The Queen of Nothing (Folk of the Air, #3)

by Holly Black

GOODREADS BEST FANTASY YA 2020. The intoxicating and bloodthirsty finale to the New York Times bestselling The Cruel Prince, nominated for the CARNEGIE MEDAL, and New York Times bestseller The Wicked King, Best YA Fantasy in the Goodreads Choice Awards 2019.

After being pronounced Queen of Faerie and then abruptly exiled by the Wicked King Cardan, Jude finds herself unmoored, the queen of nothing. She spends her time with Vivi and Oak, watching reality television, and doing odd jobs, including squaring up to a cannibalistic faerie.

When her twin sister Taryn shows up asking a favour, Jude jumps at the chance to return to the Faerie world, even if it means facing Cardan, who she loves despite his betrayal. When a dark curse is unveiled, Jude must become the first mortal Queen of Faerie and break the curse, or risk upsetting the balance of the whole Faerie world.

• ISBN10: 1471407586
• ISBN13: 9781471407581
• Publish Date: 19 November 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Hot Key Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[moraa]

By you, I am forever undone.

I cannot breathe.

It's been a while since I read YA fantasy romance. A while since I resisted the land of the fae that I've always loved and I can't believe what I have just read.

Beautiful.

Black is as magnanimous in doling out pain as she is with love.

I feel like my 16 year-old self again.

I love that.

I love this series.

[verkaskodova]

Asi by to chtělo říct something witty, ale já si to prostě užila. Tečka.

[Brittany]

I haven’t really been impressed with this series and this book was just more of the same. It felt rushed and most of it was very predictable. But some people enjoy that in books. I just feel with as much hype as these books get there should be more depth.

Most of the book was -here is a problem, conflict, doubt, etc- and then it was immediately solved. There was no suspense or build up. Answers just came immediately.

I don’t care for any characters except cardan who wasn’t even in it until about 50% and then continued to barely be present.

Overall this series is a big old nope from me.

[Leigha]

Jude returns to Faeirie Court to help her sister in the conclusion to the epic Cruel Prince trilogy.

Lots of people loved the ending to this trilogy…but not me, dear reader. It’s not a bad ending. With a fast paced-plot and engaging characters, it’s a quick and fun read. But the two things I found fascinating in the first two books – the world building and the relationships between characters – felt forced. The fey world felt too human, while Jude’s antagonistic relationships with her family disappeared.

For fans of the romance between Jude and Cardan, you will not be disappointed. While I enjoyed their banter and love/hate relationship throughout the trilogy, this ending felt unrealistic. Some more time spent developing their romantic relationship outside of the politics would have benefited the story.

tl;dr While I didn’t love the ending to the trilogy, it’s still a fast-paced book with interesting characters.

[littleread1]

That. Was fantastic. I love how we really get the DARK side of faerie in these books. I was wondering how some things from the earlier books would get resolved, but I shouldn't have been concerned.

[abookishblether]

The Cruel Prince ★★★★★
The Wicked King ★★★★☆
The Queen of Nothing ★★★☆☆

I won't go into specific plot points in this book, but I will talk about what I liked and disliked briefly.

I really enjoyed Cardan and Jude's relationship for the most part. It was complicated, there were issues and it just really worked for me. The whole faerie world and its lore also was really enjoyable. I haven't read a series about fae before and I loved the setting a lot, especially the cruelty the fae loved to inflict on others. I also enjoyed how many different aspects there were to the plot, and how you could easily forget about one aspect only to be surprised with it later on.

Otherwise, I felt like this book should have been double its length. A lot of essential plot points happened off screen, or in the time between books two and three. This made the experience a lot less immersive and feel a bit cheap.

[cornerfolds]

Read more of my reviews at Cornerfolds.com!

I'm not sure about rating yet. I'll come back to it.

Review to come!

[bgsbooks18]

I don't know how to feel about this book. I will say that it was good but I'm very sad with the folk of air to be over. I feel like it has a lot of unanswered questions. I'm in love with Jude and Cardan. Everything about Jude and Cardan's relationship. I will also say that I expected more since this was the last book. Overall good story.

[nightingalereads]

4.75 stars

***spoiler-free review***

I loved this third and final installment even more than I hoped I would. You can really see how much the characters have matured since the first book, both in themselves and in their relationships. Queen of Nothing was shorter than I expected, but this worked wonderfully to keep the plot from dragging - I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, staying up two very late nights to finish. Having just set the book down, I feel warm, shocked, and filled with overwhelming joy at the direction this story took.

I already know I'll be revisiting the Folk of the Air trilogy again and again and again.