The Cruel Prince

5/5
TRUE enemies to lovers, morally gray characters, found family, slow burn, political schemes, forced proximity, BANTER
1. Overview and Themes
A darkish fantasy novel that follows Jude, a mortal girl navigating the dangerous and deceitful world of the faerie world and court. With themes of power, loyalty, and ambition, it delves into the complexities of survival in a realm where humans are often seen as lesser beings.

The Cruel Prince delves into the politics of Elfhame, pursuit of power, ambition, and desire for control. Jude struggles with one of the few mortals in Elfhame, as they are seen being inferior to the fae creatures. There are the tests of where your loyalties are and betrayals in the pursuit of personal goals and ambition. show more

2. Characters
LOVE Jude. She is the embodiment of grit and determination, as she is determined to prove herself worthy in the faerie world and becoming a knight despite the bullying from Cardan and his friends and her father's refusal to see her true potential. Her grit shines through her fierce intelligence, resourcefulness, and refusal to back down. She thrives on outsmarting her enemies, enduring ridicule and danger to achieve her ambitions. She is truly unforgettable and a total badass

3. Writing Style and Pace
The writing style is very descriptive and atmospheric that will immerse readers in the world of Elfhame. With a good balance of poetic and sharp dialogue. I’d say the pacing of the story and the plot is slow at first but quickly picks up towards the end, with intense action scenes. The author is able to appropriately write the complexities of the characters especially with the raw and unapologetically bold narration of Jude.

4. Conclusion
My favorite things(Pros):
►Worldbuilding: I loved the immersive and descriptive writing of the world of the fae that includes the different realms, physical description of the creatures, and politics.
►Banter between Cardan and Jude. One of the few characters i’ve read that represents true enemies to lovers.
►Engaging plot
►Complex Characters
►The realness and relatable the female main character exudes
Cons
►Slow beginning
►Unlikeable characters (Taryn)
►Not enough romance between the two main characters
Overall I loved this world and this book. While there are some dark themes in the book, I think its a good overall fantasy book that if you are brand new to fantasy you would still love it. However, even if you are an experienced fantasy reader I still think you would very much enjoy this story. If you are looking for a story that has a lot of romance then you won’t really find it in here, there is more in the other books though. And if you are looking for smut you DEF won’t find it in here (its YA what did you expect). I loved this book because I read the entire series in 2 days over the weekend. show less

I loved this way more than I thought I would. "Hot people being horrible to each other" is an apt description, but I feel it needs more nuance for people who are a bit put off by that like me. I play RPGs and always choose the nice option. I've never been able to do a renegade run of Mass Effect!

So. People are horrible in this book, but it's for justifiable reasons - they have a goal, or they think the other person will hurt them worse, or something like that. They all have an idea of what should be right. It's not a crapsack world. But it's still not a very nice one.

Anyway. I think I read Tithe back in like...late middle school? Holly Black seemed too mean for me back then, and I just haven't picked her up since. YA is not my favorite show more style these days, but the zippy qualities were very nice after my last super slow and introspective read, so it fit very nicely with what I needed. The zippiness also kept us from wallowing in various indignities, and the YA-ness meant that Jude was going to do something about her situation. It was a nice mix.

Some of the minor twists were visible from outer space, but whatever. The love triangle (quadrilateral?) wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been - everybody being mean to each other kept the moping way down. show less

THIS BOOK. The best novel I have read so far in 2018. Immediately engrossing and completely enchanting. It was one of those books that was so good, I wanted to linger over it, but couldn't stop myself from tearing through it to see what happened next. I want to live in Holly Black's world of Faerie, horrifying as it might be sometimes. But it's not entirely perfect - I almost gave it 4 stars, as some of the politics and schemings and intrigue got murky towards the end. And I didn't quite get the point of the whole Locke deception, except as a way to make the reader hate Cardan more. But I didn't mind it that much - it was a fun diversion. I gave the book 5 stars because it was such an enjoyable read and I devoured it. I can't wait for show more the next book in the series! show less

I borrowed this because it has a delightful map illustrated by Kathleen Jennings, it’s a finalist for the Lodestar Award, and I quite liked the last book I read by Black. This one is an interesting exploration of what it means to love terrible things, with a clear-sighted awareness of their flaws, but I spent most of the story thinking “I hate faeries”.

I can understand why Jude is so focused on making a life for herself in the faerie world -- it’s the world she’s grown up in, it is where her family live, leaving it ended disastrously for her human parents -- but I would have found a more hopeful goal more appealing to read about.

Then the plot did its thing, and I had to admit that this is a successful piece of storytelling, if show more still not quite to my tastes. I’ll probably read the sequels. show less

I wrote this whole review and then Goodreads didn't save anything so this will not be my best review because I don't want to re-write everything.

I liked this book which I'm happy about because it's the first YA fantasy I've really liked since I read An Enchantment of Ravens, which was the first book I read this year. I'm back home again because of COVID and I have a closet full of books I bought while back in high school so I'm probably going to be reading a lot more YA fantasy in order to get through some of those. It's nice to see I haven't let the genre behind quite yet.

I really liked that this book used the folklore of Fae being pretty evil towards people and I also liked that they are not able to lie. I always prefer the more show more traditional folklore Fae, not just pretty people with pointy ears, so this is right up my alley. I thought Black did a great job executing a books where traditional Fae lore was well executed and modernized to create an interesting story. By having eviler Fae, it gives the human characters like Jude to feel conflicted and have complex motivations. It makes the characters seem more real and allowed me to understand why the would make a choice even if it was violent or I didn't agree.

I really liked this and I would be interested in reading the sequels as soon as I can get my hand on a library copy! show less

4.5 / 5 ⭐️

imagine my surprise when i discovered that this particular booktok recommendation GOES OFFF.

the main character, jude, is without a doubt the crowning achievement of this book. i feel like my initial reaction to main characters is always distatste, but i liked jude right away. she’s got a dark side! she’s also dedicated and smart, both of which i appreciated reading. she felt unique too, not reminiscent of other MCs. it was highly refreshing to read jude’s POV, and i’m actually SO GLAD it’s not dual POV this time!

cardan was a little flat for me, but i imagine i’ll get to see more from him in the second installment. the most i can say for him is that i’m intrigued. but he has a lot to prove!

plot wise, this show more was actually QUITE satisfying. this book had great balance between action and dialogue, it skipped over boring things that didn’t matter, and had morally grey mains. i gotta be honest this checked most of my boxes. i was even impressed with the prose at times - the writing is pretty seamless, even if it is sometimes utilitarian.

unfortunately this scores verrrrry low on the spice scale. maybe future books are different? but let me tell you right now, i think this first one worked really well even without it. and i love a spicy book, so coming from me, that’s high praise.

i do declare this to have been a pleasantly surprising and satisfying read. i will be devouring the second one, posthaste. 4.5 / 5 ⭐️!! show less

In the book The Cruel Prince, Jude’s parents are murdered in front of her by her mother’s ex fairie husband. This may sound strange but the ex husband,Madoc, is actually a kind enough, honorable fairie. This is because he takes Jude, her twin sister Taryn, and the eldest sister (who is Madoc’s real daughter) Vivienne, and raises them. Madoc is a military general that works for Prince Daine, the next person in line to be the next High King of Fairie, this means Madoc is gentry. Even though Jude and Taryn are only mortal they get around, however they are bullied by other gentry fairies at their school. More specifically Prince Cardan, according to Jude he is the worst of all fairie. Anyway Taryn is supposedly in love but she can't show more tell anyone till the next coronation. And Jude is hired to be a spy for PrinceDain to make sure he is the next High King. As a result Dain is killed by Prince Balekin and in the end Jude steals the kingdom and becomes the Faire Queen.

I have to admit this is a very complex novel. But not only did it entertain me it was also a challenge. I’m not trying to brag but usually I know all of the words in my books. But for this one a wrote down the words i didn’t know and looked up what they meant. Also I think I have found my new obsession, fairies! I know I might sound like a 5 year old little girl but believe me, Holly Black wields her pen as a sword and she lures you into her wicked world and then cuts you. Like this might be a cliche’ with authors but oh my goodness I love the antagonist. And every character is so unpredictable in the best way possible. She weaves a past for each character so precisely that it really brings out the raw humanity for every single character. So if you want to be lured into the complicated world of fairies read the cruel prince! show less