Welcome to the blog of the Tasmanian branch of the Children's Book Council of Australia!

Saturday 10 March 2018

A review of The Cruel Prince


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.

The Cruel Prince - author Holly Black  


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

1 comment:

  1. 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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