A review by tvislife
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

I was honestly not expecting to like this as much as I did. I’m not a huge YA fan, and I thought the whole faerie stories were a bit overdone. But I honestly really liked this! It follows Jude and her sisters, who were brought to Faerie as children after their parents were killed (by their pseudo-father). Jude tries to make her place among the faeries, but not everyone wants her to be there. 

This book is incredibly readable. Like, I breezed through it with zero effort. I loved the little descriptions of all the different beings in Faerie, which I feel like are sometimes left out of other books like this—and I liked that it followed more faerie laws than other books I’ve read (like the whole cold iron deal, and the “no lying” bit). The world building and the main characters were interesting and I am very much looking forward to finishing this series.