A review by crybabybea
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

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

3.75

LOVED the prose the author used, and how it played into the world-building. The faerie world felt super immersive and I liked the attention to detail to cultural practices that really sold the difference between the faerie and mortal worlds. It felt whimsical and magical, almost gave me Spirited Away vibes at times. That being said, the world had a good amount of darkness as well; I really appreciated the portrayal of the faerie world as dark and dangerous, and the faerie people as manipulative and cruel. It felt more true to actual faerie tales than other fae-fantasies I've read. The logic of the world-building stayed consistent throughout which I was impressed with.

I love a good morally gray character and EVERYONE is morally gray here, even side characters are given attention. This is especially well done since the story is only told from Jude's point of view, so we get to see for ourselves the choices other characters make and wonder what they are up to. I thought it was clever to use Jude and Taryn as foils of each other by making them twins who navigate the faerie world in different ways. Jude tries to outplay the fae folk in cruelty, while Taryn tries to outplay them in court affairs. But, I felt the climax of the main conflict between Jude and Taryn was a bit childish and felt out of character for both of them.

Interesting politics that felt fresh and helped keep the intrigue up. The pacing was a bit weird at times but nothing too terrible. There was random scene that broke the fourth wall that really gave me the ick, but that's about it. 

I did overall enjoy it and found it fun and a quick read.
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