Review: The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

A powerful curse forces the exiled Queen of Faerie to choose between ambition and humanity in this highly anticipated and jaw-dropping finale to The Folk of the Air trilogy from a #1 New York Times bestselling author.

He will be the destruction of the crown and the ruination of the throne

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 twin sister, Taryn, whose 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 . . .

After that cliffhanger ending in The Wicked King, The Queen of Nothing starts with Jude back in the human world. She is missing magic fiercely and does not seem to understand or feel like she fits in to the human world, despite actually being human herself. She feels hurt and betrayed by Cardan, and feels like a fool for ever trusting him. Instead of the Queen of Faerie, she is now the Queen of Nothing, living in the world of humans.

She finds herself working jobs for faerie folk living in the human world, its as close to her old life as she expects to get. That is until Taryn shows up, asking a huge favor of Jude that will require her to sneak back in to Elfhame, posing as her twin sister. This is a huge risk for, and she feels she is risking her life, but she understands how and why she can help her sister, and its not an option for her to do nothing.

When Jude gets there, she finds herself, once again, thrust into the center of EVERYTHING. I really love her character. She is always so determined, and fierce. She’s not necessarily infallible, but she owns it if she is wrong.

I also continue to like and understand Cardan so much more. He has a tragic backstory that really sheds a light on why he was so cruel (not saying it was right for him to be cruel, but you understand how he came to be that way). And even more, Cardan starts to see he doesn’t have to be cruel, and while he let Jude handle everything in the last book, while she was banished, he stepped up.

Overall, like the others in this series, I really enjoyed this book. The characters have all grown since the beginning and I found myself interested in the story through out. And, I am happy with the ending.

If you enjoyed the first two books, you definitely will not be disappointed with this one.