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abrielleemory 's review for:
The Cruel Prince
by Holly Black
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a bit of a letdown after all of the hype on IG and TikTok. I listened to this on Spotify, so please don’t judge me for how I spell the names of characters.
I thought Jude was insufferable. She did the classic. I’m a strong, independent woman thing while also being too scared to stand up for herself half the time her obsession with her twin sister was so weird to me and that twist at the end made me very proud of Taryn. Vivienne was SO ANNOYING like she really tried to be the disinterested, cool older sister but was so removed that she had no character development.
I know this is framed as an enemies to friends situation, but I wish they would’ve stayed enemies the weird love thing just really didn’t click for me.
The authors overuse of descriptive language was really distracting. I understand she was trying to describe the world or do some world-building, but it kind of fell flat for me and was really over exaggerated.
I thought her becoming the spy was cool and I liked the other spy characters, but she just really annoyed me as a female main character.
I don’t think I’ll be reading the next books and I’m kind of glad that I listened to this as a free audiobook.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder