Reviews

The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

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decepi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

meganstromer's review against another edition

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3.0

I read a lot of books. Most of them are in the category of "okay but thoroughly forgettable." Neither good nor bad enough to incite feeling or stick in my memory, which is actually why I came to rely on Goodreads--because I realized I was reading some things over again.

So, I read a lot of books. It is not very often that I put a book down and say at the end, "Damn. That was a really great book." But with The Cruel Prince, I did. It sucked me in so hard. I felt like I lived in that world. I stayed up the next night to read the second book in one sitting and loved watching the wheel of fortune throw Jude high only to have her fall. I knew, no question, even though I am super tired and really shouldn't stay up late two nights in a row, that I would repeat it with this book, because there was so much left undone at the end of the second book that I wouldn't know peace until I knew what happened.

So, of all the things I expected to feel, "ehhhhhh" was not among them.

Don't get me wrong. It's still a warm kind of "ehhhhh." I'm forever appreciative of Holly Black's rich descriptions and ways of immersing readers into a world without being heavy-handed with the explanations. In my trashy little romantic heart, I wanted the happy ending we got. But there was so much that was left undone. The book felt rushed. So much happened offscreen. I almost feel like she's positioning for a spin-off series, which is a gambit that I hate. I'm going to try not to dwell too much on this book after the review because I don't want to persuade myself into disappointment. I still loved the series and the book. I just wished that the world of courtly intrigue had ended with more of a bang.

Grievances below.

Spoiler

Killing Locke offscreen? What was up with that? He was something of a major player in the first book, a catalyst in the second, tried to kill Jude as a stag party, and he's stabbed offscreen with a letter opener? Come on. And I just really can't believe that Taryn would be foolish enough to believe he wouldn't play her false. Stabbing him in the heat of the moment just to get him to be quiet? What is the point of her pregnancy, or of her? It feels like the entire point of her character is to provide a conduit for Jude to get back to Faerie.

I know that all the best love-hate, enemy-t0-lover stories end with, well, lovers. I wanted that and received it. But part of what made the first two books so fun is just how much they hated that they were giving in to it. I was not expecting them, particularly Cardan, to move into the lover role so quickly. And had it not been for someone kindly posting his B&N-exclusive letters here, I would have missed what in hindsight feels like a pretty key point of character development-lite. I say 'lite' because I tend to think epistolary development is lazy and it still wasn't that sufficient.

Where was the intrigue? Where were the battles?