Community Reviews
Spoiler-free review!
Synopsis: Jude and her sisters, Taryn and Viviene, saw their butchered by a Faerie when they were children. They are then whisked away and thrown into the world of Faerie, raised by the man that murdered their parents. Ten years later, Jude is desperate to fit in and find her place in a world where mortals are despised, and used as servants. All at once, she finds herself given a position where her ability to lie is useful, but also where she has to navigate the dangers of the Fey courts and politics, while also trying to avoid incurring the wrath of Prince Cardan, the youngets, and said to be the cruelest, of the High King's six heirs.
Holly Black is another author with a very clear and strong voice in her writing, and this book is actually written in a mostly conversational tone, as if the main character, Jude, were sitting in the room with you and telling you her life's story. This quality seems to be increasingly popular, and it's a style that I have come to enjoy in novels written in first person. The book was paced the same way, and was very well done, especially towards the end. The worldbuilding was excellent, detailed, thorough, and vivid.
Most of the characters seemed to have fairly simplistic personalities, such as the rebellious teenaged daughter ,or the popular/mean girl, or even the angry/angsty teenager. Despite some of their more two dimensional qualities, however, they were still fairly interesting, which surprised me. I think the ways that the characters interacted with each other and their situations made up for most of the lack of depth many of them had. I think the one thing that stands out to me, and that I really enjoyed, was that, instead of having her characters grow out of these behaviors and rudementary personalities, she instead went with a begrudging acceptance. This acceptance in who/what they are and how they behave has the characeters flourishing within the story in a way I don't think I've really ever seen before.
I enjoyed the plot and thought that it was well executed, and I loved being able to see more of the world and people that Holly Black has created. The imagery was very rich and vivid, and helped the story come alive. While a couple of the turns in the plot could be easily guessed for those that have read many, or mostly, YA novels, not every turn was predictable, which was a refreshing change from other books I had read before this one.
Now, while the characters did hold their own for the most part, I am loathe to see so many seemingly two dimensional characters in one story. The only ones that escaped this treatment were, in my opinion, Taryn, Cardan, Locke, and Oriana. While I enjoyed Jude, I would have liked a bit more depth to her personality, and although you do see more of it towards the end of the book, I feel that there was time to develop her a bit more. I'm hoping for more growth from some of the characters, especially Jude, in the next book!
There are many trends in the YA genre, and, most of the time, I really don't mind seeing them. But there are some that seem to make it into nearly every YA novel, and then, when played out, sometimes even mirror each other. A trend that ended up in this book was the angsty, mean ass that the girl falls in love with. You see bits and pieces of a possible relationship with some worringly unhealthy beginnings. While I won't downright say "Please don't do this," I'm really surprised to see relationships begun or played out this way in books that will inevitable fall into the hands of teenagers. I really didn't mind it much in this novel, but I did ponder on it for a bit. I think that character developments later on really help alleviate the shock at first seeing the relationships bloom.
The mean girl or girls is another theme that is (sometimes) over-done. I get that conflict needed to spur the main characters into some sort of action or later plot point is required, but the amount of times that it ends up being at least partially from the quintessential cool/popular kids can get a bit out of hand. It's handled slightly different in this novel, and is reminiscent of the Morganville Vampire series, but it is there.
I also see the like/love triangle. More than I would like to. I'm not personally a fan of love triangles, for multiple reasons. And, to be fair, I don't even know if the relationship in The Cruel Prince that I'm talking about can even be classified as a relationship, but it felt like one. It's another one that's kind of turned on its head, and plays into the story later, so I can't gripe too much. And, instead of the one girl/multiple guys, this was one guy/multiple girls, which was interesting to see.
Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised with this book. I had read Tithe about two years ago and, if I'm being honest, I absolutely loathed it. Because of that fact, I did not have high hopes for this one; the only reason I picked "The Cruel Prince" up is because the many reviews of it on the BookTube community were overwhelmingly positive. I'm really glad I took a chance on this book, because I ended up loving it, and I am beyond excited for the sequel. I'm even considering re-reading Tithe and finishing that series up, because I never finished the other two books. One note I would like to make is that, even though "The Cruel Prince" is set in the exact same world as "Tithe", and some characters make a "guest appearance", you do not have to have read Tithe to enjoy/understand this book.
For those that enjoyed Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr, The Hunter's Moon by O.R. Melling, or if you're just someone that's really into dark tales of Faeries, I do absolutely highly recommend this book.
Synopsis: Jude and her sisters, Taryn and Viviene, saw their butchered by a Faerie when they were children. They are then whisked away and thrown into the world of Faerie, raised by the man that murdered their parents. Ten years later, Jude is desperate to fit in and find her place in a world where mortals are despised, and used as servants. All at once, she finds herself given a position where her ability to lie is useful, but also where she has to navigate the dangers of the Fey courts and politics, while also trying to avoid incurring the wrath of Prince Cardan, the youngets, and said to be the cruelest, of the High King's six heirs.
Holly Black is another author with a very clear and strong voice in her writing, and this book is actually written in a mostly conversational tone, as if the main character, Jude, were sitting in the room with you and telling you her life's story. This quality seems to be increasingly popular, and it's a style that I have come to enjoy in novels written in first person. The book was paced the same way, and was very well done, especially towards the end. The worldbuilding was excellent, detailed, thorough, and vivid.
Most of the characters seemed to have fairly simplistic personalities, such as the rebellious teenaged daughter ,or the popular/mean girl, or even the angry/angsty teenager. Despite some of their more two dimensional qualities, however, they were still fairly interesting, which surprised me. I think the ways that the characters interacted with each other and their situations made up for most of the lack of depth many of them had. I think the one thing that stands out to me, and that I really enjoyed, was that, instead of having her characters grow out of these behaviors and rudementary personalities, she instead went with a begrudging acceptance. This acceptance in who/what they are and how they behave has the characeters flourishing within the story in a way I don't think I've really ever seen before.
I enjoyed the plot and thought that it was well executed, and I loved being able to see more of the world and people that Holly Black has created. The imagery was very rich and vivid, and helped the story come alive. While a couple of the turns in the plot could be easily guessed for those that have read many, or mostly, YA novels, not every turn was predictable, which was a refreshing change from other books I had read before this one.
Now, while the characters did hold their own for the most part, I am loathe to see so many seemingly two dimensional characters in one story. The only ones that escaped this treatment were, in my opinion, Taryn, Cardan, Locke, and Oriana. While I enjoyed Jude, I would have liked a bit more depth to her personality, and although you do see more of it towards the end of the book, I feel that there was time to develop her a bit more. I'm hoping for more growth from some of the characters, especially Jude, in the next book!
There are many trends in the YA genre, and, most of the time, I really don't mind seeing them. But there are some that seem to make it into nearly every YA novel, and then, when played out, sometimes even mirror each other. A trend that ended up in this book was the angsty, mean ass that the girl falls in love with. You see bits and pieces of a possible relationship with some worringly unhealthy beginnings. While I won't downright say "Please don't do this," I'm really surprised to see relationships begun or played out this way in books that will inevitable fall into the hands of teenagers. I really didn't mind it much in this novel, but I did ponder on it for a bit. I think that character developments later on really help alleviate the shock at first seeing the relationships bloom.
The mean girl or girls is another theme that is (sometimes) over-done. I get that conflict needed to spur the main characters into some sort of action or later plot point is required, but the amount of times that it ends up being at least partially from the quintessential cool/popular kids can get a bit out of hand. It's handled slightly different in this novel, and is reminiscent of the Morganville Vampire series, but it is there.
I also see the like/love triangle. More than I would like to. I'm not personally a fan of love triangles, for multiple reasons. And, to be fair, I don't even know if the relationship in The Cruel Prince that I'm talking about can even be classified as a relationship, but it felt like one. It's another one that's kind of turned on its head, and plays into the story later, so I can't gripe too much. And, instead of the one girl/multiple guys, this was one guy/multiple girls, which was interesting to see.
Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised with this book. I had read Tithe about two years ago and, if I'm being honest, I absolutely loathed it. Because of that fact, I did not have high hopes for this one; the only reason I picked "The Cruel Prince" up is because the many reviews of it on the BookTube community were overwhelmingly positive. I'm really glad I took a chance on this book, because I ended up loving it, and I am beyond excited for the sequel. I'm even considering re-reading Tithe and finishing that series up, because I never finished the other two books. One note I would like to make is that, even though "The Cruel Prince" is set in the exact same world as "Tithe", and some characters make a "guest appearance", you do not have to have read Tithe to enjoy/understand this book.
For those that enjoyed Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr, The Hunter's Moon by O.R. Melling, or if you're just someone that's really into dark tales of Faeries, I do absolutely highly recommend this book.
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