Book Review: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

*I am reviewing this book which I was gifted for free by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own. *






Title: The Cruel Prince 

Author: Holly Black

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Source: Netgalley

Rating: 4/5 stars




(Amazon|Goodreads)













Book 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. 

Book Review:

The Cruel Prince has been a book that everyone in the YA book community has read already with everyone excited about the release of Queen Of Nothing although as per I am late to the party. Very late in fact. Although even though the hype was really strong with this one, I really enjoyed The Cruel Prince and can't wait to read the rest of the series. 

I have always been a fan of faerie stories so it was always a given that I would enjoy the Cruel Prince but I did, however, I feel like it definitely took me a long time to get into the story and I don't feel like it is an all-time favourite unlike some other people in the community. This may be as I have read a lot more books centred on faeries in the past but I did still like it. 

I think in the beginning part of the book, I was gunning for Jude and Cardan, just because this was what I heard from many fans of the series and had pervious thoughts about what was going to happen in the story so was a little surprised to see what happened but I did like how they were introduced and how their relationship developed. 

A lot of the book is centred around the characters and this was something that I did really enjoy from the book. The characters were fleshed out and I really liked that. Jude, especially I really liked as a character. She was not afraid to show her emotions in the book and be vulnerable. She was also complicated and strong and was a great narrator in the story. There were also so many other characters that Holly Black definitely makes you root for and dislike and she does this so well. Her writing is great and I can't wait to read more from her in this series or another book altogether. 

The ending of the book was also just a lot to take in. It was definitely from a plot twist in the book that I generally was more engaged with the story and connected to it a lot more. It takes a lot to pull something like that and I respect Holly Black so much for doing the plot twist. It definitely makes me want to read the next books in the series to see what happens. 

The Verdict:

The Cruel Prince is a twisty-turny story that will keep you on the edge of the seat waiting for the next book.

Have you read The Cruel Prince? Did you like it? Let me know in the comments below.