A Reader's Guide to Books and Reviews

Title: The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1)
Author: Holly Black
Format: Epub
Rating: 3.95/5
Status: Finished
Reading Date: January 3, 2018
Book Summary: 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.
Book Review: It has been quite sometime since I last picked up any of Holly Black's books. I think the most recent ones I had read were the collaboration between she and Cassandra Clare.

But I had been hearing good things about this book and thought, "What the hell? It doesn't hurt to read this."

I can actually say I was not disappointed and devoured the book within hours.

Our narrator is a young girl named Jude. She and her two sisters laid witness to the murder of their parents on the night they whisked away to live in the land of the fae. Her sister, Vivi, is part of the fae and it was her father that killed their parents. Because of this, Vivi has vowed to make her father's life miserable and has made her choice in seeing to it that she returns to the mortal world.

Despite the trauma of that night, Jude and Taryn, have adapted to the world of the fae but it has not meant that everyone in the fae world has opened their arms to them. In fact, the two girls have been subject to ridicule by members of the fae.

While Taryn believes that following the rules are what is best for them, Jude wants to be a knight in the Court of the High King. For her, she believes only rebellion and bloodshed will earn her what she wants.

This story really pulls you into the world of the Fae and you feel as though Jude is standing right next to you, weaving you an image of a world only she and her sisters have seen. This world is beautiful and so are the fae but the fae as beautiful as they are, they are also extremely cruel. You will find yourself hating Cardan, the dastardly prince, who loves tormenting Jude and her sister, Taryn whenever he has the chance.

But the thing is Jude is no angel. You will find yourself torn between hoping that she will turn the tables on Cardan and his group to hating what she has become since becoming part of the fae world. As for Taryn, I feel she is too cowardly to stand up for herself and although I understand she has no desire to cause trouble for both she and her sister; but there comes a time when you need to stand up to the bullies that torment you every chance you get. You will earn no place that you desire if you cannot stand up for yourself.

And Vivi.

She has no desire to remain within her father's world and does everything possible to make him disappointed in her. She leaves the fae world and ventures into the mortal world without letting any of them know. It is discovered later that she has a girlfriend named Heather, who's parents she has already met. Heather, on the other hand, wants to meet Vivi's family but Vivi continues to stall her.

I like Vivi. She rebels against the world she has no desire to be part of. She would rather be part of the world her father tore her from.

Have I mentioned that I quite looking forward to reading the next book? 2019 cannot seem to get here fast enough!