A review by godswarriorgirl
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

adventurous mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

To be honest, this felt like a Kylo Ren X Rey fanfiction set in a faerie universe and I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT. Everyone tries to write strong female leads, but most of these females turn out to be insufferable Mary Sues that refuse to listen to common sense because they are "strong whamen" and need to be "independent and stubborn" to be powerfully-written women. Jude was a refreshing main character and was in no way a Mary Sue. She wasn't magically more powerful than the immortal Fae, but was able to use her humanity in a clever way that made it a hidden weapon instead of an obvious flaw. Jude also did not fall in love with Kylo - ahem, I mean Cardin - right away, because she had common sense and recognized him as a jerk. Even by the end of the book, they had barely begun a relationship and I loved how their character transformations were slow and made sense in regards to pacing. When I think of enemies-to-lover couples in YA books, this is the first book I think of.