Book Review: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

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 consequence. 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.
(The Cruel Prince)

Is it strange to say I was completely surprised to discover I loved this book? Is it completely bizarre to say I was taken aback by how quickly I was able to dive into the story and characters and be completely sucked in to this magical, dark, fantasy world that is The Cruel Prince? Because that is how I feel and I'm shocked.

I tend to stick to literary fiction when it comes to my reading preferences. Fantasy--in spite of all the magic and dragons and quests and supernatural romances and whatever ingredients it takes to make the genre--has to really draw me in for me to keep reading (not quite sure why that is yet...doing a personal psycho-analysis in search for that answer). But I picked up this book because (1) fairies are cool and (2) Stories about wicked royalty always sound intriguing. 

This book was so much fun! And probably one of my favorite things about it was the world. The Faerie kingdom of Elfhame is everything I imagined a fairy world to be, and I really enjoyed Holly Black's description and construction of this world. I especially loved that the glittery exterior of Elfhame did not match it's interior at all. The author creates this world of secrets, deception, corruption, betrayal, and bloodshed. And it's delicious, or as the book put it, "...like a golden stag's carcass, crawling with maggots beneath his hide, ready to burst." 

“Crowns of flowers on our heads, shooting bows and arrows at the sky. Eating candied violets and falling asleep with our heads pillowed on logs. We were children. Children can laugh all day and still cry themselves to sleep at night.”

This world also brought to light something I found to be very fascinating. The Fae, with all their beauty and immortality, were much like their kingdom--lovely from without, dark, complicated and sometimes ugly within. So I found it surprising that our heroine, Jude Duarte, wished so badly to be like them in spite of the fact that her own parents were murdered--MURDERED--by one of them. What an interesting characteristic for a mortal heroine, to wish so badly to become what you both envy and hate. Aside from "overcoming fear" and the aching "desire for power", acceptance was the theme that stood out to me in this book, and it was felt every time Jude's mortality and vulnerability were thrown in her face. Yes, she was fiery and bold, determined and resilient, yet she was still frightened inside. I loved this about Jude. I also loved how her desire to cease feeling powerless, to simply fit in, to have respect, was what provoked her to make many of the daring choices she made in the story. 

“What they don’t realize is this: Yes, they frighten me, but I have always been scared, since the day I got here. I was raised by the man who murdered my parents, reared in a land of monsters. I live with that fear, let it settle into my bones, and ignore it. If I didn’t pretend not to be scared, I would hide under my owl-down coverlets in Madoc’s estate forever. I would lie there and scream until there was nothing left of me.”

The other characters in the story were interesting but I wished I'd gotten to know them more. But again this is coming from someone who drools over detailed character development over a thick collection of pages. If Holly Black really went at it with developing her characters, The Cruel Prince would probably be longer than 300 pages. And of course, this story is meant to be a trilogy, so I ought to just be patient and wait for more from Jude's passive twin sister Taryn, her rebellious older sister Vivienne, and her bloodthirsty adopted father General Madoc.

As for the "cruel prince" himself, Prince Cardan, I couldn't help but get that Chuck Bass vibe from him, the kind of detestable, arrogant, loathsome, disgusting yet charming character you simultaneously love and hate (and yes I just made a Gossip Girl reference in a book review). My one complaint for his character though would be that I felt he wasn't in the book enough. He was definitely interesting, but Jude stood out more. However, I'm interested to see how his character progresses in the second book--ya know, the one we have to wait a WHOLE YEAR to read.

If I were to be truly honest about one thing I didn't much care for in the book, it would have to be Holly Black's writing. I personally felt it was just okay, nothing groundbreaking or outstanding. But that's me being persnickety and sometimes that doesn't matter to the reader. Sometimes you just want to read a book for the adventure and that's what I got. I still gave this book a 5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads because it was just so fun and entertaining and full of all the things I didn't even know I loved! Check it out and judge for yourself!


                                                                              xo Nina