The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Author: Holly Black

Title: The Cruel Prince

Series: The Folk of the Air #1

Publication: January 2nd 2018

Publisher:  Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Source: Publisher via Netgalley

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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 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.

Review 

This book is dark and twisted. It begins with murder of Jude's mother. Her ex-husband Madoc, takes Jude and her sisters back to Faerieland since he feels an obligation to take care of his now deceased wife's children. You would think Jude wants nothing to do with the Fae but she yearns to belong while her twin Taryn is content with her role in this world and Vivi longs for the human world they left. 


What I liked most about this book is the characters, Jude especially. She's clever, unpredictable and more than willing to play the game with Cardan and his minions, who single her out for their cruelty. It feels like because she could die from their antics thrills them even more and they like the power they have over humans. They are downright hateful creatures and her sister Taryn is a quite frankly one of my least favorite characters. Taryn doesn't like that Jude fights back, it's not like they do anything to her...it's always Jude. All she does is tell Jude how much worse she is making things worse by not ignoring them. Jude's  tenacious character and the things she does to fit in are a little crazy but she's a character that takes her fate into her own hands. 


Overall, I enjoyed this book. It started out a little slow but once the pace picked up it was easy to fall into the story. The plot is full of twists, backstabbing and violence. I liked seeing the world through Jude's eyes. The characters aren't one-dimensional and have so many levels that aside from the backstabbing, there are some unexpected kindness in this book. I wanted a little more romance but I'm okay with it building throughout the next few books, if it does happen. I think anyone that likes fairies with a darker tone would enjoy this book.