The cruel prince by Holly Black Review

Spoiler free

“If I cannot be better than them, I will become so much worse.”

― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

The cruel prince is exactly how it sounds. The Prince of the Fae is cruel to others, but especially towards our main character, Jude, who is a human. This book is basically hardcore, magical bullying due to the characters’ infatuation with each other.

Let’s take a second to talk about Jude. The character development made me melt. I loved how she was so against the actions of the cruel characters in the beginning, a little more morally grey in the middle, then so vicious and ambitious by the end. You can clearly see how each event in the story slowly starts to affect her and change her motivations.

“Most of all, I hate you because I think of you. Often. It's disgusting, and I can't stop.”

― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

Cardan is an absolute wreck, but I’m kind of into it? Obviously, no matter what the circumstances are, you should never use your authority to bully others. Even though his behaviour gets explained later on, it is NOT excused.

At the beginning I thought, ‘no, nope, not going to ship them, toxic relationship.’ However, as it went on and Jude started to lose her positive outlook and became a lot more like those who had hurt her, I started to love their chemistry together. They really compliment each other. I’m excited to continue the series. My favourite part is when Cardan is the one afraid of Jude for once. And, of course, the kissing scenes. After all, I think this is intended as a romance novel first, fantasy second.

“Have I told you how hideous you look tonight?” Cardan asks, leaning back in the elaborately carved chair, the warmth of his words turning the question into something like a compliment.

“No” I say, glad to be annoyed back into the present. “Tell me.”

"I can't.”

― Holly Black, The Cruel Prince

I was expecting a lush, fairy-like world, but I just didn’t feel it. I didn’t think the world was anything special, but I’m not too disappointed as you can tell early on that this a character driven story. It has a plot, but it’s not a noticeable one until about half way through. I’m not a fan of character focused books, but I’ll always happily read them. I would still recommend this.