The Queen of Nothing

I spent the first half of the book fed up with Jude (though tbh that has been a theme throughout this series). She kind of just gave up after the last book, sitting on a couch covered in Cheeto dust and tears, and decides a lot of things for herself whether they are true or not. She really needs to take time off sword fighting and work on her interpersonal skills. Though I kind of wanted more about her side job with the fae in the mortal world other than her one job to stop Grima Mog, I thought that was a lot more interesting than her moping around an apartment I can't see how they can afford and worrying about Heather like it's her business. Oak also seems to have aged a few years since the last book even though it's supposedly only been months? And there's no mention of him going to school, plus he can't even stop using his fae powers at the apartment playground. He can suddenly speak like an adult which was a bit jarring - it's hard to tell how old he's supposed to be here.
The second half was a lot more action with her back in faerie and Cardan rightly thinking she's a bit of an idiot but loving her anyway for some reason. We don't really get anything about what he's been up to, just bits and pieces Jude finds out by snooping or on accident, which is a bummer. He's obviously been doing a ton of thinking and planning and we get none of that because it's the Jude Show. Then suddenly he's a snake? And basically not a character for a 1/4 of the book, not even in his new form.
I loved this book because I love Holly Black's writing and her worlds but throughout this entire series Jude has really gotten on my nerves. The Strong Female Character trope gets a bit old, especially when Jude only gets through on sheer dumb luck, not because of any actual skills or communication. I look forward to whatever Black conjures up for her next original series, and hope that it doesn't focus so much on moral vs. fae and weird hair styles.