Book Title: The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1)
Author: Holly Black
Purchase: Amazon
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Description from Goodreads:

Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars 

The Cruel Prince hooked me from the very first chapter and I furiously consumed it in the span of two days. I went into the book with no expectations other than the knowledge that Holly Black is often referred to as the Queen of Faerie—an apt and very deserved title.

The story opens with Madoc, the Grand General of Elfhame in Faerieland, arriving on the doorstep of Jude’s home in the mortal lands. He wants his daughter and heir, Jude’s older sister Vivienne, to return to Faerie with him. As it turns out, Jude’s mom—and Madoc’s former wife—faked her death in Faerie to run away with her mortal love. They’ve since been secretly living in the mortal lands with Vivi and their younger twin daughters, Jude and Taryn. That is, until Madoc shows up unceremoniously, brutally murders his ex-wife and her new husband, and whisks all three of the children off to Faerie.

What a start! Black establishes her faeries and the world of Faerie as brutal and vicious. Magic is used for manipulation and deceit, pain and selfishness. Faerieland is a beautiful trap requiring constant vigilance. Jude and Taryn suffer the wrath of the Faerie gentry, who resent that the mortal twins are raised and educated alongside royal Faerie peers. And none hate Jude more than her schoolmate Prince Cardan and his merry band of bullies. 

The character development is top-notch, exploring the sisters’ complicated relationship with their parents’ murderer and father figure. Their dynamic with Madoc is both realistic and fascinating, and of course different for each sister. Vivi loathes Madoc and takes every opportunity to spurn his attempts at fatherhood, which brought me right back to my surliest teenage years. Jude and Taryn, who were seven years old when Madoc took them, are both eager for parental guidance and affection, despite the trauma of watching their parents' murders. Jude wants to please Madoc and fit in in Faerie, but she often acts out with deep-seated resentment, acknowledging she can never truly trust Madoc. 

Black’s characters elicit such strong emotional reactions. Taryn’s choices are so frustrating; I just want to shake her, tell her to grow a backbone, and be a better sister. Cardan’s seething hate for Jude is both intriguing and infuriating. His violent cronies are even worse, but luckily Jude isn’t duped or cowed by them. 

My favorite aspect of this book is how utterly unpredictable it is. Each chapter takes a new turn, raising the stakes and positioning Jude in peril within a land full of enemies. She commits herself to learning strategy and fighting techniques to keep herself alive, establishing herself as a true player in the games of faeries. After being bullied and threatened the majority of her life, she’s done taking their crap. The action is non-stop, a mix of court machinations, strategic warfare, and the Faerie equivalent of high school drama.

The narration reminds me of the Harry Potter books; there’s a similarity in the way the story’s told, an awe in the unfolding of a magical world with larger-than-life characters. But a darker Harry Potter, where Harry embraces violence and murder. With these style of narration, the pages fly by and it truly feels like a fairytale unfolding in my mind. I would absolutely recommend it to fans of J.K. Rowling, Sarah J. Maas, and even Tolkien.