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rachaelemm 's review for:
How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories
by Holly Black
This book gave me a lot more insight as to why Cardan fell for Jude. I felt his presence was lacking in The Cruel Prince; a lot of his development seemed to be off the page, so it didn't jump out at me until he took "big" steps like kissing (and writing pleading letters to) Jude in light of The Wicked King, which could've been explained by his penchant for "danger This filled in the gaps for me.
While I prefer Jude as a narrator, I think this book makes me wonder whether The Folk of the Air would've had better characterization (for me) if it was a dual-POV series between Jude and Cardan. Part of me dislikes that I should read anthologies like this just to make better sense of the main series. There are hypothetical pros and cons—I think each book would've had a lot more fluff because we'd have to learn about Jude and Cardan, since we don't really know a lot about him in the first book, as well as understand their interpretation of events. Most of The Wicked King's thrill, for me, came from the fact I couldn't predict what Cardan would say or do next. I might have enjoyed dual-POV in The Queen of Nothing, though, especially during Cardan's serpent-form sequences.
However, this book itself is awesome. It does what The Lost Sisters does, but clarifies things I personally care about a lot more. I've always wondered about Cardan and Nicasia's relationship, since it feels like we were told about it rather than actually shown. I also loved seeing Cardan's thoughts about Jude. This book makes me rescind some of my feelings about him that sprouted during The Cruel Prince; his relationship with Jude almost seemed like instant-love when she captured and kissed Cardan in the Court of Shadows' hideout, but now I see that he's always felt something for her, which doesn't make it so far-fetched. After reading about his internal compliments on her swordplay and his mind wandering to her while in the Undersea with Nicasia, I'm convinced he's always felt something for Jude. And it's not because she's dangerous or daring, but because she mirrors his hate, which is an interesting dynamic. It makes more sense to me when Cardan's POV explains it, since he's the one who was terrible to Jude for seemingly no reason.
Cardan's backstory isn't really what I expected, in a good way. I find it kind of laughable he wanted to be Nicasia's consort (and thought the rest of his siblings would be jealous, and it speaks volumes about Nicasia's character that she was immediately charmed by his meanness when they first met. The recurring story from Aslog tied together the book's events and Cardan's consequent development. I was always eager to see it repeated and guess how it'd reflect the characters' current outlook on life.
My favorite part of this was Cardan's own surprise at his place by Jude and her family's side in the book's beginning and ending parts. We can tell he's not used to loving, or being loved, and he's still slightly shocked that someone like Jude chose someone like him. He's only just beginning to realize the life fate has chosen for him, and I think it's ironic that this great, loving path was achieved all because some mortal girl returned, if not overcompensated for, his hate—with her own.
While I prefer Jude as a narrator, I think this book makes me wonder whether The Folk of the Air would've had better characterization (for me) if it was a dual-POV series between Jude and Cardan. Part of me dislikes that I should read anthologies like this just to make better sense of the main series. There are hypothetical pros and cons—I think each book would've had a lot more fluff because we'd have to learn about Jude and Cardan, since we don't really know a lot about him in the first book, as well as understand their interpretation of events. Most of The Wicked King's thrill, for me, came from the fact I couldn't predict what Cardan would say or do next. I might have enjoyed dual-POV in The Queen of Nothing, though, especially during Cardan's serpent-form sequences.
However, this book itself is awesome. It does what The Lost Sisters does, but clarifies things I personally care about a lot more. I've always wondered about Cardan and Nicasia's relationship, since it feels like we were told about it rather than actually shown. I also loved seeing Cardan's thoughts about Jude. This book makes me rescind some of my feelings about him that sprouted during The Cruel Prince; his relationship with Jude almost seemed like instant-love when she captured and kissed Cardan in the Court of Shadows' hideout, but now I see that he's always felt something for her, which doesn't make it so far-fetched. After reading about his internal compliments on her swordplay and his mind wandering to her while in the Undersea with Nicasia, I'm convinced he's always felt something for Jude. And it's not because she's dangerous or daring, but because she mirrors his hate, which is an interesting dynamic. It makes more sense to me when Cardan's POV explains it, since he's the one who was terrible to Jude for seemingly no reason.
Cardan's backstory isn't really what I expected, in a good way. I find it kind of laughable he wanted to be Nicasia's consort (and thought the rest of his siblings would be jealous, and it speaks volumes about Nicasia's character that she was immediately charmed by his meanness when they first met. The recurring story from Aslog tied together the book's events and Cardan's consequent development. I was always eager to see it repeated and guess how it'd reflect the characters' current outlook on life.
My favorite part of this was Cardan's own surprise at his place by Jude and her family's side in the book's beginning and ending parts. We can tell he's not used to loving, or being loved, and he's still slightly shocked that someone like Jude chose someone like him. He's only just beginning to realize the life fate has chosen for him, and I think it's ironic that this great, loving path was achieved all because some mortal girl returned, if not overcompensated for, his hate—with her own.