Reviews

Le roi maléfique by Holly Black

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shh_reading's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious 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? No

5.0

siriuslyeva's review against another edition

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5.0

4.3/5 stars. chefs kiss.
EDIT: nvm i’m giving it a 5/5 stars. there. now I can sleep in peace.

does someone want to tell me why these books keep getting better?

looking back, i’m really impressed at how all the different characters and plotlines that presented themselves in the climax later on were introduced. little by little, not really giving them much significance in the moment, but then making you feel stupid at the end because of COURSE that was going to happen.

the first 20-30 pages, solid. there was a period of time where the plot went a bit steady, nothing really happened but it was laying out a lot of groundwork and weaving in different elements of the plot, which was still quite enjoyable. honestly, around page 150?? ish, I was hooked. events on top of events on top of events. I couldn’t catch my breath. finished the rest in one sitting.

“if you’re the sickness, I suppose you can’t also be the cure”

I don’t want to talk much about cardan and jude because my heart needs a break. I love them so much it pains me. it makes me so angry how much we get teased by their romance but it just makes it all the more effective when something DOES happen. and it did. big things happened and my face started hurting from cheesing so hard. I hate that he has that effect on me.

cardan has slowly crept up the ladder to my heart and took the throne as my favourite character. jude is still great, but I found myself annoyed at her at times. I still fully understand the thought process behind her decisions and honestly I could never be as brave and quick on my feet as she is so I admire and respect her a lot. especially in this book, she’s proven herself to be a really strong character. both physically and mentally, literally enduring physical pain having almost died multiple times and also being tortured and having to keep up a facade in order to escape her captivity, she’s a brilliant main character and i’d say her character pros outweigh her cons by a landslide.

cardan just somehow charmed me through the pages into loving him. I don’t know how it happened. I hated him two books ago. i thought he was some psychotic maniacal spoiled little bratty bully (which he was, to be fair) but now I giggle and kick my feet at everything he says?? how did this happen? he glamoured me and i’m not even mad about it. having him be unapologetically and intentionally vulnerable, actually being open and seeing fragments of his past made this book what it is. I enjoyed that a lot.
getting background on cardans childhood and family, as well as jude’s- was a great little glimpse into why they are the way they are. you can see a lot of nature/nurture divide in their personalities and a LOT of similarities. they’re really similar which is both in their favour and against.

we saw a lot of sincerity on cardans part and yet he was still as unpredictable as ever. I never know if he’s about to betray us, save us, say something hurtful; something hateful; something nice; something charming, if he’s going to be a mindless drunk, or if he’s just going to straight up propose ???? how did that even??? happen??
as much as I saw it coming it still took me by surprise. I mean she was basically ruling indirectly, might as well give her a title, right?

“look at them all, your subjects. A shame not a one knows who their true ruler is.”

aaaaand I couldn’t even celebrate for 5 pages. immediate party pooping. exile?? as much as I want to feel as betrayed as jude does I am also in denial and am hoping cardan has a plan up his sleeve because sir what?? you can’t just marry and then say nah i’m good? didn’t even get to consummate the marriage like guys are we being serious?? come on we can work through this :(

though I am also pretty sure I feel this way only because my heart loves cardan and I want to believe he can’t do us harm (us is jude, I am her- we are her)

“I hope cardan misses me”

he better be. if he’s out and about just enjoying his life while jude is gone i’m going to be mad. he better be crying, throwing up, devastated.
he better be lost and unable to rule as he would want as king without jude by his side.

“power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold onto”

I want to mention madoc because he’s still one of the most interesting and complex characters for me and i’m SURE we’re going to get a madoc-heavy plot in the next book because he disappeared, has no loyalty to the crown anymore (oath said bye bye), and he’s PISSEDDDDDD. lol oops. we need a jude vs madoc battle I would literally eat that up.

speaking of pissed, the ghost and locke are now in the same boat for me. light the boat on fire. I don’t want them in the next book.

in fact, what makes this book a definite 4.3/5 is the wondrous lack of locke. yes he appears here and there (and almost killed jude) but I block him out when i must and I move on. the less I hear of him the happier I become and the more enjoyable my experience is. fingers crossed that something terrible happens to him next book