From the Bookshelf of The Introvert Readers…

The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1)

Holly Black

Start date: July 1, 2021

Finish date: July 31, 2021

Discussion: BOTM

Discussion leader: Maple

Why we're reading this: It won the July BOTM poll (YA fantasy)
[close] It won the July BOTM poll (YA fantasy)

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Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 14 topics — 143 comments total

BOTM

* August BOTM Discussion: Caraval
By Anushka , The Feminist Reader · 2 posts · 18 views

last updated Aug 30, 2021 08:32PM

* August BOTM: Crooked Kingdom
By Anushka , The Feminist Reader · 3 posts · 21 views

last updated May 12, 2022 04:11PM

showing 2 of 2 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Aug 13, 2020 toointofiction rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance, holly-black, reviewed-books, fantasy, young-adult

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

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

❗This review may contain some minor spoilers❗

I don't think I will ever love anything or anyone the way I love The Folk of the Air series. One has to be a literal genius to come up with something so incredible!! My mind is decimated. Firstly, the plot is fantastic. Using a direct reference from the book, this is like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland if Alice was a wrathful, murderous human teenager, and Wonderland was fu ...more

88 likes · Like · see review

Mar 18, 2021 Anushka rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2021, favorites, ya, fantasy, strong-female-leads, fantasy-series, buddy-read, lgbtq, fae

**Warning: This review may contain spoilers**

When you think "fairie", you think of little pixies, magic, beauty, people with pretty pink butterfly wings, charms and happiness.

This is the kind of fairie story I thought I would like. What I didn't know was that I'll read a book where the fae are terrible creatures- cruel, bloodthirstly, power-hungry, manipulating, wicked- and actually enjoy it.

The Cruel Prince is one of those books that deserve the hype, for real.
The book, as everyone knows, fol ...more

73 likes · Like · see review

Mar 13, 2021 Cass (all too tired) rated it liked it

Shelves: read-with-pride, uncomfy-ness, the-hype-train

3.5 stars

I think is a solid book, a good book, even. BUT I didn't enjoy it as much as the hype said I would. Warning, there may be unmarked spoilers that I am too lazy to find, so be warned if you haven't read this book yet.

The best part of this book was the ~sexual tension~ between Cardan and Jude. I ship them ~~completely~~ almost completely. They clearly have a relationship going for them (and after binging a bunch of fanfics of post TQoN, the most tooth rotting fluff ever), I actively ship Jurda ...more

40 likes · Like · see review

Oct 15, 2020 cherelle rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2-stars, genre-fantasy

does NOT live up to the hype meh || 2 stars ✨

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
I was quite disappointed by this one, having heard loads and loads about it.

The world-building was intriguing but there was no proper pacing at all. The Cruel prince dragged me along for nearly the entire book until it finally spits out a few game-changing secrets in the succession at the very end. The plot was repetitive and predictable and so the ending was the only part of the book I genuinely enjoyed.

Honestly, I did have fun read ...more

16 likes · Like · see review

Jun 07, 2021 Maddie rated it really liked it

Shelves: my-books, fav-series

4.5 stars. That ending!!! Like- what am i supposed to do now?! Ngl, i started off thinking that this was gonna be like a 3 star read for me. Boy was i wrong lol

14 likes · Like · see review

Nov 29, 2020 Sarah rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-i-want-to-buy

I really like the cruel prince and I think that I am going to be a fan of Holly Black when I finish the series. I really like Jude. She is a very strong and smart protagonist. The whole story is from Jude's point of view. In the beginning I found Cardan charming but annoying at the same time. In the end I loved him. LOLLL. I SHIP THEM SO BAD!!1 ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Apr 08, 2021 Librarian Jessie (BibliophileRoses) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 5-stars, enemies-to-lovers

When I express I want to read an enemies to lovers novel, this is the type of book I mean. Holly Black has never failed to astound me with her ability to spin urban-fantasy tales, and this is no exclusion. I waited a long time to read this series, solely because I knew I was not the largest fan of her last faerie based books. However, let me just say this novel redeemed her faerie writing abilities! I literally could not put it down, (Rest in Peace to my college assignments).
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I found myself fu ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Apr 17, 2021 The Lost Heroine (hiatus) rated it really liked it

Ok... what can I say??
Let's start from the beginning. I have seen this book sooo many times, yet I resisted popular opinion and was intent on never reading it. So.. shoutout to The Never Ending TBR who chose this for their BOTM, and to Oyin for buddy reading with me!

The Plot

The Cruel Prince is told from the POV of Jude, a mortal girl who lives in the world of Faerie. She is raised, along with her two sisters, by her adopted father, the bloodthirsty (literally!) Faerie general Madoc.
And a ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Oct 23, 2021 Via Luino rated it it was ok

Unpopular opinion time—I didn’t like this book. Why? MILD SPOILERS ABOUT THEMES, etc.
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The “romance” felt forced, and worse, it’s hella toxic. I refuse to support that kind of toxicity being normalized because it’s so dangerous for readers, and especially young women. And the sisters fighting with each other because some guy played them both? No! They should ditch him and stay true to each other. I’ve heard the rest of the series gets better, but that the toxicity gets worse.

The writing and ...more

2 likes · Like · see review