Reviews with content warning for Suicide - The Cruel Prince

Admittedly, a little heavy on the "young" in "young adult" for me, but I found myself glued to this. Holly Black does a good job of creating and maintaining tension regarding both characters and plot. I find the complicated father-daughter relationship between Madoc and Jude especially interesting. However, I found Black's worldbuilding a bit lacking in detail at times. What we do learn about the cultural norms and expectations of Faerie is effective. Faeries looking visibly inhuman? Love how that highlights Jude's outsider status. They can't lie? Fascinating! Keep Jude on her toes and keep me engaged by forcing us both to work at navigating interactions. At times, though, I felt a bit in the dark as to what certain things look like (nixies?? Madoc's estate??). Then again, I do also feel that because Black had me invested in Jude's journey, worldbuilding concerns are secondary. I absolutely zoomed through this.

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kokiribell's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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giulianalb99's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

⚠️Esta reseña contiene spoilers⚠️

Este libro es fantástico. Ya entiendo el hype que tiene, está totalmente justificado y merecidísimo.
Me encanta cómo escribe Holly Black, nunca había leído ningún libro de ella y la verdad es que su pluma es increíble y preciosa. El mundo de Faerie es súper original, pero me hubiera gustado saber más acerca de él. Si que es verdad que al principio se me hizo un poco lento y, a veces, me pareció que los capítulos eran demasiado largos, pero se me ha pasado volando y lo he disfrutado un montón.

Jude (la protagonista) es genial. Me encanta que la autora plasme sus defectos y cómo va evolucionando su personaje a medida que va avanzando el libro, y su relación con Cardan es un enemies to lovers 100% que he amado y que no puedo esperar más a leer cómo va tomando forma su relación. Al principio Cardan no me gustaba tanto por el tema del bullying (ya que es un tema que no puedo apoyar bajo ningún concepto) pero al final van saliendo a la luz varias cosas que te hacen cambiar de parecer. Los demás personajes, en general, me han parecido buenos (menos Taryn obviamente, y Locke🤮), y es súper curiosa la relación que tienen Madoc y Jude teniendo en cuenta su situación extraña.

Poco más tengo que decir al respecto. No puedo esperar más a seguir con esta trilogía y ver cómo los personajes van creciendo/evolucionando y cómo su relación se va creando.
No le doy 5 estrellas porque creo que el segundo me va a gustar mucho más y porque he sentido que este libro ha sido más bien un “calentamiento” para los que se vienen.
Si te gusta la fantasía y el romance, tienes que leer este libro sí o sí.

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This book is fantastic. I understand the hype it has, it’s totally justified and well deserved.
I love how Holly Black writes, I've never read any of her books and the truth is that she writes so beautifully. The world of Faerie is super original, but I would’ve liked to know more about it. Yes, at first it was a bit slow for me and, sometimes, I thought the chapters were too long, but I read it so fast that I didn’t even noticed and I enjoyed it a lot.

Jude (the mc) is amazing. I love that the author captures her flaws and how her character evolves as the book progresses, and her relationship with Cardan is a 100% enemies to lovers that I loved and I can't wait to read how their relationship evolves. At first I didn't like Cardan so much because of the bullying issue (I cannot support that under any circumstances) but in the end several things come to light that make you change your mind. The other characters, in general, were really good (except Taryn obviously, and Locke🤮), and the relationship between Madoc and Jude is super curious considering their strange situation.

I have little more to say about it. I can't wait to continue with this trilogy and see how the characters grow/evolve and how their relationship takes shape. I'm not giving it 5 stars because I think I'm going to like the second one much more and because I've felt that this book was more of a "warm-up" for the other books that are coming.
If you like fantasy and romance, you have to read this book no matter what.

(English is not my first language, if you find any mistakes, please let me know)

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tinniebelles's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It's been a while since I've given a YA fantasy book 5 stars, and this book deserves all 5 because this was an exhilarating ride. I would say the first half of The Cruel Prince was a bit slow and some parts felt unnecessary, but once I got to the exciting part, I couldn't stop reading anymore. This book was full of scheming and plotting and betrayal and politics - things that I don't usually encounter a lot of in other YA books (at least the ones I've read). But this also has the more familiar YA themes - bullying, family drama, feeling out of place, wanting to truly belong somewhere, self-discovery.

I love all the characters in all their morally grey glory (except for Taryn). I'm definitely excited to read more.

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druzyquartz's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny relaxing sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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kendra_taylors_version's review

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adventurous dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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mariebrunelm's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Jude's life could have ended the same day as her parents'. But by a cruel turn of fate, she is instead taken away by her parents' murderer to Elfhame where she manages to grow up despite everything. Waiting for the day of her revenge.
The hype was real. I'd be immune to it when the book came out and bookstagram erupted into cheer, but when it came back to the forefront in the past month I felt it was time to finally make my opinion. And I'm sorry to say it did not work for me. I'm glad this book is beloved and I can partly see why. But I never empathized with the characters and their motivations, I never fell under the spell of the atmosphere. It turns out my lack of interest for the book when it came out was justified. Who would have guessed?

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blackheart's review

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adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This was a good read but not quite what I was expecting. There was a lot more politics then what I was expecting. The adentures were fun. I'm not sure if I'll read the others in this series.

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