Author: Holly Black
Genre: Young Adult
Source: Hot Key Books
Goodreads
Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.Review by Nara
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 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.
If you've read The Darkest Part of the Forest, you'll know what sort of fae tale that can be expected from The Cruel Prince. These are not nice fairies that grant you wishes or help you out in the garden. These are dark and vicious and wicked. And exactly the type of fae that I love to read about.
I feel like if I reread the book there's the potential I may even bump it up to favourite status. I love this sort of dark read where the protagonist isn't a character who is completely pure and good, and will manipulate things to suit their own motivations. I guess a similar feel was with The Young Elites, although there the protagonist was much more obvious of a villain. Jude is quite interesting to read about, and I'm looking forward to seeing where her ambitions take her.
The romance is a bit odd, because in theory it shouldn't be something that you root for seeing as though the love interest is basically a massive bully, but when reading the novel, there's something oddly gripping about how the romance evolves. I mean, to be honest, it's a bit much to call it a "romance" at the moment, but there are definitely some "fan yourself" moments towards the end of the book. We'll have to see what happens in further books.
All in all, an excellent novel full of twists and turns. Would recommend it to everyone.
Incredible
RatingsOverall: 9/10
Plot: 5/5
Romance: 4/5
Writing: 5/5
World Building: 4/5
Characters: 5/5
Cover: 3/5
