Written by Holy Black, The Cruel Prince is another Fae novel from Holly Black.
This novel follows Jude, a twin to Taryn, whose parents were killed when they were small children in front of them by their mother’s first husband, and their older sister Vivian’s father, for taking his child away. BTW, her first husband, Madoc, is Fae. Growing up with the Fae, Jude desires to become a knight and be above the Fae who can control her, despite the prince Cardan and his cronies making her life a living hell. Her sister, on the other hand, wants to wed a Fae and get away from how horrible they are in that manner.
This isn’t my favorite novel, Fae novel or otherwise, by Holly Black (Tithe… forever) but this is a good novel and is the start of a new series for her. The characters are interesting and complex, though, and I really want to know what ends up happening with Cardan and Jude. Two more book? A lot can happen in two book.
The reader, Caitlin Kelly, is good – her male voices aren’t bad – but this is a novel that, like most Fae stories, would be better to read yourself. Or with a full cast.
If you enjoy fantasy (this isn’t an urban fantasy, though there are a few scenes set in our world, I would say that this novel is definitely different from Black’s other worlds), this would be worth your read.
It isn’t a romance novel. It is an action novel. It is a dark novel.
When it comes to the characters themselves, Jude is an interesting character, thinking she can be a knight as a human in the Fae court. The dark court. She definitely is written like a modern teenager, with a brain. That is a bit surprising to me given how young she was taken and how Madoc raised her and her sisters.
I didn’t trust Locke, the first love interest, from the start to stay a love interest. How that plot went wasn’t surprising to me. And, no, that isn’t a spoiler. From the way he is first described you know he is going to become a love interest.
Cardan is an interesting character that I want to see more of in the rest of the series (when they are released). He shows a lot of promise as a Fae character who is truly complex.
Dain… Dain you must read the story to find out more about him. He, too, is a prince of Fairy.
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