Reviews with content warning for Gore - The Cruel Prince

un roman de fantasy YA comme on en a vu plein, avec des personnages peu intéressants et des plot twists pas très étonnants

Jude avait tout pour être un personnage chouette mais non, elle se contredit dans ses actions et ses paroles, elle est à la fois cruelle et naïve au possible, et c'est tout sauf réaliste car mal fait
Cardan est le cliché du prince sombre et méchant

qui a en fait un passé douloureux et a un côté doux blablabla, c'est pas un des pires dans le genre que j'ai pu voir, mais on pourrait avoir mieux, puis son début d'histoire avec Jude???? non c'est un énorme non, c'est si malsain et gênant

les seuls personnages que j'ai vraiment apprécié sont Vivi (qui d'ailleurs est bi ! un peu chouette de ne pas voir que des couples heteros dans de la fantasy YA) et Oriana pour son évolution

quant à l'écriture, vu ma pensée sur les personnages on devine que je ne l'ai pas particulièrement apprécié
c'est pas si mauvais en soi mais j'ai deviné très rapidement les plot twists, les personnages m'ont écoeurés, et il y avait des incohérences dans le récit

cependant, l'univers a du potentiel, il est intriguant, et la fin nous laisse avec beaucoup de questions alors je lirai la suite (en espérant la trouver meilleure !)

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alliemikennareads's review

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

4.0

This book started off slow and it took me about 1/3 to get invested, but once it finally picks up I was hooked and loving the characters and the slow build to all the threads. There’s some really great banter amidst this slow burn enemies to lovers (ish) trope with lots of lying, betrayal, strategy and trickery befit for a faerie world. Can’t wait to dive further into the series!

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rat_girly's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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2blueshoes's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

1. pacing is slow for most of the book, but there is enough complicated intrigue and weird world building to keep you reading.

2. It does not feel like a story or world that I have read in fantasy before, and that’s hard to do. I enjoyed that.

3. Romance is basically non-existent in this book, but it does feel like a very long and elaborate set up for future romance in other books maybe? If anything this is really a political intrigue book with a very subtle romance subplot. If that’s your jam, you’re going to love this.

4. The person I am fairly sure is the future hero is A LITERAL ASSHOLE for 99.9% of the book. Like zero redeeming qualities, not even described as attractive? If you aren’t patient with very long redemptive arcs for characters, or if you can’t tolerate not knowing who the true love interest is, maybe skip this book.

5. The heroine feels really young and also not particularly moral??? Like she is decidedly not justice-motivated. She seems really immature and self interested at times. This makes for a surprising read if I’m honest and I think we will watch her develop a lot in the books. This book feels a bit like a prequel somehow?

6.

The hero has a tail

and it is unforgivable. Although I guess it has some sort of symbolic meaning in future books, but to me it’s just a step too far. Yuck.

7. I would have given up on this book entirely if it wasn’t for some really surprising shit that goes down around the chapter 26 mark that had me WTF-ing all over the place. It’s like it suddenly turned into the book I wanted it to be. The last four chapters are, in my opinion, amazing. They had me on the edge of my seat. I hope they reflect what future books will be like.

Oh, final thought: I think listening as an audiobook kinda made this book worse for me than it was, because the narrator didn’t do distinct voices for the characters, and it made it really confusing. Would recommend reading it as a book.

Lots of content warnings on this one.

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icedlemonade's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.5

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winterfall's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny medium-paced

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

4.0

I wasn’t too sure on this when I first picked it up. I’m not too fond of first person perspective, but this book really grew on me. Don’t get me wrong, the main character is 100% a Mary Sue. But she’s actually written well? Holly made her come to life in a way that I didn’t expect at all. Jude has flaws, wants, desires, goals that aren’t impossible but are challenging enough that you are also rooting for her. These goals change as the plot progresses, but the overarching theme stays the same in the sense that she wants power, and holds onto it as much as she can. From the start, her powerlessness at seeing her parents die gives her reason for her motives, rather than feeling stale and forced, and this theme continues as we see the sisters’ lives in Faerieland - not only how they are looked down on as being mortal, but how their physical differences inhibit them from their dreams. Everything that Jude does is for power, for control, and I love how Holly keeps her consistant throughout the entire book.

Not only did I find myself falling in love with Jude, but with the entire cast. I really loved the comparison between Jude and her twin sister, Taryn. Taryn is the polar opposite of Jude - nurturing, demure, but also ruthless when needs be. Despite this, it is clear that Taryn’s main motive is also power, though she goes about it in a completely different way.

At first I felt that Vivi was completely unnecessary for the plot, but as time progressed, I understood why she was included. Vivi represents everything that Jude and Taryn cannot have - power without consequence, and humanity. It is extremely ironic since Taryn and Jude are fully human, but they lost their humanity as children. Vivi embraced hers the second Madoc murdered her mother. It was refreshing to see this alternate perspective.

Since this is only the first book, we don’t get a lot of romance between Cardan and Jude, but I loved the dynamic between the two of them. It is not a healthy relationship, and Holly Black fully exploits that. Cardan isn’t human, and so this relationship will be anything but - it is nasty, dark, built on lies and manipulation and I love everything about it. However, Holly does well in planting the seeds for eventually developing their romance into something less harsh, and I liked seeing the various ways that Cardan can vague around his true feelings for Jude while still maintaining his distance. I’m excited to see where this goes!

Overall, I enjoyed The Cruel Prince. I never thought this would be the series to get me back into reading. It is a little predictable in places, but entertaining enough to keep me engaged, and I loved the world Holly has built up and the complexity of its characters.

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wrappingpaper's review against another edition

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adventurous funny 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

Going into this I didn’t expect to enjoy this nearly as much as I did. This was my first time ever reading anything to do with fae - I’m definitely going to read more.
This book is essentially perfect to me - it felt so magical yet easy to read and the stakes felt high and I was rooting for the romance so much. I wish there was more of Cardan and Jude interaction - the only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars.
Overall I think this book helped me solidify my favourite trope ever -enemies to lovers prince romance. I can’t wait to dive into the second and third books where hopefully their relationship will bloom even further and the tension will get even stronger.
I fully recommend!!

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aysha_blake's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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