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A review by allioth
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
medium-paced
3.25
Well, that was something.
I like Fantasy, so color me surprised when it took me more than a month to finish this book.
I thought the plot was interesting enough (even though the medieval-fantasy-spies-for-the-king plot has been done much better), but when you can't particularly care for any of the characters, none of this matters.
The thing that I hated the most, though, was Cardan.
He is complex, alright, but you don't start feeling sympathy for him until about 50% of the book ((view spoiler)). Then he disappears, and when he appears again, we're suddenly supposed to find the average toxic-hot-annoying-ya-male-mc, who bullied Jude for years, likable!!
Isn't that awesome?!! (No, it is not.)
And while I already knew this book wasn't strictly focused on romance, this part still feels severely undercooked, and the supposed "groundbreaking enemies-to-lovers chemistry" that all those booktokers were talking about is nowhere to be seen. As an avid slow-burn lover, I couldn't be more offended.
Anyway, I blame 1/3 of my overall distaste towards this book on the book itself, 1/3 on booktok recommendations, and 1/3 on me for trusting said recommendations.
(ALSO, AUTUMN SOLSTICE??? My astronomy lover heart broke up a little)
I like Fantasy, so color me surprised when it took me more than a month to finish this book.
I thought the plot was interesting enough (even though the medieval-fantasy-spies-for-the-king plot has been done much better), but when you can't particularly care for any of the characters, none of this matters.
The thing that I hated the most, though, was Cardan.
He is complex, alright, but you don't start feeling sympathy for him until about 50% of the book ((view spoiler)). Then he disappears, and when he appears again, we're suddenly supposed to find the average toxic-hot-annoying-ya-male-mc, who bullied Jude for years, likable!!
Isn't that awesome?!! (No, it is not.)
And while I already knew this book wasn't strictly focused on romance, this part still feels severely undercooked, and the supposed "groundbreaking enemies-to-lovers chemistry" that all those booktokers were talking about is nowhere to be seen. As an avid slow-burn lover, I couldn't be more offended.
Anyway, I blame 1/3 of my overall distaste towards this book on the book itself, 1/3 on booktok recommendations, and 1/3 on me for trusting said recommendations.
(ALSO, AUTUMN SOLSTICE??? My astronomy lover heart broke up a little)