Book #1 of "The Folk of the Air" series.
Rating: Is it possible to give this book a 6/5? Because it deserves a 6/5.
Spoiler Alert: Low
Summary:
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.
Praises:
HOLY. GUACAMOLE. This book does not disappoint. I have no idea why I waited so long to start this series, and I'm cursing at myself for not picking up this series earlier.
Plot:
Don't even get me started on the plot. IT IS RIVETING. A small fact about me... I don't enjoy prologues. HOWEVER, this book's prologue gives me life. It's a breath of fresh air. Immediately, the story introduces the murder of Jude's and her sisters' parents. It's a truly tragic prologue that provides so much context to the whole plot. The main plot of the story is Jude's desire to become more than the faerie people. Since she's human, Jude struggles to fit in and be seen as strong. She also battles with Prince Carden and his "friends." They all have it out for her and try to make her life as miserable as possible because she's a human. In the faerie world, humans are seen as weak, dirty, useless, and they are largely discriminated against. This book also introduces Jude's sisters, Vivi and Taryn. Each sister desires something different. Vivi wants to live in the human world and stay with her girlfriend, Heather. Taryn, on the other hand, wants to fall in love and get married to a faerie. Meanwhile, the current, old faerie king is deciding to step down, and he announces a new king. But then, there's a PLOT TWIST. I'm not going to say anything, except that it is VERY, VERY good.
Characters:
OH. GOSH. I can talk about the characters forever. They're complex, three-dimensional, life-like, and incredibly fun to read.
First, we have the main character, Jude. She is a full-on bad*ss who deserves all the praise. Jude wants revenge; she wants to be stronger and better than the faeries. Throughout her life, Jude trains with her guardian/"father" in sword-fighting, military strategies, the history of faeries. As well, she goes to faeries school with her twin sister, Taryn. If this doesn't scream bad*ss, then I don't know what will. Now, you may have noticed that I put "father" in quotations, as seen above. This is because the faerie, Madoc, who killed the parents, is actually Vivi's father and takes Jude, Vivi, and Taryn to the faerie world. He is a well-respected general who raises the sisters as fairies. Okay, we're going back to Jude. She is my spirit animal. I admire her so much—A BEAUTIFULLY-CRAFTED CHARACTER.
Carden, the youngest faerie prince, is a complex character who is quite a mystery. Even after finishing the first book, I still don't know anything about him. All I know is that he struggles with his own internal conflicts but is very good at hiding them and keeping his emotions in check. Carden rarely ever shows any sort of emotions except for anger and disgust. He often mistreats Jude; however, by the end of the book, there is a revelation that shows Carden's true feelings about Jude. AND IT IS JUICY. Honestly, I'm rooting for Carden because he suffers in his own way despite him being a prince and a faerie.
The last characters I'm going to talk about are Jude's sisters, Taryn and Vivi. Taryn is another complex character. She may seem simple as Taryn only desires to fall in love and get married. But, she has a lot of secrets and keeps things hidden from her twin sister, Jude. Taryn and Jude have different personalities that often cause each other to get into arguments and have contrasting opinions. Finally, we have Vivi. Vivi is the only sister who is a faerie. In fact, she is half-faerie as her deceased mother is a human and her father, Madoc, is a faerie. Vivi, who is also the eldest sister, desires something completely different. She does not like the faerie world, which is ironic because her other sisters, especially Jude, want to make a life in the faerie world even though they are humans.
I just absolutely love how every sister has their own goals and ambitions, making this book a thousand times better.
Writing Style/Narration:
I keep repeating myself in my other reviews, but I love it when books are written in first person. This is exactly how this book is written. Jude narrates The Cruel Prince, who gives readers insight into Jude's experiences and perspectives of the faerie world. We see all her turmoil and struggles as well as the aspects that motivate her to become more than the faeries. Black's writing style greatly impresses me. The book is written in the present tense. Most books are written in the past tense, yet Black's ability to perfectly execute a story in the present tense amazes me. Descriptive and meticulous are what I would call Black's writing style. She manages to write every single page with so much detail and precision. MY MIND IS BLOWN.
Critics:
This book deserves ZERO critics.
Final Review:
I finished reading this book in 3 hours. That's right...You read that right. It only took me THREE HOURS to finish. This shows how good the book is. I devoured it in one sitting. I'm about to read the second book in a few minutes—I just need to complete this review first for all my fellow readers out there. Without a doubt, I recommend The Cruel Prince to EVERY SINGLE SOUL OUT THERE.
Happy Reading!
Cheers,
Jessica
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