The Cruel Prince Synopsis
“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.
Note: This review is spoiler-free!
Why did I pick it?
I’ve never read a Holly Black book, although I’ve read a few novellas she’s co-written with Cassandra Clare and enjoyed them. So having recently gotten into the whole ya fairy thing I thought I would give it a shot.
What I loved about it
Having not read any of Holly’s previous fairy fiction it took me a while to get into the world itself and familiarise myself with its setup. The book does go into some detail to explain this but I think I could have benefitted from some previous knowledge.
I found the storyline intriguing, the fact that fairies cannot lie but that they are very cunning was something completely new and different for me. I found the twists and turns, not really knowing who was sided with who added to the suspense of the whole story.
There were some really shocking moments in this book. I love it when I cannot second guess the outcome of a plot point, and on several occasions I found myself gasping when I was completely wrong, a sign of a great book in my opinion!
What I loathed about it
Initially, I wasn’t a big fan of any of the main characters, I found many of them to be weak and the story lacked a strong leading character. This was true for maybe the first 20% of the book for me until Jude started to come out of her shell a little more and the story gathered pace. So I would say, give the story a chance to get going before judging it as I did.
Thoughts
The Cruel Prince was a slow burner for me, but once the story got moving, in particular, the last 10%, I couldn’t put it down. I can’t wait to see what happens in the second book coming in January 2019.
When and where can you can get it
You can purchase The Cruel Prince on Amazon today
