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A review by romantasyandtea
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
4.0
I very nearly gave up after the prologue.
Let it be known that I absolutely despise the phrase, "stared defiantly." Reading it, I almost put the book down. So if you take anything from this review, it's this; don't let the prologue trick you, this is actually a pretty good book.
I'm going to be completely honest, I think I've just outgrown the Cassandra Clare-style writing at this point. I'm sick of the poetic language that sounds like nothing anyone would ever say, I'm sick of the urban fantasy that feels like dark, high fantasy instead, and I'm so, so sick of the lack of contractions. What do these people have against the apostrophe?
I spent the entirety of the first two halves in this kind of mindset. The third half, however, is where things start to pick up, and I couldn't put the book down. Oh, don't get me wrong, I couldn't put the book down at any point, but in the beginning, it was more because I was waiting for more interactions between the main characters, Jude and Cardan. It was only in the third half when they started having the banter that I'd been expecting much earlier on. And the third half COMPLETELY makes up for the rest of it.
I get Jude. I wouldn't ever want to be her friend or live in her world, but I get her decisions and the person she feels she's supposed to become. It's not ideal, and I wish she'd made different choices, but I also get it. She was clever and tough in a dark way. I liked Cardan only in the third half. Before that, he's a despicable bully with no redeeming qualities. Even by the end, I had mixed feelings about him. He had tortured Jude for so long and in the worst ways, were we supposed to forgive him so quickly? No, I hope he gets a taste of his own medicine. I hope some things are hard for him. I'm also too intimidated to read the second book because the ANGST is STRONG in this one.
If you're a fan of enemies to lovers, truly decent world building, the darkness of the Fae, and morally ambiguous characters, then I think you'll enjoy this story. However, keep in mind that the romance is nearly non-existent until the very end. I will say this though; I thought I knew what would happen, and I may have been right in one big thing, but I was also very wrong.
I don't want to get into spoilers, but I'll just say that I think these kinds of books really aren't for me anymore. I'll finish the Folk of the Air series, but I've had enough of the too-dark stories with only one, maybe two, slightly decent characters. I didn't hate or dislike Jude, but I really didn't like her that much either, which I think was the point.
Overall, good book, frustrating moments. I'm scared of the sequel, but then I think that should be expected when visiting Holly Black's faerie world.
Let it be known that I absolutely despise the phrase, "stared defiantly." Reading it, I almost put the book down. So if you take anything from this review, it's this; don't let the prologue trick you, this is actually a pretty good book.
I'm going to be completely honest, I think I've just outgrown the Cassandra Clare-style writing at this point. I'm sick of the poetic language that sounds like nothing anyone would ever say, I'm sick of the urban fantasy that feels like dark, high fantasy instead, and I'm so, so sick of the lack of contractions. What do these people have against the apostrophe?
I spent the entirety of the first two halves in this kind of mindset. The third half, however, is where things start to pick up, and I couldn't put the book down. Oh, don't get me wrong, I couldn't put the book down at any point, but in the beginning, it was more because I was waiting for more interactions between the main characters, Jude and Cardan. It was only in the third half when they started having the banter that I'd been expecting much earlier on. And the third half COMPLETELY makes up for the rest of it.
I get Jude. I wouldn't ever want to be her friend or live in her world, but I get her decisions and the person she feels she's supposed to become. It's not ideal, and I wish she'd made different choices, but I also get it. She was clever and tough in a dark way. I liked Cardan only in the third half. Before that, he's a despicable bully with no redeeming qualities. Even by the end, I had mixed feelings about him. He had tortured Jude for so long and in the worst ways, were we supposed to forgive him so quickly? No, I hope he gets a taste of his own medicine. I hope some things are hard for him. I'm also too intimidated to read the second book because the ANGST is STRONG in this one.
If you're a fan of enemies to lovers, truly decent world building, the darkness of the Fae, and morally ambiguous characters, then I think you'll enjoy this story. However, keep in mind that the romance is nearly non-existent until the very end. I will say this though; I thought I knew what would happen, and I may have been right in one big thing, but I was also very wrong.
I don't want to get into spoilers, but I'll just say that I think these kinds of books really aren't for me anymore. I'll finish the Folk of the Air series, but I've had enough of the too-dark stories with only one, maybe two, slightly decent characters. I didn't hate or dislike Jude, but I really didn't like her that much either, which I think was the point.
Overall, good book, frustrating moments. I'm scared of the sequel, but then I think that should be expected when visiting Holly Black's faerie world.