vendy_kha's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
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? It's complicated
5.0
I've fallen in love... If you've read Cassandra Clare and adored the Seelie & Unseelie court like me, enjoyed the feeling of that place... You have to read The folk of air series! The plot is political but not too blindly (I don't like politics in real life, this equals the levels of Throne of glass but the focus is slightly stronger on the scheming). If you love Aelin, you must like Jude too - she's a total beast and I adore her. The enemies to lovers subplot is wickedly sold on me. This book is YA, the darkness and plot are sooo catchy - highly recommend diving into this world
Spoiler
when she put the dagger to his throat and kissed him I nearly screamed + the poisoning herself, getting rid of Valerian? Madness but also badassery at its finest. I love how she's quick to treason for those she loves and protects!/Spoiler
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Drug use, Alcoholism, Bullying, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Grief, Slavery, Gore, Blood, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Toxic friendship
morriganorgana'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
The first time I tried reading this book in roughly 2019, I found it incredibly difficult to get past a certain scene (Chapter 7) as it was quite triggering. Because of this, I initially DNFed the book, gave it 1 star, and shoved it out of my mind. After a few years I decided to give it another go, and I'm really, really glad I did.
This time I skipped the chapter I knew would upset me (thanks to another reader who helpfully looked up which chapter for me), and it was an entirely different experience. The character growth throughout the book is great, and the more you sink into the world the more you can appreciate every act and word.
Worldbuilding is brilliant, and Black uses so much faerie folklore in the series that it felt like I wasn't dipping into a new world, but walking into an ancient one that I already knew. I was so excited to see redcaps given so much love too, as their lore originates from the Scottish-English border near where I'm from, so seeing a character from a Redcap's household was a fantastic surprise.
Overall a great book, and I'm so glad to say that the series only gets better from here.
This time I skipped the chapter I knew would upset me (thanks to another reader who helpfully looked up which chapter for me), and it was an entirely different experience. The character growth throughout the book is great, and the more you sink into the world the more you can appreciate every act and word.
Worldbuilding is brilliant, and Black uses so much faerie folklore in the series that it felt like I wasn't dipping into a new world, but walking into an ancient one that I already knew. I was so excited to see redcaps given so much love too, as their lore originates from the Scottish-English border near where I'm from, so seeing a character from a Redcap's household was a fantastic surprise.
Overall a great book, and I'm so glad to say that the series only gets better from here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Murder, Gore, and Blood
Spoiler
drowninglynnloveshobi's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Death of parent, Abandonment, Blood, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Injury/injury detail, Murder, and Death
Minor: War, Abandonment, Classism, Incest, and Colonisation
theragereader's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
DNF’ed around 15%. But with Jude acting like a stubborn idiot despite knowing it could get her seriously injured and Cardan not having any redeemable qualities, I gave up. Jude seemed much more concerned about if her sister slept with someone and ogling Cerdsn than anything. It wasn’t “enemies to lovers,” to me. Cardan and his buddies were just sociopathic abusers to me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Blood, Death of parent, Drug use, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Child abuse, and Gaslighting
balluna's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? It's complicated
5.0
Words can't describe how much I love this book.
And there are so many plottwists, holy
The ending is absolutely stunning and HAS to be one of my favourite endings ever
And there are so many plottwists, holy
The ending is absolutely stunning and HAS to be one of my favourite endings ever
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Murder, Violence, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Injury/injury detail, Kidnapping, Gore, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Grief, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Self harm
Minor: Child death, War, and Abortion
maple_dove's review
dark
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
I read this book in two days.
Edit: Okay. The Folk of the Air is much much more about Jude's journey and development than it is about romance. If you dive into The Cruel Prince (Folk of the Air #1) expecting mostly romance, you will be disappointed. There's more romance in the other two books, but it's still more about Jude's journey and development than romance.
Edit: Okay. The Folk of the Air is much much more about Jude's journey and development than it is about romance. If you dive into The Cruel Prince (Folk of the Air #1) expecting mostly romance, you will be disappointed. There's more romance in the other two books, but it's still more about Jude's journey and development than romance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Gore, and Infidelity
Moderate: Kidnapping
Minor: War
Poison (graphic)tsar's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
“If I cannot be better than them, I will become so much worse.”
It has been a long time for me to find something that is purely urban when it comes to fae stories as the last urban fae centric novels that I read was the Wicked Lovely series. I hope that all of you remember those sexy ones. So, I was undoubtedly gleeful when I found that Holly Black would release a novel that could possibly be ingrained in a similar euphoric sense.
While I love how it quickly drops into the connotation of political and racial conflict, in which in this case would be the power struggle between the powerful clans of fae as well as the crucial disdain against humans that allow these creatures to play with captured humans like toys, the layers of introduction seem to exhaust the expository factor on describing these details of Elfhame like a heavily parroted narration of general facts. The Cruel Prince drags the narrative to reach a proper climax where the situation would feel realistically threatening that it could justify the semblance of treachery that Jude acts upon her father and half of the royalty she deems as her enemies. In turn, as it finally picks up the pace in the second half of the narrative, it flows in a rushed step that hangs itself in an abrupt ending before it could wholly salivate the height of the struggle.
Her characters are generally likable and interesting, which is a commendable feat in shadowing the drowsy pace of the story. Rather than writing mellow characters beneath tough exterior, Black makes it clear of their personalities and intentions as the way they present them. It might an odd characteristic to be written when the characters are engaging in heinous manipulation, but it does add a certain amount of complexity that draws the readers to seek deeper inside the characters. On the other hand, I may personally dislike the romantic build-up between Jude and Cardan for their quite dangerous undertone, but they do give their charms in captivating the readers. Those who love the classic trope of enemies to lovers would welcome their pairing in full delight.
As the series is about to release a second and third instalment, I hope that Black would rise her ante to keep up the interest of her novels.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Drug use
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Gore, Blood, Murder, Suicide, and War
bugcollector's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Just wanted some light reading between other books, expecting some angsty teen fantasy, hurt/comfort type of thing.
The first book in this trilogy is definitely not great.
Where is the pining for each other, where is the scheming?
I'm about to lose itt
He just straight up physically abuses her and I'm supposed to ship it bc he wrote her name a lot.
And even with that, at least be more cunning with the abuse, make it personal, not a universal "u are a smelly human and I'm a high fairy"
The first book in this trilogy is definitely not great.
Where is the pining for each other, where is the scheming?
I'm about to lose itt
He just straight up physically abuses her and I'm supposed to ship it bc he wrote her name a lot.
And even with that, at least be more cunning with the abuse, make it personal, not a universal "u are a smelly human and I'm a high fairy"
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Gore, Alcohol, Blood, Torture, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death, and Physical abuse
itsmemiana's review
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
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
BROOOOOO THIS BOOK.
let me tell you... it was SO good, totally worth the hype.
first of all.... the sexual tension between Jude and Cardan could be cut with a knife (or sword if you will). I LOVE THEMMM. 🥺❤️
and I absolutely hated Cardan in the first 20% of the book but then I was down on my knees fr. what gave him the right to be so mf hot? like hello??? 🥵
and Jude is such a badass queen fr. she's one of those characters that makes so many wrong decisions but you still love her yk? and honestly I think it takes really good writing to pull that off and Ms. Holly Black did that. 😌
Taryn was cool until the last part of the book.... girl- 🤨
And Vivi was a sweetheart throughout the whole book, literally so wholesome. I love her. 🥺
and so many of the other characters were terrible people but the way they were written really made the story more interesting. I love the writing in this book.
and the ending made me low-key sad 🥲 but even more excited to read the second book. I NEED MORE FROM JUDE AND CARDAN. can't wait to read the second book ❤️
let me tell you... it was SO good, totally worth the hype.
first of all.... the sexual tension between Jude and Cardan could be cut with a knife (or sword if you will). I LOVE THEMMM. 🥺❤️
and I absolutely hated Cardan in the first 20% of the book but then I was down on my knees fr. what gave him the right to be so mf hot? like hello??? 🥵
and Jude is such a badass queen fr. she's one of those characters that makes so many wrong decisions but you still love her yk? and honestly I think it takes really good writing to pull that off and Ms. Holly Black did that. 😌
Taryn was cool until the last part of the book.... girl- 🤨
And Vivi was a sweetheart throughout the whole book, literally so wholesome. I love her. 🥺
and so many of the other characters were terrible people but the way they were written really made the story more interesting. I love the writing in this book.
and the ending made me low-key sad 🥲 but even more excited to read the second book. I NEED MORE FROM JUDE AND CARDAN. can't wait to read the second book ❤️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Bullying, Injury/injury detail, Blood, Death, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol and War
emilycbaker's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Bullying, Classism, Injury/injury detail, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Gore