Review: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black, comes the first book in a stunning new series about a mortal girl who finds herself caught in a web of royal faerie intrigue.

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.

Holly Black’s The Cruel Prince is a magical beginning to The Folk of the Air series

I think this book was exactly what I needed at the moment. I was very quickly pulled in to the lives of Jude, Taryn her twin, and Vivi, their older sister. The story begins with them just being a normal family, with normal lives. Vivi is a bit different, but yet, so normal. Of course, good stories don’t come from ordinary events, especially fairy tales. After that brief introduction of what their lives were, the story jumps ten years when the twins are 17.

After tragedy upheaves their lives, the sisters find themselves living in the Faerie world, taken in and raised by Madoc, a red cap who thrives on war and bloodshed. It is interesting, because Madoc seems to care for the girls in a way, but at the same time, he can not change who and what he is.

Jude is fierce and driven to prove herself as worthy in a world of immortals that possess magic. Her twin sister Taryn is constantly trying to bring Jude down a notch, telling her things will be easier if she would just learn to keep her head down and do nothing to bring attention to them. Well, that’s not really Jude’s way. Thankfully, because otherwise, it would be a rather boring story.

Jude has found a nemesis with Cardan, the youngest prince. He is cruel, and surrounds himself with others like him. They seem to amuse themselves by causing pain and suffering to those around him. And since Cardan is royalty, there is little anyone can do about it.

While Jude does not posses an immortal lifespan or magic of any sort, as a human, she possesses the ability to lie, as opposed to those she lives among. Faerie folk are masters at crafting words to mislead people, talk around truths in a way to give the impression of something else, but they can not outright lie. This ability of Jude’s creates a unique opportunity for Jude, something she never considered, and places her in the middle of royal and faerie politics in a way she never saw coming.

I quite enjoyed this book and the ending definitely left me wanting to dive straight in to the next book in the series. There was not a second of consideration if I wanted to continue, the answer was a resounding yes. The book started strong, but the more I read, the more I want to read. There were no lulls for me at all, and so I jump straight in to book 2!