The Cruel Prince Book Review
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
From Goodreads: 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.
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.
In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.
Holly Black is widely regarded as the Queen of the Faerie Tales. Long before Sarah J. Maas released her A Court of Thorns and Roses trilogy, Black was spinning stories about the Seelie and Unseelie Courts that existed near New York (or was it New Jersey?) The Cruel Prince is the latest in this long line of faerie-related novels, and will be the first in the Folk of the Air trilogy.
I received an e-book copy from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. I have to admit that, as much as I bunny-hopped around the room when I got the acceptance email, I did find my enthusiasm withering in the first few chapters. The book seemed very info-dump-y, laying a foundation of world-building which, while intriguing, was already established in Black’s other novels. Lots of the first few chapters are told, much more often than they were shown, and I was beginning to wonder if Black’s crown might be slipping. Jude is an interesting character– she’s very quick and aggressive and short-tempered, and that’s probably part of the reason I stuck with the book (besides the fact that I adore Black’s other books and I was hoping it would pan out in the end). I liked the idea that she was a human living in a Fae court, that she was naturally weaker than almost everyone else around her. I thought that this could have been explored a bit more; Black reminds us every once in a while, but then there are moments when Jude is sword-fighting and she doesn’t seem to be that much impaired by her humanity.
What I did love about this book was the world-building. Holly Black draws threads between this book and her previous Faerie tales, and brings a small group of fan favourites along for the ride. Kaye and Roiben are there, as well as Severin (from Valiant) and Val herself. I love seeing these little nods, and I combed the book eagerly looking for more. Beyond that, the world Black carves for The Cruel Prince is dazzling, deceptive and ultimately thrilling. It was easy to get lost in, and it definitely raises the bar for anyone considering writing about the Fae, or just world-building in general. Her characters (for the most part) are also very intriguing. I’ve already mentioned Jude, the protagonist, but Madoc, the redcap who adopts Jude and her twin sister, is an incredibly complex character, one I’m looking forward to Black revisiting. Cardan is also one of my faves. Though he falls quite neatly into the ‘bad boy love interest’ category (it’s hardly a spoiler if you see it coming a mile away) he’s just interesting enough to keep curiosity piqued. Vivi is also pretty cool, although I thought some of the main characters could do with a bit of fleshing out. Jude’s twin, Taryn comes off a bit well bland, and the Court of Shadows definitely would benefit from more scenes. Black introduces them at the outskirts of the story, but doesn’t really take the time to draw them in properly. I’m hoping the next book in the series tackles this, but so far I’m not that fussed about them.
However, if you’re not sold by the characters or Black’s phenomenal world-building, how about the plot? There are so many twists and turns in this one that I felt dizzy by the end (but in a very good way!) The Cruel Prince is dominated by politics and betrayals, and boy it doesn’t hold back. It should come with a warning to anyone reading it that they will finish the novel curled up in a ball on the floor, or frantically checking when book two will be released. Black hurtles through all of this at a delightfully accelerated pace, and it pays off at least a hundredfold. Brace yourselves, boys and girls, this one guarantees a bumpy ride.
Overall, I’d rate it an 8/10. I loved the world-building, the nods to Black’s other books, and the plot twists, but I wasn’t entirely sold on several of the main characters, or the first 100 or so pages of the book.
For those of you wanting to pick up a copy of The Cruel Prince it will be released Jan 2nd (UK). It’ll be featured in several book boxes across the US and Europe (check out the bookboxsherlocks page on facebook if you’re happy with spoilers and predictions for each upcoming box) and Waterstones is currently allowing customers to preorder signed hardback copies at £12.99.
