Reviewed by Leigha on
If you know anything about my reading tastes (fae! broody guys! gutsy ladies!), you'd think I would be all over Holly Black. I tried reading several of her books over the years, but none of them captured my attention until The Cruel Prince. I saw so many five star reviews from bloggers I admire that I had to give it a shot. I'm glad I did!
The protagonist, Jude, reminds me a lot of Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones - not always likable, but always understandable. She's ambitions and ruthless in attaining her goals, putting her at odds with her family and the faerie court. She's not completely self-serving, but her lack of supportive relationships means she usually has to look out for herself. The last third of the novel is action-packed with plenty of twists as Jude manipulates the people around her in order to attain control of her life in Faerie.
I thought romance would play a bigger role in this story. While hints of romance are woven in-between certain characters, it's by no means a novel driven by romance. I'll be interested to see if a healthy romance develops for Jude. Key word - healthy. For that matter, I'll be interested to see if Jude develops any healthy, loving, supportive relationships.
tl;dr A novel driven by an ambitions woman and surprising plot twists make this a fun read.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 4 February, 2018: Finished reading
- 4 February, 2018: Reviewed