Rating: 3.5 / 5 *
This book honestly surprised me. I had heard mixed things and wasn't entirely sure what to expect but I was definitely impressed. I have never read any of Holly Black's work before but I think I made a good choice in choosing this one.
The book starts of rather slow for me. In a way I appreciated it because we was setting up a very beautiful and unique world with very complicated characters but a lot of the time you were left just really wanting there to be more. With that said though the final build toward the climax was done very well. The tone of the story was on point and I am in love with the language she uses. She has a very pretty and descriptive writing style that I just adore. You can see the scenes so vividly it is as though you are present. I only wish that the pacing was a bit more intense and quicker which you do see more of in the second book. I really do think that the slower pacing of book one is primarily due to her taking the time to really set the story, setting, and characters up in a clear and precise way,
The story itself is such a spectacular and unique twist on the Fae. The characters in this novel are all so real and relatable. Each having a clear different personality. I love the main character Jude. She is very easy to read and relate to. She is such a strong and independent woman that takes no shit from anyone. Even if they are super powerful murderous Fae or the Prince of Fairie. She has no problems standing up for herself. You quickly find yourself wanting her to succeed in finding her place in Fairie and rooting for her to take down all of her enemies (even though you find yourself connecting and understand where they are coming from too). I wasn't really sold on the love interest though but we will see. It is definitely an intriguing duo.
Aside of pacing, my only other problem really came in at the ending. I can't go to much into it because of spoilers (but I will farther down below for those that don't mind spoiler and are curious) but the ending felt a bit too easy considering the severity of what happens. Even with that though it was still a shocking and brilliant end to the novel full of twist that I did not see coming at all!
I HIGHLY recommend this trilogy. I have already read book two and OH MY GOD! It only gets better and better!
Books in the Triology
The Cruel Prince
The Wicked King
The Queen of Nothing (11.19.2019)
On to the spoilers!
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First off! I am in love with Jude! She is such a kick ass main character and I loved seeing her growth throughout the story.
I know I shouldn't be but I am in love with Carden. What can I say I love the bad boys!
About that ending though! My main problems lay with the Coronation scene. I get Madoc turning on the crown and helping Balekin overthrow his family but the outright slaughter of basically the entire royal family felt way to easy. For the guard who took oaths to the crown not to step in at some point doesn't make much sense to me at all and is never addressed. Also the Fae of Fairie seem to be ok with this. Some are shaken but it doesn't seem to take them long to move on from it. This was a king that they spent decades under. The knew and loved him for so long but it took only hours for them to be fine with it and move on. I guess this just goes to further show how unhuman they really are, as Jude points out several times during the course of the novel.
Jude's scheme though at the end was crazy and I totally didn't see it coming! To not only out maneuver Madoc but to put Carden on the throne?! It was both genius and stupid. I can't wait to see what happens next!
This book honestly surprised me. I had heard mixed things and wasn't entirely sure what to expect but I was definitely impressed. I have never read any of Holly Black's work before but I think I made a good choice in choosing this one.
The book starts of rather slow for me. In a way I appreciated it because we was setting up a very beautiful and unique world with very complicated characters but a lot of the time you were left just really wanting there to be more. With that said though the final build toward the climax was done very well. The tone of the story was on point and I am in love with the language she uses. She has a very pretty and descriptive writing style that I just adore. You can see the scenes so vividly it is as though you are present. I only wish that the pacing was a bit more intense and quicker which you do see more of in the second book. I really do think that the slower pacing of book one is primarily due to her taking the time to really set the story, setting, and characters up in a clear and precise way,
The story itself is such a spectacular and unique twist on the Fae. The characters in this novel are all so real and relatable. Each having a clear different personality. I love the main character Jude. She is very easy to read and relate to. She is such a strong and independent woman that takes no shit from anyone. Even if they are super powerful murderous Fae or the Prince of Fairie. She has no problems standing up for herself. You quickly find yourself wanting her to succeed in finding her place in Fairie and rooting for her to take down all of her enemies (even though you find yourself connecting and understand where they are coming from too). I wasn't really sold on the love interest though but we will see. It is definitely an intriguing duo.
Aside of pacing, my only other problem really came in at the ending. I can't go to much into it because of spoilers (but I will farther down below for those that don't mind spoiler and are curious) but the ending felt a bit too easy considering the severity of what happens. Even with that though it was still a shocking and brilliant end to the novel full of twist that I did not see coming at all!
I HIGHLY recommend this trilogy. I have already read book two and OH MY GOD! It only gets better and better!
Books in the Triology
The Cruel Prince
The Wicked King
The Queen of Nothing (11.19.2019)
On to the spoilers!
*
*
*
*
First off! I am in love with Jude! She is such a kick ass main character and I loved seeing her growth throughout the story.
I know I shouldn't be but I am in love with Carden. What can I say I love the bad boys!
About that ending though! My main problems lay with the Coronation scene. I get Madoc turning on the crown and helping Balekin overthrow his family but the outright slaughter of basically the entire royal family felt way to easy. For the guard who took oaths to the crown not to step in at some point doesn't make much sense to me at all and is never addressed. Also the Fae of Fairie seem to be ok with this. Some are shaken but it doesn't seem to take them long to move on from it. This was a king that they spent decades under. The knew and loved him for so long but it took only hours for them to be fine with it and move on. I guess this just goes to further show how unhuman they really are, as Jude points out several times during the course of the novel.
Jude's scheme though at the end was crazy and I totally didn't see it coming! To not only out maneuver Madoc but to put Carden on the throne?! It was both genius and stupid. I can't wait to see what happens next!