This week Pennii
Purton shares her response to a recent read of Holly Black’s latest young adult
addition to The Folk of the Air trilogy. Find out about The Cruel Prince in
this review.
Series: The Folk of the Air
Released January 2018
YA novel
Blurb
Of course I want to be
like them. They're beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will
live forever.
And Prince 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…
What is the book
about?
Jude is the daughter of the runaway wife of a Fae general
who murdered her mother and the man she thought was her father. The general,
feeling obligated to raise the children, brings Jade and her sisters to a Fae
land in the heart of the forest, brimming with monsters and wolves on the
prowl, and raised her like a trueborn child of Faerie, despite not having a
drop of faerie blood.
Jude grew up learning to keep her head down and pretend the
fear away. She endured the contempt of the Fae, swallowed her fear and saw it
through. She was the human girl who got pushed to the sidelines and always treated
as an afterthought, when all she really wants is to belong.
Jude didn't fit into the boundaries they gave her. She
didn't fit and the moment she stopped wishing she could and held onto the
lingering bitter urge to make them all hurt, she learned that being ruthless in
the face of great terror was her best revenge for being made to endure it.
Recommendation
The Cruel Prince
is a delightfully dark, twisty novel containing drama, action, surprises,
nastiness and the tiniest hints of romance. Then you get to the spying,
secrets, betrayals, side-switching and just when you think you love a
character, a plot twist comes along and you wish the character would vanish;
and then you love them all over again. All the characters are complex and
slightly flawed and nobody can be trusted.
I absolutely love this novel, the ending didn’t disappoint
with a climax full of surprises and has left me desperate for the second book
in the trilogy, The Wicked King, (due
2019). I can’t wait!!!
Pennii Purton
Library Technician, Reece High School
Pennii you have certainly described an interesting plot in this series, so contrary to what we have come to expect. The plot and characters obviously redefine and challenge through and interactive writing style that encourages the readers to emotionally engage.
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