4.5 stars! ( )

This is not the Folk of the Air Trilogy. . . that trilogy had me gasping, nail-biting with anticipation of what was going to happen - not in this one - I am afraid . . .

Did I enjoy it? Enough to complete the Duology.

I was excited to return to the world of Elfhame. Holly Black always promises betrayal, drama and love-unwavering. She brought it . . . betrayal at its best - yet predictable in this novel.

I feel you need to have read The Queen of Nothing, but you can read this as a standalone series.

Oak was charmingly devious, and it was nice to see how he had grown. It was good to have known his background to understand why he had become what he has.

Wren, oh Wren, I felt her character was a bit underwhelming, not as the tortured soul she claimed to be. She was a bit whiney in some chapters, but the ending was well-rounded.

The novel starts slow, yet it picks up, then climaxes, and spirals to reveal the twist (which I knew) coming. ( )

I think I got overly hyped for this and my expectation wasn't quite met. I enjoyed it for what it is about Oak and Wren but it feels lacking. However the ending of course left me interested enough in wanting to read the next installment but not in a hurry. ( )

It’s been a while since I visited Elfhame and it’s complicated fey politics, but what a way to end out the reading year / start the new one! Holly Black doesn’t waste any time with this novel, and throws us into the story in full media res - expecting us to remember the events that got Jude and Cardan the the High Crowns of Elfhame, and filling in the blanks as we go with what happened to the princeling-in-waiting (Oak), all while trying to figure out where our new protagonist fits in. We are introduced to Suren (Wren), an outcast from the Court of Teeth, midst exile as she is hunted by the Storm Hag and picked up as a prisoner/bait/potential ally by Oak and company as they search for a way to defeat the rebellious fey Lady Nore, Wren’s mother. The whole story is immediately complex, which seems to be an increasing mode of Black’s the further she gets into exploring Elfhame with us, and reading this story felt like the action was taking place at such a speed that it was a challenge to keep up. The lore is intricate, and I love the detailed double twists that were slowly revealed by the final pages, but would it have killed her to slow it down just a touch to give us a little more time with the narrative?! The politics are decent at a fast clip, as things move fast in the fey world, but the unfolding of the romance themes felt a little choppy (the cast are young, but it doesn’t feel like typical teenage lust is actually a driver) and the physically slow journey that Oak and Wren take from the human world to the Ice Needle Citadel clashed somewhat with the quickness of the text’s tone. After the group make it inside the Citadel (Wren’s traumatic childhood home, so fun themes there), the pace picked up to become even more frenetic to the point where I feel like I’m definitely going to have to re-read it for the details before picking up book 2. Everyone betrays everyone else, but they’re all doing it for the right reasons, and it kind of all works out to a point where we can see a happy ending coming at some point in the near future, but damn was it all over the place to get there! Wren’s final moments are bloody and magical, with a revelation that isn’t entirely unexpected if you were paying attention going along, but inevitably left us on a cliffhanger that annoyed me immensely. What’s the point of her being animated by the heart of a betrayed daughter, besides power, because there must be one in Black’s story; are the two fey court heirs going to end up together; or is Holly Black in over her head with this evermore political story style? Here’s hoping that she has a plan for the story to all wrap up neatly (she must, since the second book is due out later this year) and that she takes the pace down a notch or two - no need to rush it, I’ll happily read an extra 100 pages if it means getting more quality lore, character development, and intrigue! ( )

This is fine. Would not re-read. ( )