Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

38 reviews

pianokeys's review against another edition

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

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

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

nonotyoshi's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death of parent, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

nabzilla's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Racism, Slavery, and Xenophobia

Minor: Suicide and Murder

_ao_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I wanted to give up early on, but told myself I'd give it until the end of the first third. It picked up right around 1/3 of the way through, and wound up being better than I had expected. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Racism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, and Classism

Minor: Infidelity, Torture, Grief, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and War

fannehsm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Death, Xenophobia, Blood, and Death of parent

Minor: Slavery and Blood

zoiejanelle's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

jude "i will become so much worse" duarte is the queen of my heart! 

i'm not a fairy/fae girlie, but this book was recommended to me multiple times by multiple people. it became available on libby (audiobook) and i was in a reading slump, so i gave it a try. i am SO GLAD that i did. this series was a blast. i devoured all three books within a weekend and will absolutely buy the physical books to add to my library!

this book moved quickly and was immediately very immersive. there were infrequent explanations/world-building/lore, and sparse detail which i appreciated. Holly Black's style is very digestible and allows the reader to really build the world in their head. i liked how diverse the fairy world was. it wasn't only sexy, white, humanoid, winged creatures. the creativity that went into building out the land was really evident in the inclusion of different kingdoms, types of folk, and the elaborate history. plus, the epigraphs gave great insight into the research she did that contributed to this series. 

i loved this book because jude was absolutely the villain. her motivation of accruing power after spending her life feeling powerless was sooooo believable and yet so frightening. her anger and resentment were palpable--and her complex feelings about the fae were really fun to explore as well. on top of jude being amazing, i really loved how political the whole series was. i did not expect to be so intrigued by the court politics, but i was! 

the grand finale of this book had me literally SHOUTING and screaming. the entire book, jude characterized the fairies as sinister, tricky, and silve-tongues... and in the end, that is who she became. what a fantastic plot twist right at the end! normally i dislike cliffhangers, but this one was so juicy. and i'm lucky enough to be able to read the next two books immediately after! 

loved it as a fun, light read. definitely recommend for any of my fantasy, enemies-to-lovers readers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Drug use, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, and Alcohol

miow's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective relaxing sad 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

5.0

i fucking love this book bro

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Xenophobia

herlenebwriter's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Blood, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicide, and Xenophobia

Minor: Violence

r4chel_lee's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is a heart pounder! I did NOT want to put it down! I findthe character dynamics enthralling although a bit intense. That's somewhat the realm of fantasy though. The main character is well-written and dealing with both internal and external struggles. Only complaint is that, the romance element that IS there is incredibly unhealthy. I am surprised this is YA fiction. Nevertheless, I am excited to read the next book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Xenophobia

Minor: Toxic relationship