A review by dramagirl2003
How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories by Holly Black

adventurous dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

didn't like it nearly as much as the trilogy but it was still great! i love the illustrations and i read this in a day

thoughts while reading

p47: that's cute actually, cardan basically did free the servants for jude
p75: omg the book came from vivi?? that's crazy, but obviously makes total sense
p94: oop, the moment where nicasia switches to the locke side
p132: look at judie pops clearing up after cardan
p145: oh this is gonna be the story where cardan is so pleased with himself for pretending to be human
p155: i'm sorry, is aslog really trying to
murder the high king
??? like how does she see this working out for her??
p162: is now a good time to point out that cardan is most definitely trying to wait for—WAIT NO.
he's not waiting for jude to come for him, he's waiting for the sun to turn aslog to stone!
damn i almost forgot that he's a strong, independent man who doesn't need a woman to save him! 😂
p166: or is he waiting for jude 😏

quotes

It wasn't until he was glaring down at Jude, standing waist-deep in river water, fighting the current, that he realised he was in trouble. 
She ought to be nothing. She ought to be insignificant. She ought not to matter.
He had to make her not matter.
But every night, Jude haunted him. It was too much, the way he thought about her. He knew it was too much, but he couldn't stop.
It disgusted him that he couldn't stop.

"Why didn't you hate everyone?" he asks. "Everyone, all the time."
"I hated you," Jude reassures him, bringing her mouth to his.

Cardan congratulates himself on his skill at passing for human. Of course, he has no human money. But the High King of Elfhame refuses to pay with glamoured leaves, as though he were some common peasant. He hands over glamoured gold instead and walks our with his purchases, feeling smug.

"I think you have iron poisoning," she tells him, which could be true but is still a hurtful thing to say when he is making perfect sense.

   "You didn't hear the story I told," he goes on. "A shame. It featured a handsome boy with a heart of stone and a natural aptitude for villainy. Everything you could like."
   She laughs. "You really are terrible, you know that? I don't even understand why the things you say make me smile."
Expand filter menu Content Warnings