#jul 18

I’ve never been the world’s biggest fan of faeries or other similar fantasy creatures. For some reason, whenever a synopsis would mention them, I’d slowly back away and then run in the other direction. Then, when Throne of Glass descended into excessive fae male-ness without warning or cause, I truly feared I’d have an aversion to faeries forever. But there was so much hype surrounding this book and so many friends telling me I should read it, so I decided put to put my hesitation aside, just this once, and boy, am I glad I did.

THE STORY

“The odd thing about ambition is this: You can acquire it like a fever, but it is not so easy to shed.”

The Cruel Prince follows Jude Duarte, a mortal girl living an ordinary life with her parents, her twin sister Taryn, and their half sister Vivienne, who is half-faerie. In a tragic turn, Vivienne’s father Madoc, a faerie general, murders Jude’s parents. In what proves to be an even greater tragic turn, Madoc steals the sisters from the mortal world and raises them as his own children in the land of Faerie, where Jude is pretty much doomed to be looked down upon for the rest of her life.

Since Madoc is a general for the High King, Jude and her sisters are basically raised among faerie royalty. And although the high society faeries she grows up with make her life a living hell, Jude wants desperately to fit in among them, but as a mortal, she can never compare to their beauty and power. She’s learned to live among them, dealing with their cruelty and hatred and pretending she isn’t afraid of them, but she’ll never be one of them. And she’s so tired of it.

Soon enough, just swallowing all the cruel insults and pranks isn’t enough for Jude. She’s bitter. She wants revenge against those who wronged her. She wants to have power over them, as impossible as that seems, and she wants it now. So when the opportunity arises for Jude to seize just that, she takes it.

Against a backdrop of twisted court politics rife with deceit and betrayal, Jude becomes a spy and an assassin, hoping to work her way up in the faerie courts. For once, her mortality is an asset. For once, everything seems like it’s working out. And then, of course, a wrench is thrown in her plans and if this didn’t sound absolutely delightful already, that’s when it really gets going.

I adore this story, I really do. I’ve now discovered that faeries are manipulative and chaotic and I love reading about manipulation and chaos, so someone please explain why I’ve never willingly picked up a faerie book before. And Jude’s role in all of this, as a mortal, adds such a cool twist to what could have been a very traditional, formulaic faerie story. Also, I love dark fantasy, and light this is not. There is treachery everywhere and it is so compelling and wonderful.

“Faerie might be beautiful, but its beauty is like a golden stag’s carcass, crawling with maggots beneath his hide, ready to burst.”

Alongside the plot, I also found the writing in this book to be absolutely gorgeous and descriptive. Holly Black did such an incredible job painting a picture of the dark, frightening beauty of Faerie and delving into the characters’ skewed motivations with ease. The writing style really just heightened the atmosphere, intensity, and my enjoyment of the story.

My one gripe with this story–and it’s really not a serious complaint at all–came in whenever the setting shifted to the mortal world, or when the characters’ talked about it. For some reason it just made me uncomfortable to be so enthralled by the world of Faerie, and then suddenly I’m walking through Target. It was really jarring and weird to me every time it happened. But I also feel like even this served a purpose, because that’s how Jude feels about the mortal world, being removed from it for most of her life.

Anyway, the fact that a book about faeries actually got me this invested took me by surprise. Except not really, because with so many good things coming together in one book, I was bound to like it. While it has its slower sections, the entire thing was a wild ride from start to finish. I was turning pages at the speed of light and trying to predict what would happen next. (I was usually wrong.) This is definitely one of those books that I wish I could reread without knowing all the twists and turns.

CHARACTERS

There’s something to hate about every character in this book and it’s glorious.

The complexity of the characters’ motivations and actions is what really made this book for me. I love twisted characters who do bad things for righteous reasons, or good things for despicable reasons. I love manipulative characters. This book is full of them. Without that element, I doubt it would have been as intriguing to me, personally. The characters worked hand in hand with the plot and the atmosphere to truly make this story dark and delicious.

Jude Duarte:

“Before, I never knew how far I would go. Now I believe I have the answer. I will go as far as there is to go. I will go way too far.”

First of all, I’d like to make it known that I would let Jude kill me if she really wanted to (and she might, if I got in her way). I think she was supposed to be “unlikeable” but I don’t even care. I love her so much and that is all.

I always find myself drawn to female characters like Jude–she fits perfectly into this archetype that I adore, every single time, without fail. A female character is downtrodden and spit upon her entire life, until it leads her to become resentful and ambitious and gives her a desire to wield power over those who wronged her, and she will go to any lengths to get it. I literally never get tired of this. For me, watching Jude grapple for power and influence in Faerie was the exact equivalent of curling up in bed and watching my favorite movie, popcorn and all, except more violent and less cuddly. I was rooting for her so hard.

One of my favorite things about Jude’s character is her ambition and determination, even when she’s been underestimated and afraid for most of her life. The dark places her character ends up because of that ambition are so interesting, considering where she started off.

Cardan Greenbriar:

“Prince Cardan, sixth-born to the High King Eldred, yet still the absolute worst.”

I still haven’t decided exactly how I feel about Cardan Greenbriar. On the one hand, he’s arrogant and cruel and a bully. By all means, I should hate him, right? On the other hand, by the end of the book, it was very difficult to hate him. I’m shook.

Cardan, admittedly, is a garbage fire of a human being (faerie being?) and an absolute mess. Despite being a prince, which entails being somewhat respectable, he does virtually nothing besides taunting others and getting ridiculously drunk. He’s elitist, entitled, and senselessly wicked. In the earlier parts of this book, I wanted to strangle him. Frequently.

But as we learn about the viciousness of the royal family and the faerie courts, the world in which Cardan was raised, we discover that Cardan hides behind many masks and wears many faces to get by. He’s a victim of manipulation and abuse, and while that doesn’t excuse his behavior, it does allow us to sympathize with the thought process behind it.

Ultimately, Cardan is a complex guy whose layers Jude and the reader have only just begun to peel away. I like him. I’m not sure if I’ll ever love him, but I’m excited to see his character move forward.

Locke:

*insert photo of a garbage can here*

Moving on.

Jude’s Family:

“Three is an odd configuration of sisters. There’s always one on the outside.”

This is one messed up family. I won’t say much, but wow.

Vivi is definitely my favorite of the bunch. Every time she appeared, she lit up the page. But the rest of Jude’s family? Yikes. Despite how much I can’t stand them all, I did find Jude’s relationship with Madoc to be intriguing, and I’d love to see more of it in the future. I also enjoyed the relationship between the three sisters at times, but mostly because it was interesting to see how each of the sisters shaped Jude.

RELATIONSHIPS

Given the abundance of betrayals and the abundance of morally gray characters in this book, there’s bound to be some drama. Lots of complicated relationships, mhmm I love me some of those. However, if I had to pick a favorite...

Jude and Cardan:

“You remind me that I am a mere mortal and you are a prince of Faerie. Well, let me remind you that means you have much to lose and I have nothing.”

Jude and Cardan’s dynamic is one of the most twisted–and compelling–I’ve read about in a long time. Like, to the point where I think back to the beginning of the book and then look at the end and go how on earth did we get here.

At the start of the book, Cardan hates Jude, because Jude is mortal. And Jude hates Cardan because he treats everyone like crap, namely her. It seems simple, but there are so many layers to peel away when it comes to their interactions. Because as much as they hate each other, their lives keep intersecting in the most unexpected ways and I have lots of feelings about it.

I’m not sold yet on the idea of a romantic relationship between them, but I can’t deny that their scenes were crackling with electricity. Whether that electricity was sexual tension or unadulterated hatred or both, I guess time will tell. Whatever happens, bringing two of the most screwed-up, twisted characters in this story together, in any capacity, has already proven to be interesting, and I cannot wait for more interactions between them.  

FINAL THOUGHTS

I went into this book fully expecting not to like it, for my own dumb reasons. Now, here I am, loving it and telling all my friends about it and watching all of my feelings concerning it pour from my heart like an unstoppable flood. It’s everything I could ever want from a book about trickery and betrayal, and its dark, magical atmosphere completely pulled me in. Also, I love Jude Duarte. I love her so much and she carried this story along so wonderfully. I’m proud of her.

I highly recommend this book for fans of high fantasy with political intrigue!