The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

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

by Holly Black

"Lush, dangerous, a dark jewel of a book . . . intoxicating" - Leigh Bardugo, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Six of Crows

Of course I want to be like them. They're beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

One terrible morning, Jude and her sisters see their parents murdered in front of them. The terrifying assassin abducts all three girls to the world of Faerie, where Jude is installed in the royal court but mocked and tormented by the Faerie royalty for being mortal.

As Jude grows older, she realises that she will need to take part in the dangerous deceptions of the fey to ever truly belong.

But the stairway to power is fraught with shadows and betrayal. And looming over all is the infuriating, arrogant and charismatic Prince Cardan . . .

Enter the dramatic and thrilling world of the Folk of the Air, brimful of magic and romance from New York Times bestselling author Holly Black.

Reviewed by leahrosereads on

3 of 5 stars

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You can @ me if you want, but rating a book 3 stars ISN'T a bad thing. I genuinely liked this book and will continue with the series.

I liked that Jude was a selfish heroine, that she wasn't this perfectly good and perfectly neat and perfectly proper main character. She's not a completely developed character, but that's OK for a first book - for me anyway. She's definitely going to be an interesting character to see grow.

I liked Cardan - the fantastically cruel prince. Again, he's another damaged, selfish character, and I like that.

I liked the story - the hows and whys that Jude and her sisters came to be in Faerie. And I liked what happened once they were there.

I liked Jude's older sister - Vivienne, but not Jude's twin. Vivienne BTW is an LGBTQIA+ character and repped well (to me). Taryn (the twin) was lame, and I kinda hope she gets killed off - she was a useless plot device of a character.


But, as you can see - I liked a lot of things, but I didn't LOVE any of it.


I particularly didn't love that Holly Black just told a lot about the fae world. I don't read a lot of fae books, so I don't know if what Holly Black wrote in THE CRUEL PRINCE is typical lore and by reading up on it, I'll know her world, or what. But, I didn't enjoy not being in the know, especially when all it would've taken was a couple of paragraphs expanding upon what was going on.

But that never happens here.

And, I didn't particularly like the love interests outside of Vivi and her girlfriend (and there's not enough of that relationship, but I'm hoping for more in the future). Relationships were stuffed down my throat, and I didn't appreciate it, and I didn't believe them most of the time. I hope it gets better in the next book.

Like I said at the beginning, I'm definitely planning on continuing with the series. I'm hopeful that I'll end up really enjoying what these characters have to offer. But right now, I just like it, and I don't mind waiting a year or so until the next book arrives.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 6 February, 2018: Finished reading
  • 6 February, 2018: Reviewed
  • Started reading
  • Finished reading
  • 6 February, 2018: Reviewed