The Cruel Prince (Folk of the Air, #1)

by Holly Black

Caitlin Kelly (Narrator)

Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King. To win a place at the Court, she must defy him, and face the consequences.

• ISBN10: 1478923733
• ISBN13: 9781478923732
• Publish Date: 2 January 2018
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 13 April 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Hachette Book Group
• Format: Audiobook (CD)
• Duration: 12 hours and 30 minutes
• Language: English

Reviews

[lauriesbookshelf]

3.5 after re-reading it as ebook. It made much more sense this way and the audiobook turned out to be super boring.

[writehollydavis]

Darn, I really wanted to like this book! Everyone had hyped it up so much but it just didnt live up to my expectations. Something that didn't help was that the story went in a completely different direction than I thought it would. The beginning was sooo boring and I was waiting for all the action. By the time the climax did come around, I didnt care for Jude or any of the characters. I kept reading to see if the story would come around for me, but I honestly wanted to DNF it. It definitely was not a book for me.

[stefu1]

Oh my goodness! What a wonderful book! I love love loved it to much! I loved that it didn’t end in a typical romance book setting, but that she had a bad relationship and moved on with grace, especially since I’ve been through my share of sticky relationships. Definitely the read that I needed right now. But why would I expect anything short of Amazingness from my favorite author?

[alisoninbookland]

😳😵😳😵

I'm still not entirely sure what I thought about this book. I liked it better than Tithe (the other faerie book I read by her). I'm still not used to the world of faeries. It's brutal and weird.

I did however enjoy the court politics. I'm always intrigued by royal backstabbing, mad dashes for the crown, and all the other delightful things that come along with ruthless courts. The twists and turns to the story were interesting and I didn't see them coming. It took for a while for me to fully get into the story though. I was bored and almost set the book aside until the end of book one. *That* certainly turned things around.

I can't say that I'm a big fan of the relationship in the book. I'm sorry but no matter how you dress it up, abuse is abuse. It's just not healthy at all. The other non-romantic relationships were fascinating though. Jude's relationship with her father, Madoc, was certainly surprising. Who would have thought the ruthless general would love? and care for the *other* children of his wife? That's a lot to ask of anyone. Throw in the fact that you murdered the mother and father of the children, that makes everything very awkward. Jude's relationship with her sisters is certainly strained but I'm interested in see how things turn out for them.

Of course this book has to end on a massive cliffhanger. The Wicked King will certainly be a hot book next year.

[alindstadtcorbeax]

Sigh. Times like these I HATE that I chose to read a book before at least one other in the series is out. I feel empty, except for a hurting heart, inside rn. This book was so excellent I want to scream it from the rooftops. 5 Star read through and through. 

This was my first holly black read... I am so ridiculously impressed. I love her. :-)

Not exactly what I expected. In some ways it was more, and in some ways it was less. Still, the hype is well-deserved. Needed book 2 as of yesterday after that ending.

[mary]

A very predictable plot filled with one dimensional characters. Could not connect or empathize with any of the characters. There were also so many moments that did not even need to be in the book because they did not add to the plot or to have the characters grow in any way. The book is incredibly slow, boring, and highly predictable.

[tweetybugshouse]

I have a huge amount of love for books that have to do with the fae realm.  Julie Kagawa is the one to thank for that she drew me in with her Fae series i never looked back.  I am especially intrigued when it involves humans attempting to live among the fae.  This book is all that and more.  You have our human girl Jude with her siblings being raised by her fae farther who murdered her human parents and has taken them all to live in the fae realm.  

Holly Black does an amazing job of describing all the wonderful parts of the realm and how the whole hierarchy of government works.  Prince Cardan plays his part in this story masterfully well.  The twists in this story are not all what you think they will be.  It a great start to a series and i am eager for more. 

[cornerfolds]

Read more of my reviews at Cornerfolds.com!

I'll be honest, I had no intention of reading The Cruel Prince. I saw all the hype, I saw the ARCs circulating, and I really didn't think I'll read it. It's not that I don't like Holly Black, I just... had no desire to read her books? But then I had an Audible credit and then everyone told me how incredible this book was and I finally gave in. Halfway through I bought the physical copy so I could read more quickly and here I am with the ARC, the B&N edition, and the Owlcrate edition on the way. What can I say?

Jude is at the center of this story. As a child, Jude is ripped out of the human world, along with her sisters, when her parents are murdered. Madoc, her older sister's biological father and her parents' murderer takes them to live in the faerie world. There she is despised by the fey for being human, and Prince Cardan is the worst of the offenders. He and his friends make Jude's life miserable, causing her to find way to gain power over them, which obviously makes her a total badass. I loved Jude so much! I sympathized with her (how could you not?) and rooted for her to gain the advantage over the fey who looked down on her. And vengeance, of course. I loved that she had suffered such a traumatic past and was still strong, choosing to make her own path instead of following the one she was placed on.

I also loved that I was never quite sure which of the characters was trustworthy. You see, although the fey cannot lie, they can certainly be deceptive, and I was kept guessing who was truly good throughout most of the book. There were some truly despicable characters that were obviously pure evil, but Cardan (the Cruel Prince?) was a mystery to me from the beginning. He's arrogant and just plain mean, but there's also something about him that made me wonder if there was more to his story. I've seen a lot of reviews with people fangirling over Cardan and going on and on about how incredible he is. I'm not quite there yet, but I can't wait to learn more about him in book two!

The story, although at times predictable, was a pretty wild ride! There was a bit of a lag during some of the backstory and world building, but I was never bored. I loved learning all about the faerie world and even found the politics intriguing. Holly Black certainly knows how to set a mood. The Cruel Prince felt both dark and magical and a little dangerous. She also knows how to deliver the twists! Like I said, some things were a little predictable, but there were also several things I didn't see coming.

The second half(?) of The Cruel Prince is where things really get dark. While the beginning is a bit slow (thank goodness I listened to the audio of that half!), things get brutal later on. I was shocked at some of the things that Jude did to protect herself, her family, and those she was loyal to. (Have I mentioned what a great character she is?) There were shocking moments, heartbreaking moments, and then it ended and I immediately wanted to grab book two.

This year has been disappointing read after disappointing read, making The Cruel Prince a breath of fresh air! It wasn't perfect, but I did love it enough to grab a few editions and put book two on my TBR! I definitely recommend The Cruel Prince if you love fantasy that's a bit dark and twisted and brutal.

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

[girlinthepages]

Despite the hype (and gorgeous cover), I went into The Cruel Prince with a TON of trepidation because I hadn't had much luck with The Darkest Part of the Forest (my only other Holly Black read) and I NEVER have luck with audiobooks. Lo and behold, I actually really ended up liking The Cruel Prince and the dark, unapologetic spin it took on YA fantasy as it accompanied me on many a commute during peak season at work!

I have to admit, I'm always somewhat biased when it comes to fae books because Sarah J Maas is really the only author who's ever written fae books that I enjoy. I've always found them very hard to engage with otherwise. But I think the fact that Jude was human and had such a brutal backstory that wasn't ever really softened intrigued me enough to want to accompany her on her literary journey. I was fascinated by not only her jaded attitude and refusal to bend to the whims of bullies, but her inner darkness that wasn't candy coated- Jude was made for battle, was made for war and spying and wielding a sword, and there's never any need to justify it or water it down- she's imperfect and sometimes not super nice and neither are the fae.

I also loved reading about the family dynamic in Jude's household, how it's mix of humans and fae and half fae functioned, and how Jude and her sisters worked every day to come to terms with the murder of their parents, their reluctant love for their adoptive father, and finding their place in the fae courts. Each one dealt with her struggle very differently (submissive Taryn, rebellious Vivi, etc.) however at their core they were the only ones who could truly understand each other, despite other characters trying to test and sever their bonds over and over again. I think there were a lot of complex relationship dynamics happening here, the strongest being the message that no matter how much someone is flawed, it's not just easy to cut your family out of your life.

One thing that REALLY got to while reading this after a while, however, was the bullying that Jude endures. I know that it's FOR PLOT and that fae children are going to be more ruthless and cruel than humans, but it got to a point where it was so constant and intense that I could barely stand to listen to it anymore. And yes some of those bullied characters are revealed to have their own tragic backstories, etc. and maybe it's because I'm older now but I found that even after some of the big reveals I didn't have really any sympathy or change of heart for them? Like I feel like I never started liking or feeling reluctant swoons for Cardan (although I did like his unapologetically Slyntherin-esque vibe by the end there).

Another thing I have to applaud Black for in this novel is her inclusion of ruthless royals. She didn't pull punches when it came to political scheming, shifting loyalties, warring heirs and the cost of a crown, and it was shocking to see the fates that befell some of the royal family members. I would have however liked to be a bit clearer on who all of the different courts and heirs were, however that could have been more my fault in not being able to keep them straight since sometimes I do tend to miss things when listening to audio. But 10/10 stars to Holly Black for managing to put in SO MANY PLOT TWISTS into the last part of this book (it was like twist on twist on twist) that I did not see coming but that were brilliant and refreshing.

Overall: The Cruel Prince was an unapologetically twisty, dark tale about the ruthlessness of both fae and humans alike, and builds from another YA fantasy book with high school-esque dynamics to a story full of court intrigue, tenuous alliances, dangerous schemes and clever plot twists. I don't know if I'll be able to keep saying that fae books aren't my thing!This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages