Good hello, everyone!
So, I thought I’d start a new series of posts on my blog called “Late to the Party” where I read and review books that have been popular for either several years now (hence making me late to the party), or the hype is eating away at me and people keep telling me I NEEEEEEED to read this book and I put it off for a really long time, and now I’m finally reading it!
The first book in this new series is The Cruel Prince by Holly Black (The Folk of the Air #1). Granted, TCP was only released in 2018 and I know for a fact I have so many older, more hyped books that I’m totally late to the party for, but this will be the first in I’m sure a LONG series. With the release of The Wicked King in January of 2019, and The Queen of Nothing in November of 2019, the hype around this series has grown exponentially and everyone is so ridiculously excited for it.
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 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.
As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal 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.
I, however, am late to the party. So let’s get into this review! At the end, I’ve got 33 thoughts as I read TCP and they will be spoilery, however the review is not.
When first diving into The Cruel Prince, I really had only a few bits and pieces of knowledge aside from the general blurb. One, that Cardan was evil and cruel and everything you wanted in a man apparently. Two, Jude AND Cardan together are a HOT mess but everyone loves them. Three… yeah, there is no three. That’s all I knew. Everyone is Jude and Cardan trash and I kind of understand why but also don’t. This book is SO much more than just Jude and Cardan!
Book One Thoughts: I think Holly Black does a fairly decent job of setting up the atmosphere for readers, and in introducing so many characters all at once in this new world we just have to accept, I think that’s where I found myself having some issues. There would be times towards the very beginning where Jude would almost be telling the reader the story and her thoughts by almost breaking that fourth wall, and that’s something I really did not enjoy. I liked that we could see Jude’s motivation for being the kind of woman she is in this world, especially with all of the hardships she’s had to face coming into it.
A common theme I’ve really been enjoying recently is seeing a character outside of their element, or struggling with where they belong and how they identify in this world, and it’s really clear with Jude’s character. Having been taken away from the mortal worlds and dealing with the feeling of being lesser than every day helps explain the drive she has, and the choices she makes.
Overall though, book one is 256 pages long. That’s 66% of the way through for a wHOLE LOT OF NOTHING to happen. And I find that the big climax for the end of part one was REALLY intense and really dark for how the earlier pages were written. Despite that, I think the build up to it made sense, and slight changes in each character were woven in well!
Book Two Thoughts: Alright. I was definitely surprised by how much this second part picked up! I think the stakes were a lot higher, and overall, the story really gained momentum. I like that Jude continued to be developed, and she became more ruthless herself because of the environment. I feel like too often, female characters especially become over powered too quickly, so it was nice to see her emotions fuel her skills too. Her decision making was…. questionable.. I’ll leave it at that.
Book two also really shows how dark and gruesome this book really is! I’ve said it to some friends, but TCP is undersold in its plot! Although as a reader, Jude is meant to be rooted for, I found myself not rooting for anyone because everyone in this book is so selfish until the plot twist at the very end. These characters, but seriously Jude in general, develops with every interaction having a purpose.
I ended up giving this book a 4/5 stars. I think it was great and definitely really enjoyable, but there could’ve been more to it.
In conclusion, everyone in this book is a literal psycho, Oak needs to be protected at all costs, and I really hope Jude builds her fighting skills in The Wicked King cause LORD KNOWS she’ll need it… and Cardan better be READY.
I hope you guys enjoyed this first review in the Late to the Party series!
xo,
Mel
33 Thoughts I Had While Reading The Cruel Prince
Huge shoutout to Lydia over at Clockwrk Words for inspiring me to do this and gave me the a-okay to! Go check her out and her Thoughts I Had While Reading posts!
[ SPOILERS COMING NOW — :)]
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
• Jude, Taryn, and Vivi are the siblings
• Madoc is the one who took them into fae, married Oriana and had Oak as their child
• Jude definitely has an intense desire for being better than the fae primarily because she was done so dirty by them
• motivation is fairly clear, but we’ll see how it develops
• Taryn especially, but they want to keep this connection to the mortal world so they can remember their roots
• i dont love the writing style and how its as if Jude is telling us, the readers, a story, but also is experiencing it in real time
• i hate Cardan he’s literally such a dick and is so damn ready to kill for his own pride
• Locke seems kind of smitten with Jude because shes able to get under Cardan’s skin but like something also seems v off and v fishy about him
• what prevalence is this letter in Cardan’s stuff going to play later on? what debt is going to be paid?
• t/w for abuse both mentally and physically within the family, and amongst others
• The Court of Shadows – Jude, Roach, Ghost, the Bomb (made to ensure Prince Dain is King next)
• Cardan’s aggressive Jude writing ??? my guy are you doing okay???
• Taryn’s boytoy is probably Locke at this rate, but hes kissing Jude so maybe not
• YES JUDE YOU STAB VALERIAN WITH THAT COLD IRON KNIFE ugly
• whoahowhoheoahwhwhoaaa last words of Liriope and protecting ‘him’ and never telling the truth about her > she’s Locke’s mother!
• the note on Balekin’s desk, the letter implicated him as Locke’s mothers murderer
• holy shit she really killed him… im…. shes some next level rn but also rip psycho ✌🏼
• Madoc has spies, Balekin’s setting Dain’s spies up, this is a whole other mess rn
• the ending of chapter 19 is really beautiful in Madoc’s rawness with Jude’s father and mother and that story
• “Madoc has betrayed Eldred, and Dain is gone, taking all my hopes and plans with him” 241 weLP
• okayyyyy Jude has turned a whOLe new leaf, everyone in this book is SO selfish good lord
• control Cardan = control rest of world bc power oKAY JUDE
• yep, I was right, Locke is a two-timin asswhOLe but also like… Taryn, your sisters mans?? sELFISHHHHHH
• also fight scene between the two sisters is great, i can picture it perfectly in my head
• she slips his ring onto her finger HMMM there’s a whole lot of talk about prophecies and things!! HMMM
• OAK LITTLE BABY OAK OH MY GOD
• Cardan…. is scared… of Jude – now THIS is the kind of character development i like seeing!
• THEYRE KISSING AND THEY BOTH HATE IT BUT BOTH WANT IT SO BAD IM SCREAMING
• Jude’s makin some BIG promises here.. how does she manage to pull it all off???
• And the crowd goes wild for Jude’s takedown LITERALLY A BADASS WOW
• The Princess Bride reference “I spent the last few years building an immunity to Iocaine Powder” with the poisoning of the wines
• JUDE REALLY DID CARDAN SO DIRTY SUCK ON THAT ONE LIL BABY
The Bookish Mel 
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