Reviews tagging 'Incest'

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

19 reviews

noellegrace8's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

It took me about 25% of the way through to start truly enjoying this book. Because it takes the path of a slow reveal of situations and motivations, the beginning groundwork can be almost frustrating because you don't know why some people are acting the way that they are. Also, for a book with so much death and otherwise adult themes, the characters and the writing style both are a bit juvenile at times. I struggled at first with the incongruency of a lack of contractions in dialogue mixed with colloquialisms like "that sucks," but I eventually got used to it and do recognize that it makes sense given the setting. I also really hate first person present tense because it feels overdramatic and impractical, and this book uses it throughout.

That being said, I really like the main characters. Some of the side characters are a bit flat, but Jude, Cardan, Maddoc, Vivvie, Dain, Taryn, Oriana... none of them are "good" or "bad." They just are. They make decisions, they have instincts and natures that make those decisions difficult. I love the complexity! I also think this book set up a series (trilogy) well, so I'm hoping to like the next two even more! The worldbulding is awesome. Holly Black has created a very interesting mix of "fae" and "mortal," complete with rich history and quirks and physical descriptions.

I don't factor audiobook reader into my overal star rating, but I give Caitlyn Kelly 3.5/5⭐️. Honestly, I think she was part of the reason I struggled to get into this book, but there's no telling for certain. She oftentimes doesn't seem to read with the same cadence that the words on the page suggest. She also has a cheesy tone when voicing male characters and over-acts when it comes to emotional (and even sometimes non-emotional!) scenes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Abortion, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Ableism, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Incest, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Xenophobia, Excrement, Grief, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and War

endmostelf13's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Incest

rat_girly's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Sexual content and Alcohol

amarahk's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

Don’t get me wrong, I loved reading this book (mostly), it shocked me quite a few times and the characters are intriguing, however there was quite a few instances, particularly at the start, in which I felt bored - I couldn’t comprehend all the made up words. Therefore I would say the writing wasn’t always enjoyable but other than that, I did like reading it.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Incest and Sexual harassment

starryeyedreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Non-spoiler bit: The book is great. If you like Holly Black's other fae books then you will like this. If you haven't read anything by Holly Black, I would recommend starting with the Modern Faerie Tales series, because it chronologically happens before this series does.

The spoiler bit:

expect betrayal, trying to figure out what's going to happen next only to be wrong cause the book sets up for multiple unexpected plot twists. Enemies to lovers trope is present. Some of the characters are just down right evil, but well written. In terms of diversity, there isn't much in the way of POC representation, but there is LGBT+ rep, and the folk are very diverse and you can definitely find yourself in the characters regardless of their appearance.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: Incest

mary_do_12's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

ugh, i love this book.

this was the first re-read i’ve ever done. to be honest with you, i used to think re-reads were kinda boring because… well, you already know what’s happening. but then i felt the desire to read about my fav characters again and i did it and AAAH.
this was the best decision ever. maybe i’ll only re-read books from now on. i first read this book series 2 years ago so there were some things i did indeed forgot but they came back to me when i read the book again. i also realized that my reading habits have definitely changed in those last two years. i used to be a CRAZY fast reader and now i’d say i’m an average speed reader. i payed much more attention to detail which made me recognize new things in an old story. also, for some reason, i was able to understand the talk about politics and strategy MUCH better than when i first read this book. maybe that‘s because i know the outcome and therefore understand the planning better.
i also have to mention that the first time i read this book was in my native language (german) but i enjoyed it more in english. what surprised me was that, despite me having read the book before, i was giggling and gasping just the same. the best scenes still made me feel the best of emotions, even though i totally knew they were in there. in fact, i anticipated them. and they hit the same, if not better. 
coming back to my comfort characters was SO comforting and it made me feel excitement in a way i never have before. i looked forward to keep on reading the whole day, i brought the book to birthday parties and running errands and going shopping and to church.
this book is a masterpiece still, nothing will ever come close to this story that i hold so dearly to my heart.
i’ve never quite realized how fond i am of these characters until now.
i feel at home again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Drug use, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Emotional abuse, Incest, and Grief

druzyquartz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny relaxing sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Incest, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, and War

theintrovertsbooks's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Abandonment

Minor: Homophobia, Incest, and Pregnancy

becca_w_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Incest, Xenophobia, and Abandonment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Vomit, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and War

shaylee_n_20's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Bullying and Death of parent

Minor: Incest, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Kidnapping