The Cruel Prince

ya fantasy isn't the genre i usually go to but i wanted to give this book a try because of all the praise i was reading and hearing. but what a disappointment. i knew i was stepping out of my comfort zone and i really tried to get into the atmosphere of the book but i couldn't. i have been reading to book for a month and getting through it was honestly pretty hard. objectively, it's engaging and it can be addictive but personally, i just couldn't get into it. i hated most the characters even the ones we are supposed to appreciate. i found the main character pretty boring and even annoying at times, and while a flawed character isn't inherently a bad-written one (obviously), i just couldn't like her despite her flaws. i wasn't rooting for jude and her motivations were pretty unclear to me. overall, my reading experience was boring. i get why people like it and i thought i would love the ennemies to lovers trope in this but it was not convincing enough for me. i wasn't expecting to love this but i wasn't expecting to hate this neither... i feel bad saying all of this because i've read worst novels and if i'm being objective it's not terrible. however, i'm not giving up on ya fantasy because i used to love this genre earlier in my teenage years.

Holly Black is one of my favorite YA authors and I've enjoyed every single one of her faerie lore books. She is very good with characterisations and building a world around those characters in a way that is easy to visualize and thus immerse yourself in as the reader - this book is no exception. If you've liked any of Holly's previous Faerie novels then you're sure to love this one. I cannot wait for the sequel!

This was an enormous disappointment. I was bored out of my mind while doing my best to finish it, but I couldn't do it.

The writing is horrendous... I got angrier as I read on, and when I got to the last 50ish pages, I refused to carry on, because I couldn't bring myself to care one bit. It wasn't that it was even mediocre; the whole book felt pointless to me.

There was absolutely no substance to it whatsoever. There was no world building, no character growth, no interesting writing, no nothing.

3-4 stars can’t choose , so 3.5 it is.. I really enjoyed this book but felt the whole plot/storyline took half the book to get there. Not much point to the first half of the book. Lacked the description and story telling and character building. Definitely reading the next in the series. Really hope we don’t have to read anymore of Taryn. She’s a brat.

This is probably one of the most hyped books of 2018 that I have come across in the blogging community and now I can understand why. Everything in this world of the Fair Folk is dark, twisty, creepy, dramatic and kept me confused every step of the way.

The story starts off with two brutal murders and mortal twins Jude and Taryn are taken alongwith their Fae sister Vivi to Elfhame by the redcap general Madoc. But they all grow up in the land of the Folk with different ambtions. Vivi has not forgotten her childhood in the mortal lands and would love to return one day. Taryn wants to belong among the Fae and would love to keep her head down, behave properly and hopefully one day, marry one of the Folk. But Jude, the POV we get to know this story from, wants to be a knight, wants to be better than the wicked Fae and have a higher purpose in life.

There are lots of other Fae characters we encounter here. The princes and princesses of the realm notably – the youngest prince Cardan and his gang who bully Jude endlessly, Prince Dain who is most likely to be the next High King and Prince Balekin who is the eldest but cruel and weak and insecure. We also see how the Folk treat and view the humans – as lowly mortals who are only good to serve and exist for the entertainment of the Fae.

This book surprises you on every page. Just when you think you understand a character, they go ahead and do something exactly opposite and you have no clue what's happening. There is not a single character here is exactly straightforward or likeable. That's why this review has been difficult for me to write – how did I enjoy a book when I didn't like any of the characters. But I truly did have fun reading this book and am very interested in the sequel – even if just to know if there is a possibility of an unlikely romance. The ending just hit me in the face and I had no idea it was coming. And even after finishing it, I'm still not sure who the “Cruel” Prince from the title is because we are spoiled for choices.

This book was so hyped up that I thought I wouldn't like it. Well, it was thoroughly enjoyable. A dark and magical story about a mortal living in a land ruled by faeries. The story captured me from the start and makes me excited to read the next book in the series. A must read for fantasy lovers.

This book just doesn't cut it for me. I am really not a fan of the world(-building) here, which hinders me to fully immerse into the story. I also don't like any of the characters, they all just feel so bland and boring...The first 2/3 of the book was a real slog for me, the latter part kinda picked up in pace and in something at least.
I also realized, that I dislike Young Adult but thats on me.

I went into it a bit reticent because I thought it'd be another take on the common enemies to lovers trope...but I saw a passage on twitter that made me want to read it (it's apparently from another book in the series though) and I was not disappointed! Romance - while somewhat a part of it - is definitely not the focus point of the book. Besides all the fae lore that I absolutely love, the narrative focuses a lot on the political aspect of the kingdom of elfhame and the land of faerie and the inner conflicts and growth of the main character. I feel romance might more of a focal point later on (in the next books of the series) which makes sense with how the storyline has built up so far. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series!

I first heard about this book in the autumn of 2017 when a trusted BookTuber talked about how much she'd loved it when she read an Advanced Readers Copy of the novel prior to its release. Since then I've had a hold on it at my local library waiting for its launch day and to the credit of my local library service, I was lucky enough to be first on the list and get it within a week of it being released.

This is the first story I've read from author Holly Black, I have plans to read her Magisterium series which she writes with another of my favourite authors Cassandra Clare but The Cruel Prince is the first I have launched into with her name on the cover. I was intrigued by this book immediately because it is a story set in Faire. It is, therefore, a book that it was going to be full of magic, fantasy and intrigue. As a huge fan of Sarah J Maas' series, A Court of Thorns And Roses, it seemed the perfect book to tide me over until the new release in that series later this year.

This is the story of Jude Duarte, a mortal girl whose parents are killed by a bloodthirsty Fae and she and her sisters are taken to live in the land of Faire. There she is persecuted for being a mortal and her biggest enemy is one of the sons of the High King of Fae, Prince Cardan. He is cruel and taunts Jude for her mortality and weakness and this drives Jude to try and find ways to fight back and prove herself worthy of a life in the magical land.

Alongside Jude's struggles, we learn that in Faire it is time for the High King to abdicate his throne and move aside for one of his children, Prince Daine. This transition is not going to be an easy one however as the children of the High King scheme and plot their way to ensure that they usurp the favourite and place themselves on the throne instead. Jude, a lowly mortal, finds herself drawn into the scheming and into the very centre of court life where she will find that she holds more power than she ever thought possible.

This book was wonderful, Holly Black paints a world that is both alluring and decadent yet behind the glamour lurks darkness, deceit and scheming that means no one ever truly knows who to trust. The setting of the novel is really rich and full of a wonderful cast of characters who we never truly know their true intentions until things happen on the page. Holly Black uses this to twist and turn her story in directions we aren't expecting, just when I thought I had an idea where the story was going she'd twist it again and I'd be blown away and then having to recalculate my thoughts.

This book is going to form the first in a series built around these characters and the ending leaves us very open to moving forward into more adventures with the characters. Clearly, there is still high political stakes to be settled in the world and Holly Black leaves us desperate to know what's going to happen next. There is some romantic tension that still seems to be simmering, there's family dynamics that have now been thrown to the wind and residual political figures who are going to be very displeased with the outcome at the end of this book and it's going to be difficult waiting to find out how everything will move forward.

This book has been hugely popular this month and I can fully understand why, it is the first really big Young Adult release of this year and on all counts it is magnificent. If the rest of the releases in 2018 are as good as this one it could turn out to be a magical reading year.

“Because you're like a story that hasn't happened yet. Because I want to see what you will do. I want to be part of the unfolding of the tale.”

You know when you're reading a book and then you get sad because you realise you only have a few pages left until you finish? This is how it was for this book. I didn't want it to end.

The Cruel Prince reminded me exactly why I started to recently get into and enjoy reading fantasy.

I am going to keep this spoiler free as I do with all of my reviews.

I knew from the very first few chapters that Jude would become very special to me. Though, it's not the same (My world is not fantasy in any aspect), I relate to the feeling of never feeling like I belong and feeling pressure to try to. Jude might be young but she is most definitely not the weak girl that some of them make her out to be.

I am so excited to read more about Cardan and get to know him underneath the rough exterior that he presented throughout the book. I loved that I got to see a glimpse of it in some moments and I can't wait to see more.

Every character that you come across is flawed and complex. It was difficult to trust any of them and I found it so much to wait every chapter to see if anyone was reliable.

The drama, the plot twists... I am obsessed and I can't wait to pick up the rest of the series. I am so annoyed I didn't read it earlier.