Hello everyone! As I said earlier this year, I want to review more books in 2019. Here is the first of 15 reviews I would like to get up this year.
The Cruel Prince (Folk of the Air # 1) by Holly Black
Published: January 2, 2018, by Little Brown Book for Young Readers
Edition: USA Paperback
Page Count: 370
Read from: January 1-17 2019
Goodreads Synopsis
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 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.
As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal 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.
I loved this book and I am so glad that I took the leap to read it. I am not the biggest fan of Fantasy, so you really need something to hook me to read the novel until the end, and this story had just that. The characters were flawed and they embraced the fact that they had flaws and issues in their personalities. I also very much enjoyed the world that was set in this book, it was very dark and atmospheric perfect for a story like this one. The story line as a whole I loved it might not be all that much different from a regular fantasy, but as someone who doesn’t read all that much of this genre, I loved it.
Characters 5/5
I loved the characters in this novel and they are one of the things that kept me reading until the end because I wanted to find out what happened to them. My favorite character was Jude, and she had some growth and change in the novel I would say. At the beginning of the novel, Jude seems like a know it all on the surface, but the people that bully her probably don’t know what she witnessed as a young girl. She had a traumatic experience, and this shaped her in the way that she was as a character. By the end of the story, Jude was warmer and not as cold and aggressive as she was in the beginning and this was growth and change in her personality and character. The one who did the biggest 180 for me was Carden, he went from being a jerk to Jude and other characters in the beginning, and he was so nice and kind at the end of the book. For me, this is one of the biggest growths I’ve seen from a character in a novel.
World Building 5/5
I loved the world-building in the novel. It was one of my favorite aspects and what kept me interested in reading the story further. What I love that Holly Black does in the novel is she adds these little details about the world which creates a more immersive experience for the reader. What I love about what Holly Black does is that she creates tiny details that help the reader visualize the world better. For me, I love having the small details to help create a bigger picture. I didn’t feel like the world distracted from the story at all, in fact, I felt like the world building in this novel only enhances the already fantastic plot.
Writing 5/5
I love the writing in this novel. I felt that it was like a YA novel in style, which is good because it is classified as YA, but as an adult I enjoyed this novel as much as any teen would. I find is takes a specific kind of writing style to write fantasy, and this book was filled with what I look for in a fantasy, The flowery language in places works for me because it was only in specific places. While I did enjoy the writing in this novel, I could see how it would be a turn off for some, and I understand if you didn’t enjoy the novel or the world because you didn’t like the writing.
Pace 5/5
The pace of the novel was perfect for me. I felt like the fast parts were fast and the more dramatic parts were slower as they should be. At no point did this novel drone on and on about unnecessary things, and at no point did it brush past things too quickly that I didn’t understand what had just happened. The actions scenes were great because you could feel what was going on at the moment through the characters because they were fast paced. The softer scenes that were meant to be more dramatic and offer a few into the characters thoughts and feelings was also fantastic because it was slow enough where you could grasp what was happening.
Other
I wanted to take this time to talk about how much I enjoy the relationship of Jude and Carden. These two were enemies to friends, which turned into two people that really stated to have feelings for each other. I was so here for this and it was one of the best build ups to a relationship that I have ever read.
Thanks for reading! Have you ever read this book? Let me know your thoughts!
Comments
Post a Comment