The Cruel Prince

Article Written By: Lindsey

Disclaimer** This review may contain spoilers and is firmly based on my opinion**

Title: The Cruel Prince ~ The Folk of the Air series

Author: Holly Black

Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 2018

Category & Genre:  Fantasy

Page number: 416

Tropes:  enemies to lovers, fight for power/power struggle, court politics, slow burn

Synopsis from the book jacket:

“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.”

Why did I choose this book to read?

This book was another BookTok find. A lot of people have mixed reviews on it. Some people loved it, while others couldn’t finish it, so I figured I’d look at it myself. 

What did I like about The Cruel Prince?

I love it when an author puts a map in their book! This one was very pretty. It’s almost as if our main protagonist, Jude, drew it and placed it at the story’s beginning. The artwork on the first page of each chapter is designed the same way, and it feels like we’re reading a retelling by Jude as if she had written it in a journal. Oddly enough, I enjoyed how Jude and her sisters come to live within Elfhame and their relationships with Madoc, Orianna, and each other. 

Where did The Cruel Prince go wrong for me?

This book defines a slow burn in every sense, not just where romance is concerned. It was hard to get through, and I almost quit at some points because I was bored, but for the sake of this review, I powered through. I don’t think this would’ve been so difficult to get through if I had prepared beforehand how slow it was, and now that I’ve read it through once, I think a second read-through will come to me much easier.

I was very disappointed by the relationship between Jude and her sister, Taryn. I wasn’t expecting their relationship to turn so volatile towards the end, and it bothered me greatly, as someone with two sisters.  This wasn’t the only relationship I was disappointed by. The entire royal family is awful to one another simply for power-seeking purposes, which greatly disgusted me. The author makes it seem that there is no love among the Faerie Folk, just a desire for power.

Here are some of my favorite quotes…

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

“I am going to keep on defying you. I am going to shame you with my defiance. You remind me that I am a mere mortal and you are a prince of Faerie. Well, let me remind you that means you have much to lose and I have nothing. You may win in the end, you may ensorcell me and hurt me and humiliate me, but I will make sure you lose everything I can take from you on the way down. I promise you this is the least of what I can do.”

“That’s what comes of hungering for something; you forget to check if it’s rotten before you gobble it down”

My character connection…

I relate to Jude significantly. The never let them see you sweat attitude, stand up for what's right, and never backing down from a bully personality is something I greatly respect. It’s challenging to do that, especially when you are in a position of powerlessness, and the way that she never backs down while at such a disadvantage is something to be admired, in my opinion. The way that Jude pushes herself to do everything in her power to make herself as close to equal to the Folk of Faerie through various pursuits of physical and mental strength is just another example of her resilience and tenacity to adapt and survive in a world that is not meant for or kind to her human nature. 

Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️

Final Verdict: 

This isn’t a bad book, but you do have to be mindful that it's a slow burn that goes out with a bang. I think I would better enjoy this book the second time around because I could keep in mind that it has a lot of buildup to the grand finale. The lore is detailed and exciting, and the book itself is very aesthetically pleasing to look at.