Scan barcode
readwithria's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The Cruel Prince was a great start to this YA fantasy series! It did a great job of getting me hooked on the world and the story, and I’m excited to read more!
Jude is such a force to be reckoned with! Her pivot from wanting to be a knight to embracing her newfound skills was so great, and I really enjoyed seeing her grow into her strength.
The political maneuvering was so interesting! I love tactical plays in books like this, and The Cruel Prince was full of them. The planning, the manipulation, the betrayals 😩 SO GOOD
I will definitely be continuing the series asap. 4 stars.
Jude is such a force to be reckoned with! Her pivot from wanting to be a knight to embracing her newfound skills was so great, and I really enjoyed seeing her grow into her strength.
The political maneuvering was so interesting! I love tactical plays in books like this, and The Cruel Prince was full of them. The planning, the manipulation, the betrayals 😩 SO GOOD
I will definitely be continuing the series asap. 4 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, and Kidnapping
peregrinwho's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I used to love this author's books in middle school, so figured I'd give this a try. Unfortunately, I think this author is best left in short form books. When given more time to flesh out worlds and plots, they instead fill pages upon pages with descriptions of clothes and repeatedly explaining what has just happened. Such things really slow down and draw focus away from the plot. We know what just happened. We read it. Please have more faith in your readers to understand what just happened instead of then adding paragraphs of the mc's inner monologue reciting it back to us. You don't have to show and tell every time, and I don't need to know what every character wears in every scene.
Despite that, the characters do have depth. However, it's disappointing they want me to believe this enemies to lovers subplot when they've both hurt eachother in multiple ways in which are way too grievous to forgive. "He didn't know how to handle his feelings so he hurt her." Yeah that's not love. I don't care what he felt, he hurt her repeatedly, and she did the same to him. They're both terrible, immature people who will abuse and bully eachother until death. You don't hurt the people you like. I enjoy the politicing plot but I'm just not sure I can stomach all the filler distracting from it.
This book would probably be more liked by younger readers or those who don't read very often as it is light and easy to follow.
Despite that, the characters do have depth. However, it's disappointing they want me to believe this enemies to lovers subplot when they've both hurt eachother in multiple ways in which are way too grievous to forgive. "He didn't know how to handle his feelings so he hurt her." Yeah that's not love. I don't care what he felt, he hurt her repeatedly, and she did the same to him. They're both terrible, immature people who will abuse and bully eachother until death. You don't hurt the people you like. I enjoy the politicing plot but I'm just not sure I can stomach all the filler distracting from it.
This book would probably be more liked by younger readers or those who don't read very often as it is light and easy to follow.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Death and Blood
Minor: Death of parent
kt3636's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Low fantasy, enemies to lovers (bully/systemic).
This book suffers from some pacing issues and I found it difficult to envision most of the time due to lack of comprehensive description. It has big dramatic things happen within it but they feel weightless, that is until about 75% of the way into the book. By the end of the book the author really begins to find her footing, and overall literacy technique improves and the plot becomes more exciting and unpredictable, shaking off its previously juvenile feel for something darker and more gritty. This improvement is carried on and developed further in the second book (currently reading).
This book suffers from some pacing issues and I found it difficult to envision most of the time due to lack of comprehensive description. It has big dramatic things happen within it but they feel weightless, that is until about 75% of the way into the book. By the end of the book the author really begins to find her footing, and overall literacy technique improves and the plot becomes more exciting and unpredictable, shaking off its previously juvenile feel for something darker and more gritty. This improvement is carried on and developed further in the second book (currently reading).
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Violence, Domestic abuse, Murder, Blood, Death, and Death of parent
Minor: Alcohol and Sexual assault
This isn’t a very spicy book, there’s some kissing mainly near the end and that’s it. There’s varying degrees of violence throughout, but it doesn’t go into too much graphic detail of said violence. The main character is subjected to bullying for being a mortal/human throughout.oddpilot97's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-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? Yes
5.0
I think I might be obsessed with this book. It’s the first novel I read as an adult that gave me the same feeling as when I read as a child.
Enemies to lovers is one of the best tropes in my opinion. And this book did not disappoint. I appreciated that both characters were complex, with dynamic motivations, and that there wasn’t an uncomfortable power dynamic.
The only tiny critique I have is that the audiobook narrator got a bit whiny at times of high tension. It was a tad grating/melodramatic.
The main character isn’t a goodie two shoes, and I loved that. The plot had excellent twists and turns without being predictable, and never got too dull. The twists were well established in advance as well, which I appreciated. It's got my favorite parts of YA without feeling immature.
Read this! It’s amazing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Slavery
Moderate: Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, Bullying, Blood, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Self harm
matildasouthern's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Bullying and War
Minor: Grief and Blood
aribookishly's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Drug use, Alcohol, and Bullying
Moderate: Death
Minor: Gore
snakebyte180's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Bullying
Moderate: Gore, Violence, and Blood
Minor: Alcohol and Torture
alysbookclub's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Reading this was like visiting my teenage friends and self again. I was a huge fan of Black's Tithe series and so far this series has so much of what I loved about those. Jude is exactly my kind of female lead and I can't wait to see where her story goes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Suicide, Blood, Bullying, and Murder
fraugremlin's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Blood, Bullying, Classism, Racism, and Sexual assault
dramagirl2003's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I was a little worried that I would find the world-building too confusing but I clearly loved this even more than I thought I did since I finished 50% of it in a day! now this is a real enemies to lovers, my first, and i liked it
thoughts while reading
p20: IT'S CARDEN
p33: love jude's imagination
p35: well that is a surprise
p39: i can just see jude quickly becoming a killer just to prove madoc wrong. i don't think she'd dare to sneak into the running for knighthood without his approval
p77: based on trope norms, i suspect this is the point that carden starts to secretly admire jude
p88: I'm scared dain is gonna abuse her in some way. faeries are mischievous at heart, no matter how supposedly honourable they are. but then maybe carden will save her, and then it might be alright
p96: hmm bet scattering jude's salt is just a cover for saving her
p100: HE DID THAT ON PURPOSE
p118: oh. my. gosh. no wonder carden is so cruel!
p197: i could never
p200: well due to spoilers i think i know thatcarden eventually becomes the high king, so I'm very curious to see how this pans out, cause i don't see it happening tomorrow
p211: interesting. and all of a sudden, now she's a killer
p245: CARDEN KNEW I SWEAR HE MUST HAVE KNOWN AND THAT'S WHY HE'S MISSING
p275: well i did think thattaryn and locke had a thing for each other right from the start
p292: that makes so much sense
p307: well this is a mysterious turn of events. i feel so much more sorry for carden because jude is a badass manipulator who will break him with any fraction of vulnerability he displays
p353: what. a. badass. move.
p358: ah meirda
p365: now that i was not expecting. i'd actually forgotten all about the spoilers after i getting fully invested in the story
p33: love jude's imagination
p35: well that is a surprise
p39: i can just see jude quickly becoming a killer just to prove madoc wrong. i don't think she'd dare to sneak into the running for knighthood without his approval
p77: based on trope norms, i suspect this is the point that carden starts to secretly admire jude
p88: I'm scared dain is gonna abuse her in some way. faeries are mischievous at heart, no matter how supposedly honourable they are. but then maybe carden will save her, and then it might be alright
p96: hmm bet scattering jude's salt is just a cover for saving her
p100: HE DID THAT ON PURPOSE
p118: oh. my. gosh. no wonder carden is so cruel!
p197: i could never
p200: well due to spoilers i think i know that
p211: interesting. and all of a sudden, now she's a killer
p245: CARDEN KNEW I SWEAR HE MUST HAVE KNOWN AND THAT'S WHY HE'S MISSING
p275: well i did think that
p292: that makes so much sense
p307: well this is a mysterious turn of events. i feel so much more sorry for carden because jude is a badass manipulator who will break him with any fraction of vulnerability he displays
p353: what. a. badass. move.
p358: ah meirda
p365: now that i was not expecting. i'd actually forgotten all about the spoilers after i getting fully invested in the story
quotes
I draw my sword, and he does, too, the scrape of metal loud in the room. I hear distant laughter, but here in the hall, we are alone.
My hands are sweating, but this had the feeling of inevitability, as though this is what I was careening toward the whole time, my whole life.
"You can't beat me."
"I already have."
"I imagine you're not feeling quite yourself," I tell him.
His sword sags a little, and he looks at me in sudden comprehension. "What have you done?"
"I poisoned you. Don't worry. It was a small enough dose. You'll live."
"The cups of wine," he says. "But how did you know which one I would choose?"
"I didn't," I tell him. "I poisoned them both."
"Have I told you how hideous you look tonight?" Carden asks, leaning back in the elaborately carved chair, the warmth of his words turning the question into something like a complement.
"No," I say, glad to be annoyed back into the present. "Tell me."
"I cannot."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Murder
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Violence, Infidelity, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Pregnancy, Infertility, Suicide, War, and Stalking