CRUEL PRINCE CAN LIKE, GET IT

The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1)
by Holly Black
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
January 2, 2018

       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 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.

I understand why everyone and their mother has their knickers in a twist for this book. I rarely read "Fairy Books" because I'm not interested, and they're either hit or miss for me. That being said, Holly Black has converted me and made me a believer. She is a fantastic writer: she deftly and magically weaves her stunning prose. At times, I woke up from my reverie because of minor details that dispelled the magic; it was something related to food and fashion, my other loves outside of reading. Overall, she creates such a lush and beautiful world that I want to live in, sort of.

I was thrown in a loop when I read the first page. It's set in the human world? Although I had my qualms about it, it makes sense, and it's necessary. I can't imagine the fae without humans, who are they going to torment? Humans and Fae go hand-in-hand. The mortality makes our protagonist, Jude, more dynamic and develops her into the person she is; it's also the driving force of the story: there is no story or intrigue without it.

Speaking of Jude, I think she is a spectacular character. She has physical and mental strength. (Her ability to strategize well reminds me of Kestrel from The Winner's Curse, one of my favorite characters.) She has the odds stacked against her and many obstacles, but she overcomes those hurdles with difficulty. She turns her fear, doubt, humanity, and her sex (her "weaknesses") into strengths that help her triumph. She learns how to be a warrior like Arya, but she can navigate through the court like Sansa. She really shines at the end, which shows her capabilities.

I expected myself to engulf in flames every time I read Jude and Cardan's interactions, but I was annoyed instead. He's such an ass! Why do you guys like him? Yeah, he sounds attractive and all that, but he's awful. He's less awful than his brothers. You're right, but is he really? Even after reading his sad backstory, and seeing his other side, I still didn't get the appeal. But, I did like him more once he had an actual conversation with Jude; not going to lie, I'm excited to see where their relationship goes.

This is a slow-build read that progressively gets better. The first half of the book is not as dramatic as the other; the first half has petty drama and is used to acclimate readers to the world. I was unexcited. I found the latter half more entertaining because of the court drama and the action. The ACTION! The DRAMA! The end was when I started seeing Jude and Cardan's relationship differently. The second half made the novel stand out, and my rating skyrocket. One reviewer said the magical system and its inhabitants needed to be further developed; I thought it was fine; Holly Black probably thought it was unnecessary to go in-depth because she's used the same lore in her other novels: it's redundant for her/she lives and breathes the fae.

Taryn is annoying and spineless. Locke repulses me. Vivienne, I automatically liked because of her name, but her character faded into the background. I like Madoc's complexity and arc. Again with The Winner's Curse, he reminds me of Kestrel's father. I read the spoilers, so I wasn't shocked when the events happened, but I was amazed when I saw it subtly foreshadowed. Crafty and brilliant.

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