, Jude is powerless and left reeling from Cardan’s betrayal. She bides her time determined to reclaim everything he took from her. Opportunity arrives in the form of her deceptive twin sister, Taryn, whose mortal life is in peril.
Jude must risk venturing back into the treacherous Faerie Court, and confront her lingering feelings for Cardan, if she wishes to save her sister. But Elfhame is not as she left it. War is brewing. As Jude slips deep within enemy lines, she becomes ensnared in the conflict’s bloody politics.
And, when a dormant yet powerful curse is unleashed, panic spreads throughout the land, forcing her to choose between her ambition and her humanity…
“I feel like a constellation of wounds, held together with string and stubbornness.”
If you guys haven’t read the second book yet, this upcoming fact will be quite shocking. Towards the end of the second book, Jude got exiled from Elfhame. We pick back up with her in the human world and a little bit into the third book, her sister Taryn appears at her house to ask twin, Jude, for a big and risky favor. Taryn got herself into a lot of trouble and needs Jude to act like her in front of court because Jude can’t get enchanted while Taryn can. If she gets enchanted, she can’t help but tell the complete truth which would not be good for her. Jude does want to return to the land she was raised in, the place she calls home, so she agrees. She ends up back in Elfhame, figuring things out while secretly trying to maintain her cover. Her cover is blown by some people, but I won’t spoil it for the ones who haven’t read it yet.
“I think of his riddle. How do people like us take off our armor? One piece at a time.”
The plot wasn’t ever too slow in this book compared to the other two books in the series, making this basically impossible to put down. I loved the choice of the people who did figure out that “Taryn” was actually Jude at first and how they knew/figured it out. There weren’t as many shocking twists as compared to the other books in the series as well. This book was, overall, a pretty good ending to this series. This book didn’t evoke as much anger and frustration in me as the others which was quite unexpected. A big problem of this book because of how fast paced it was, things felt quite rushed and incomplete. There are things that I would have loved to see, and, instead, I was just left questioning how those things would have turned out. For example, an epilogue that showed Oak as the King of Elfhame would have been something I would have loved to see as this was the overall end goal of Jude’s. I’d also love more of Cardan and Jude moments, obviously~
“By you, I am forever undone.”
Cardan and Jude of course were the best throughout this book. Cardan shows how he is the standard throughout this book. They have awesome chemistry and I love how supporting Cardan is and Jude finally knows her worth. She radiates confidence and is such a great character overall. She really has come very far as compared to her in the first book. Cardan, too! I despised Cardan in the first book. He was so, so cruel and immature but I’ve learned to like him after the second (with the exception of the exiling) and third book. He has grown up and is much more tolerant and not as impulsive. He made a great King despite what everybody else expected and they both are perfect for each other.
“Perhaps you could just allow yourself to be rescued," Cardan says. "For once.”
Overall, this series lived up to the hype and was much better than I expected it to be. I was actually really hesitant to read this series at first, but I’m glad I eventually caved in and picked it up. The world building was clear and concise. I wasn’t over or underwhelmed. I could picture everything in my head and the descriptions and details of the world and fae’s within the world really helped me since this was my first fae book series I’ve ever read. Definitely pick up this series if you’re in a book slump because this will take you on an incredible journey. Just remember to be patient with the first book.
“Come be angry at a nearer distance.”
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