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A review by takemyhand
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
3.0
“There is always something left to lose.”
I doubt I have to introduce this one, since it is such a big deal on the internet nowadays, but, I will do so briefly, for anyone curious about to read a summary !
THE CRUEL PRINCE is the first of three books in The Folk of the Air series, and follows Jude Duarte, a mortal who permanently lives in Faerie. Now, a lot of the readers have sold this as an “amazing enemies-to-lovers book”, I have to say this wasn’t exactly the case. Let me explain : the first of the series is great, it introduces Jude and the other characters perfectly, lets the reader slowly accommodate to the faerie universe with loads of world building and details, but it does not focus on the romance. At least to me. I went through these 300-something pages not really paying much attention to how Jude and the romantic aspect of the relationship with the love interest, Prince Cardan, will evolve, simply because Jude has a lot more on her plate. The enemies-to-lovers trope pans out on the entire series however, and it very much satisfies.
THE CRUEL PRINCE is a story of power dynamics, circles of influence and politics, and as Jude tries to go up in ranks despite her impediments, she gets confronted to all of these. It’s a story about alienation, about struggling in a society that is somehow always against you, and having to prove you’re just as worthy as everybody else. It’s a story about coming out stronger, about not always doing the right thing but Jude stands by her choices whether the outcome is what she wanted or not.
As someone who’s not very familiar with the faerie world, this book did a marvelous job at getting me into it, introducing the elements and specificities of the genre in a way that did not feel abrupt, and I loved every second of it. It reads like a fairytale and its execution was wonderfully done !
I doubt I have to introduce this one, since it is such a big deal on the internet nowadays, but, I will do so briefly, for anyone curious about to read a summary !
THE CRUEL PRINCE is the first of three books in The Folk of the Air series, and follows Jude Duarte, a mortal who permanently lives in Faerie. Now, a lot of the readers have sold this as an “amazing enemies-to-lovers book”, I have to say this wasn’t exactly the case. Let me explain : the first of the series is great, it introduces Jude and the other characters perfectly, lets the reader slowly accommodate to the faerie universe with loads of world building and details, but it does not focus on the romance. At least to me. I went through these 300-something pages not really paying much attention to how Jude and the romantic aspect of the relationship with the love interest, Prince Cardan, will evolve, simply because Jude has a lot more on her plate. The enemies-to-lovers trope pans out on the entire series however, and it very much satisfies.
THE CRUEL PRINCE is a story of power dynamics, circles of influence and politics, and as Jude tries to go up in ranks despite her impediments, she gets confronted to all of these. It’s a story about alienation, about struggling in a society that is somehow always against you, and having to prove you’re just as worthy as everybody else. It’s a story about coming out stronger, about not always doing the right thing but Jude stands by her choices whether the outcome is what she wanted or not.
As someone who’s not very familiar with the faerie world, this book did a marvelous job at getting me into it, introducing the elements and specificities of the genre in a way that did not feel abrupt, and I loved every second of it. It reads like a fairytale and its execution was wonderfully done !