Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - The Cruel Prince

I really liked this!!! The story is immediately interesting and never slows down. Jude is a one of my favorite FMC ever, she’s strong willed, passionate, protective and never gives up. Yes, she’s not perfect but that’s almost even better. We meet Jude and her twin, Taryn when they are about seven. They are living with their mother and father in the human world alongside their older sister Vivi, who is considered weird by those around them. A tale of blood, faery lore, magical lives and lands intertwined with determination and a VERY slow, slow burn. In this new land, we meet Cardan, a cruel manipulative prince *wink wink* who’s gorgeous beyond repair. Jude and Cardan hate each other so much…. Not sure it’s even hate anymore.

Fuck that traitor bitch Taryn… yes, Locke sucks but HE DIDNT BETRAY HIS TWIN

If I cannot be better than them, I will become so much worse.

“Most of all, I hate you because I think of you. Often. It's disgusting, and I can't stop.”

“Have I told you how hideous you look tonight?” Cardan asks, leaning back in the elaborately carved chair, the warmth of his words turning the question into something like a compliment.
“No” I say, glad to be annoyed back into the present. “Tell me.”
"I can't.”

“If you hurt me, I wouldn't cry. I would hurt you back.”

“So I am to sit here and feed you information,” Cardan says, leaning against a hickory tree. “And you’re to go charm royalty? That seems entirely backward.”
I fix him with a look. “I can be charming. I charmed you, didn’t I?”
He rolls his eyes. “Do not expect others to share my depraved tastes.”

“I am going to keep on defying you. I am going to shame you with my defiance. You remind me that I am a mere mortal and you are a prince of Faerie. Well, let me remind you that means you have much to lose and I have nothing. You may win in the end, you may ensorcell me and hurt me and humiliate me, but I will make sure you lose everything I can take from you on the way down. I promise you this is the least of what I can do.”

“Instead of being afraid, I could become something to fear.”

“Father, I am what you made me. I’ve become your daughter after all.”

“Let's have a toast. To the incompetence of our enemies.”

“You really do want me,' I say, close enough to feel the warmth of his breath as it hitches. 'And you hate it.”

“Cardan looks at me as though he's never seen me before. He looks at me as though no one has ever spoken to him like this. Maybe no one has.”

“I get why he chose her. I just wish she had chosen me.”

“It's shocking," he says, as though he's giving me some great compliment. "I know humans can lie, but to watch you do it is incredible. Do it again.”

“I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.”

“He stares at me as though I am a stranger, but I have never felt less like one. For the first time, we are both unmasked.”

“Faeries make up for their inability to lie with a panoply of deceptions and cruelties. Twisted words, pranks, omissions, riddles, scandals, not to mention their revenges upon one another for ancient, half-remembered slights. Storms are less fickle than they are, seas less capricious.”

“There is a pleasure in being with them,” he says. “Taking what we wish, indulging in every terrible thought. There’s safety in being awful.”

“Crowns of flowers on our heads, shooting bows and arrows at the sky. Eating candied violets and falling asleep with our heads pillowed on logs. We were children. Children can laugh all day and still cry themselves to sleep at night.”

Content Warnings

amazelan's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

un roman de fantasy YA comme on en a vu plein, avec des personnages peu intéressants et des plot twists pas très étonnants

Jude avait tout pour être un personnage chouette mais non, elle se contredit dans ses actions et ses paroles, elle est à la fois cruelle et naïve au possible, et c'est tout sauf réaliste car mal fait
Cardan est le cliché du prince sombre et méchant

qui a en fait un passé douloureux et a un côté doux blablabla, c'est pas un des pires dans le genre que j'ai pu voir, mais on pourrait avoir mieux, puis son début d'histoire avec Jude???? non c'est un énorme non, c'est si malsain et gênant

les seuls personnages que j'ai vraiment apprécié sont Vivi (qui d'ailleurs est bi ! un peu chouette de ne pas voir que des couples heteros dans de la fantasy YA) et Oriana pour son évolution

quant à l'écriture, vu ma pensée sur les personnages on devine que je ne l'ai pas particulièrement apprécié
c'est pas si mauvais en soi mais j'ai deviné très rapidement les plot twists, les personnages m'ont écoeurés, et il y avait des incohérences dans le récit

cependant, l'univers a du potentiel, il est intriguant, et la fin nous laisse avec beaucoup de questions alors je lirai la suite (en espérant la trouver meilleure !)

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srk001's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark inspiring mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

I liked it more than I thought I would. This book often gets recommendations alongside ACOTAR and I didn't enjoy the latter (DNF'ed ACOMAF), so expected more of the same with this one, but it wasn't. First of all, there wasn't a bait and switch romance and second of all I actually liked the FMC. I believed her when she said she'd become worse than them. She had a backbone. I wasn't immediately sold on the MMC, but he grew on me as more got revealed about him.

Content Warnings

2blueshoes's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

1. pacing is slow for most of the book, but there is enough complicated intrigue and weird world building to keep you reading.

2. It does not feel like a story or world that I have read in fantasy before, and that’s hard to do. I enjoyed that.

3. Romance is basically non-existent in this book, but it does feel like a very long and elaborate set up for future romance in other books maybe? If anything this is really a political intrigue book with a very subtle romance subplot. If that’s your jam, you’re going to love this.

4. The person I am fairly sure is the future hero is A LITERAL ASSHOLE for 99.9% of the book. Like zero redeeming qualities, not even described as attractive? If you aren’t patient with very long redemptive arcs for characters, or if you can’t tolerate not knowing who the true love interest is, maybe skip this book.

5. The heroine feels really young and also not particularly moral??? Like she is decidedly not justice-motivated. She seems really immature and self interested at times. This makes for a surprising read if I’m honest and I think we will watch her develop a lot in the books. This book feels a bit like a prequel somehow?

6.

The hero has a tail

and it is unforgivable. Although I guess it has some sort of symbolic meaning in future books, but to me it’s just a step too far. Yuck.

7. I would have given up on this book entirely if it wasn’t for some really surprising shit that goes down around the chapter 26 mark that had me WTF-ing all over the place. It’s like it suddenly turned into the book I wanted it to be. The last four chapters are, in my opinion, amazing. They had me on the edge of my seat. I hope they reflect what future books will be like.

Oh, final thought: I think listening as an audiobook kinda made this book worse for me than it was, because the narrator didn’t do distinct voices for the characters, and it made it really confusing. Would recommend reading it as a book.

Lots of content warnings on this one.

Content Warnings