A review by thesandyreader
The Stolen Heir by Holly Black

adventurous dark slow-paced

3.5

This was an interesting one. I wish I had read the Cruel Prince and Wicked King series again before reading this.

It felt like in some ways I jumped into the middle of this book. There were a lot of references to battles and plots that I’m sure were in the previous books but I don’t really remember, and I feel they would have fleshed out the story more. Many of the characters referenced seemed to have backstory and history tangled up with each other that wasn’t fully explained here and made it a bit hard to track. 

With that said, my limited memory of the other books did help some, and while I think it would have added a lot of context and understanding to have had that history, the book on its own was still an enjoyable read. Most of the characters seemed a little flat, but not to a point of disinterest, and I really enjoyed Wren. There was some complexity to the plot though it seemed to drag a bit.  Generally, it doesn’t hold up to what I recall the other series being. 

I would recommend this book if you enjoyed and remember the previous books. On its own, I think it loses some of the luster. 

I really wanted to rate this 4, and it might have been if I had read the others recently and remembered the story details. I simply cannot justify 4 stars for a book that should stand on its own, and yet I would not recommend without another series fresh in your mind. I will probably go back and reread the others soon for additional context to this story.