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A review by ellaellaellaetc
The Prisoner's Throne by Holly Black
3.0
uh... underwhelming, sorry. this is the second book in the stolen heir duology (which in itself is a spin off of the folk of the air trilogy). in the first book, we have wren's pov and in this one we got oak's pov! I thought that it was interesting to get a look into his head (especially cause he's talked around a lot in the og series cause he's a kid and it's interesting to see how he was affected by that) but ultimately wren's pov was way more interesting. (kind of spoilers) obviously you can't have a dual pov in the first book because oak is hiding stuff from her/because you don't understand his motivations and everything it makes the betrayal a lot more impactful when we only see wren's pov, but I think a dual pov for this one would have had me more invested.
tbh I feel like it's a theme with holly black to set up cool stories and then not be able to stick the landing with the final book (maybe that's mean of me to say but this is the third series of hers that I've read...). some of the final conclusions were just kind of meh and not really the grand ending that I felt like this was building up to. call me in two month's time and I would not be able to tell you the plot of this guaranteed. sorry.
despite that, while I did have complaints, I loveeeeeee seeing more of maddock again as well as jude and cardan obviously! I think oak's and cardan's relationship could have been further developed, I didn't fully understand why they had such weird vibes and I don't like that I was reminded that cardan is simultaneously oak's uncle and (adopted) brother in law. that's weird. also didn't like that holly black kept bringing up oak's hooves... i pretend that they do not exist.
also I thought that the love story was a bit of a flop (especially cause Jude and cardan have the special sauce, what can I say, I know holly black had the potential to make me obsessed with this, but alas). I didn't really fully understand why oak was so down bad for wren.
finally, despite all this, I had a good time! I think wren's powers (and what they cost her!) are really cool and I just loveeeeeee this world. the fae in these books cannot lie which makes for such an interesting crutch for all of the characters and it makes everyone talk in riddles and there's souch deception ughhhh I fucking love it!
so ig you can technically read this duology without having read the main trilogy but I wouldn't really recommend it. the main trilogy had me so gagged and I felt a level of obsession I haven't felt in a long time ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ I would really only recommend this if you loved the folk of the air and you NEED more of the world. 3 stars
tbh I feel like it's a theme with holly black to set up cool stories and then not be able to stick the landing with the final book (maybe that's mean of me to say but this is the third series of hers that I've read...). some of the final conclusions were just kind of meh and not really the grand ending that I felt like this was building up to. call me in two month's time and I would not be able to tell you the plot of this guaranteed. sorry.
despite that, while I did have complaints, I loveeeeeee seeing more of maddock again as well as jude and cardan obviously! I think oak's and cardan's relationship could have been further developed, I didn't fully understand why they had such weird vibes and I don't like that I was reminded that cardan is simultaneously oak's uncle and (adopted) brother in law. that's weird. also didn't like that holly black kept bringing up oak's hooves... i pretend that they do not exist.
also I thought that the love story was a bit of a flop (especially cause Jude and cardan have the special sauce, what can I say, I know holly black had the potential to make me obsessed with this, but alas). I didn't really fully understand why oak was so down bad for wren.
finally, despite all this, I had a good time! I think wren's powers (and what they cost her!) are really cool and I just loveeeeeee this world. the fae in these books cannot lie which makes for such an interesting crutch for all of the characters and it makes everyone talk in riddles and there's souch deception ughhhh I fucking love it!
so ig you can technically read this duology without having read the main trilogy but I wouldn't really recommend it. the main trilogy had me so gagged and I felt a level of obsession I haven't felt in a long time ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ I would really only recommend this if you loved the folk of the air and you NEED more of the world. 3 stars