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A review by karaisreading
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
5.0
after seeing the cruel prince everywhere on my fyp (booktok,) i finally started one of my most anticipated reads of 2021. the folk of the air series.
now, the reviews i have seen for the cruel prince have been very mixed. on one hand, reviews stating that this is the book of the decade for them. (decade ?????)
but then you see one-star reviews saying this book disappointed them to no end, and that you should not waste your time. needless to say, i was very nervous to be going in. EL OH EL
but THIS BOOK MAN
okay if you are reading this for the romance, you get almost nothing. that was what i was told going in, but there was more than i dared hope for! now, not saying there was like kissing tension every other page, but this was more of a gradual build-up for the next few books. AND BLACK DID THIS SO WELL
okay so basically: PLOT.
PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT
the plot is literally...so good. like guys, i have not read a book that enthralled me as much as the cruel prince did in a very LONG time.
like, i have read the synopsis and plot of all the books in the series, and i was still surprised about how the events unfolded. do you know how unreal that is? not to be surprised by the ending, but by the events leading up to that? usually all of that is filler, but not for the cruel prince. politics?? SO INTERESTING
also the world-building was chefs kiss. i understood everything to a tee, which is always a concern when starting new fantasy series.
also forgot to mention: jude. cardan and jude. okay can anyone spell MORALLY GRAY? that is jude. she does not good things, her reasoning is flawed, but i do think she is a good person. however, sometimes her actions or behaviours or thinking is hard to justify. and i love her for it. we love a good morally gray character. the cruel prince is definitely more focused on plot building but i am excited to see where black takes her characters (especially cardan, because we didn't really get to see the depth of who he was. so excited to see.!!)
overall, i do think the cruel prince lived up to the hype for the first book. excited to read the wicked king and queen of nothing (!!!) the names in this series are so cute uwu
also i need to read (blegh) locke and taryn. surprisingly didn't hate her like everyone did. it's like the i forgot that you existed song by my love taylor swift: it isn't love it isn't hate it's just indifference. most times i even forgot that she was there el oh el but I'm still going to read it.
SO EXCITED THIS WAS SO GOOD
now, the reviews i have seen for the cruel prince have been very mixed. on one hand, reviews stating that this is the book of the decade for them. (decade ?????)
but then you see one-star reviews saying this book disappointed them to no end, and that you should not waste your time. needless to say, i was very nervous to be going in. EL OH EL
but THIS BOOK MAN
okay if you are reading this for the romance, you get almost nothing. that was what i was told going in, but there was more than i dared hope for! now, not saying there was like kissing tension every other page, but this was more of a gradual build-up for the next few books. AND BLACK DID THIS SO WELL
okay so basically: PLOT.
PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT PLOT
the plot is literally...so good. like guys, i have not read a book that enthralled me as much as the cruel prince did in a very LONG time.
like, i have read the synopsis and plot of all the books in the series, and i was still surprised about how the events unfolded. do you know how unreal that is? not to be surprised by the ending, but by the events leading up to that? usually all of that is filler, but not for the cruel prince. politics?? SO INTERESTING
also the world-building was chefs kiss. i understood everything to a tee, which is always a concern when starting new fantasy series.
also forgot to mention: jude. cardan and jude. okay can anyone spell MORALLY GRAY? that is jude. she does not good things, her reasoning is flawed, but i do think she is a good person. however, sometimes her actions or behaviours or thinking is hard to justify. and i love her for it. we love a good morally gray character. the cruel prince is definitely more focused on plot building but i am excited to see where black takes her characters (especially cardan, because we didn't really get to see the depth of who he was. so excited to see.!!)
overall, i do think the cruel prince lived up to the hype for the first book. excited to read the wicked king and queen of nothing (!!!) the names in this series are so cute uwu
also i need to read (blegh) locke and taryn. surprisingly didn't hate her like everyone did. it's like the i forgot that you existed song by my love taylor swift: it isn't love it isn't hate it's just indifference. most times i even forgot that she was there el oh el but I'm still going to read it.
SO EXCITED THIS WAS SO GOOD