A review by carrot2025
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Holly Black is the queen of ya fantasy books and this book truly proves it. It's a wonderful read that leaves you wanting more each time you have to put it down. The first book of a series can be difficult to love since it's often filled with too much exposition and not enough story. But this book manages to beat that in so many ways. When there is exposition, it's done in a way that woves into the story and doesn't make the reader feel stupid. It leaves so many questions that a second book is obvious but it also works as a wonderful stand alone book that gives the readers the chance to play with an open ending. 

Overall this book is amazing in so many ways and works as a great introduction to someone who has never read or been interested in fantasy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Slavery, Bullying, and Classism

Death, death of a parent, and murder are pretty major themes in the books.

The book literally starts with Jude parents being murdered/spoiler>. I wouldn't say any of it is tasteless or done for no reason. Everything is done to define the character and world build. The bullying is also for the most part mild until you get towards one scene where it goes a little too far but it's nothing that feels tasteless and just shows what the world is. The slavery and classism more so has to do with the book containing myth accurate fae. Anyone who has researched the fae knows of stories of them stealing humans to make their servants. I don't think it's truly needed as there's other ways to show the evil of the world Jude lives in but I also don't think it's done in a necessarily evil or malicious way.