This book has been on my shelf for over a year. And then this winter I took it up on a whim– or not so much as a whim but that I thought it would be a quick read to complete my reading challenge. So selfish reasons aside, once I picked up this book, I managed to get through it fairly quickly(ish).

The story starts when Jude and her sisters are kidnapped from their human life and whisked to fairyland by the fey who murdered their parents. Jude grows up learning a deep fear of fairyland but also cultivates a deep desire for power. Jude is then sucked deep into court politics and a treasonous plot. Never mind the compelling and cruel prince Cardan who seems to seek to undermine Jude at every opportunity, Jude also has to contend with equally deadly foes from all sides. Jude learns she can only depend on herself to survive the capricious ways of Elfhame– the only question is, what won’t she sacrifice?

What I liked most about this book is the world. Books about fairies are a nostalgic genre for me: when I was younger, I loved visualizing gossamer wings and wild, animal eyes glowing through gaps of underbrush at twilight. The Cruel Prince has the magical element, but I do wish it was explored and made in vivid detail to get even more of the strange and beautiful world. I am big on setting descriptions, so that may just be a personal thing.

The Cruel Prince is rife with the tension of the dangerous and capricious fey versus the vulnerable humans. Jade chafes against the power that the fey can wield over her. She hates feeling at the mercy of the fey, so she becomes single-minded in her pursuit of gaining more power for herself.

Jade is not a likable protagonist. She analyses the usefulness of people, uses them, and then lets her conscience kick in. By the end of the book, Jade is well into her villain origin story. Yet instead of hating her for her near-blind ambition, you can’t help but admire how Jude has navigated her web of lies and board of pawns. The stakes are impressively high and the only question that was in my mind was, just what is Jude going to do next.

The middle did start to drag for me, as the plot took a turn that I was not expecting. And I hope the second book follows up on the original promise made at the beginning of this novel (as it sounded like the kind of plot I like).

The Cardan-Jude dynamic is just one relationship introduced in this story that is going to prove interesting. Every person has a specific ambition which turns into motive and it’s a bloodthirsty, scheming and manipulative time.

At times it did feel like I was being spoon-fed information that I had to go back to see just where and how it was relevant to the story. Court politics has never been my personal favorite, and it does feel a bit overdone in the YA genre, so I’m just focused on the personal relationships and the setting., I But, I am genuinely looking forward to finding out what happens next.

Overall, if you want a quick fey read and are a fan of Holly Black, undoubtedly, you have read this novel and its successors way before me. But on the off chance you haven’t read this book yet, I encourage you to check it out if it sounds interesting to you, and hopefully, we can talk about it 🙂

Pax 🙂