Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - The Stolen Heir

Disclaimer that I was ill and very sleep deprived for the most part as I was reading this book, which will have partly influenced my thoughts and feelings of this book

I feel really bad giving this such a low rating when I enjoyed the other Folk of the Air/Cruel Prince trilogy reasonably enough, but this book felt dry, predictable and just... lacking (for a lack of a better word).

What I liked:

Wren was a very interesting character and in some ways I liked her more than Jude. She felt realistic as an abuse victim who wanted better for herself but didn't know how to go about it, and was often resigned to bad things happening. She felt somber and introspective without coming across as unlikeable.
I liked the sword dividers that were used throughout the book. More fantasy books need little dividers like these (not necessarily swords mind you).

What I didn't like:

Though I said I liked Wren as a character, I felt annoyed by her constantly changing her mind about whether she should go on the whole quest or go back home. Or rather should I say the execution of going about this was the problem (because she has plenty of good reason to want off this quest). It just felt like her decision to look for an out constantly came out of nowhere when it felt like in the previous scene she was ready to go.
Considering this is supposed to be an epic quest across several lands, it feels incredibly rushed and they got out of bad situations too easily with little consequence. Illness at the time aside, some parts I barely remember because it felt like they were there for half a chapter and then just left with little in the way of resistance. I feel like Black suffered from a combination of not wanting to make these characters seem like jerkasses (which is kind of the shtick with faeries), and the fact that Oak was heir to the throne of Elfhame so that characters couldn't defy him without feeling like they were going to be punished.
Wren and Oak had chemistry as friends but having them make out and not be sure of their feelings felt incredibly forced. The moments that they do feel like they're there so fanartists can make some (no doubt extremely beautiful) fanart and people can pull quotes for their Goodreads romance quotes collection (no hate if you do, I just think you could choose better, more evocative quotes) instead of anything digetic and of substance. It also got really annoying when everyone, including Wren herself, went "ooooooh he's going to betray me/you! He's going to betray me/you! Watch out!"
I might be misremembering but there were two different instances where Wren entered a room and it was just filled with blood, which was described pretty much identically both times and came across as very cheap instead of horrifying.
Huge disclaimer that I could be wrong on this one so take it with a grain of salt. Speaking of romance, Tiernan and Hyacinthe are yet another double-edged sword that I'm ultimately putting in the negative for reasons you'll see. I haven't read the other book obviously, but when I was looking up what characters looked like (because sleep deprivation and illness on top of aphantasia), I constantly saw these two paired together and I'm going to assume they get together as a couple eventually. Good for them, we need more queer faeries instead of the onslaught of gender essentialist m/f stuff the genre is known for. Shame then that Black is writing like it's still the mid-2000s where gay characters were a rarity in mainstream publishing and they exist only to be the straight couple's gay best friends, as a result coming across as more token than actual flesh and blood characters. This could have been fixed if the quest was longer and perhaps these two got a chance to explore their feelings off the beaten path away from Wren and Oak.
This is definitely a product of me being ill but the jump between flashbacks and the present in the earlier parts of the book was really clunky and incredibly hard to tell when the flashbacks ended. This could have easily been fixed with more of those cute sword dividers the book uses.
Another disclaimer that should be taken with a grain of salt that I might be misremembering because I was ill:
the ending somehow came out of nowhere but was also totally predictable. Specifically I missed the point where Wren decided she was going to use Mab's bones to give herself a tongue that could magically compel others. Otherwise yes we love to see a girlboss winning/getting revenge on everyone who wronged her/whatever but it just felt very hollow and, say it with me, felt like it was all over before it even really began.

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chronicacademia's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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carlyoc's review

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

Prince Oak, baby brother of Jude from the Folk of the Air series, is now all grown up and on his first quest: to rescue his father the traitorous red cap from captivity in the Court of Teeth. But Oak is not our protagonist here. We see the story through the eyes and voice of Suren, nicknamed Ren, the abused daughter of the Lord and Lady of the Court of Teeth who was once to be betrothed to Oak. She has been living in the mortal world breaking the curses of other fae and pining after the years she spent believing she was a normal human girl. But when Oak asks her to join his quest and overthrow her lady mother, she cannot refuse.

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mariamj's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Pretty good read

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kschmaltz's review

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adventurous slow-paced

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

3.0

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northern_wind's review

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adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.5

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bethy_joy's review

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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andra_mihaela_s's review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

3.5 stars for "The Stolen Heir"

In this new duology we follow Suren, the traitorous Queen of The Court of Teeth, and Prince Oak, heir to the Elfhame throne, as they try to find a way to stop Lady Nore, Suren's mother, from building an unstoppable army of monsters and conquering everything.

CW: child abuse, mental trauma, child slavery, gaslighting, descriptive scene with murder and violence; etc.

I really enjoyed the first half of this book! Suren was very interesting and just the right character to follow for a new series in this world. We get to know her a little from Jude's perspective in the final book of "The Folk of the Air" trilogy, but here...the shift in focus is monumental and very illuminating as to why Suren was treated by her parents as she was. It is sad and disheartening to read her memories, experiences and to see her response full of aggression when she feels cornered.
With her, Holly Black subverts the girl who dreams of being a princess trope and shine a light on real-life abuse and trauma abandoned children face daily. :(
As I said, her character arc through this quest story was consistent and very much a subversion for the first part of the book; later on...her interactions with Oak...although logical and born from extreme need to feel close to someone, made me loose a little bit of interest. Luckily I really like the ending and how the author choose to play the reveal of her backstory and the culmination of the fight our protagonists embarked in.

Regarding Oak...IDK...for me, he feels lacking something to equal, or even surpass Cardan. I liked that he is different and that his dangerous side lies somewhere else and with a different aspect of his personality than Cardan, but I don't think the author went fully in the direction she set out Oak to evolve...almost like she wanted to keep him half-baked; and not to transform him in a new flavour of cruelty specific to the Greenbriar family....a shame really....:(

Loved to see/ hear about some old characters that I loved in the original books!(Madoc is one of them!!!! ^^)

The atmosphere and writing is on point as usual when it comes to a dark fairytale story. Holly Black doesn't disappoint in this area! But the plot....>...>....well...I must confess that I was bored in some places...I enjoyed some aspects..like the relationship dynamic between Tiernan and Hyacinthe; Suren and those 2 and somewhat Suren and Oak...but the quest itself felt like a second thought to me..which is strange as it was ALWAYS the focus...IDK...We visit some places and we have some interactions with highly interesting characters like the Queen of Moths..Annet...and Bogdana, but they remain a backstory in what I think was a missed opportunity to complicate the story and increase the stakes.

I'm not saying this one is a complete disappointment or anything of the sorts..but those who said that expecting the same political machinations and intense interactions as with "The Fold of the Air" trilogy is a mistake where right. This is definitely darker and more sad in some aspects (mainly in terms of our MCs as individuals), but lighter when it comes to the action and actual stakes....0_0

I recommend this to anyone that enjoyed the previous series...I think they can find things to intrigue them, if not really enjoy the story; and to those readers that hated Cardan but wanted more of the world and characters!

Enjoy

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