The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1) in Fictional Character Lovers

May 22, 2024 ˋ✧*⁀➷ ʙᴇᴛᴛʏ (med school got me good) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bully-romance, fantasy-romantasy-magical-realism, academic-rivals, romance, enemies-to-lovers, villians-psychopaths-and-toxic-shit

➸» Alexa play Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? by Taylor Swift:

“Desire is an odd thing. As soon as it’s sated, it transmutes. If we receive golden thread, we desire the golden needle.”

This is my first fantasy book in 3 years, and a reminder of why i love this genre so much.

The Cruel Prince follows the story of three sisters Vivienne, Jude and Taryn whose parents were murdered by their soon-to-be-foster-father Madock. Their lives in the mortal world are turned upside down as they are thrust int ...more

220 likes · Like · see review

Oct 27, 2023 ♡ Ashleyy (Kai Azer's version) ♡ rated it really liked it

Shelves: all-time-favs, enemies-to-lovers, held-a-dagger-to-the-throat

Absolutely loved this! It was really easy for me to enter this new world..Holly Black has a talent for writing intriguing and beautiful fantasy worlds. I really really enjoyed the characters in this story.The relationship bw the characters is very fascinating especially the family dynamics.So many great plot twists and high-intensity, suspenseful moments!

and comon who doesnt love an enemies to lovers trope 😉

9 likes · Like · see review

Mar 07, 2024 ꧁ Bean ꧂ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, 2024, library-books

:) it took me a long time to finish this book cause I was reading other ones lol but the book was good
The plot the characters and the way they changed over time ahhh
Somehow I always pick up an enemy’s to lovers romance book lol
Good book overall 5/5

8 likes · Like · see review

Mar 19, 2024 Bella ♡ ✧.* rated it really liked it

Shelves: own-physical

this is my second time reading the book, and i’ve combined my old review with my current feelings of the book. my original rating was 3 stars, it is now 4 stars (or rather, 4.5).

this isn’t a romance book, it’s a mild politics book in a fantasy setting, but the minimal romance part does, indeed, slay (if you like losers like i do). the beginning is a little slow, and when i first read it, i wasn’t sure if i was going to like it at all, but the writing style is quite nice that it encouraged me to this is my second time reading the book, and i’ve combined my old review with my current feelings of the book. my original rating was 3 stars, it is now 4 stars (or rather, 4.5).

this isn’t a romance book, it’s a mild politics book in a fantasy setting, but the minimal romance part does, indeed, slay (if you like losers like i do). the beginning is a little slow, and when i first read it, i wasn’t sure if i was going to like it at all, but the writing style is quite nice that it encouraged me to keep going.

in my old review, i mentioned that the modern elements turned me off, even though i did like how it played into the experiences of the characters. in my second read-through, i was able to appreciate this a lot more because i was able to detect more easily how it showed just how non-human jude has become. she really belongs in the faerie realm in a way that her other siblings might not.

what i loved most about this book both times i’ve read it is the experience of watching how jude goes from a fragile, stubborn daughter to an angry, power-hungry ‘knight’. in my original reading, i thought she didn’t have much characterization until she developed throughout the story, but i disagree on that point after reading it with fresh eyes. from the beginning, jude was feisty, willing to kick the guts of madoc from the moment he murdered her parents to the very end. she’s unique from other ‘badass female protagonists’ because her rage has a very real reason for existing: she has never been able to feel like she truly belongs anywhere, and the people she’s supposed to belong with don’t seem to want to belong with her, or vice versa.

i appreciated in my original review that there wasn’t a “happy ending love interest” romance right away. i also wanted to add onto this after reading it again that i love that even though jude begins to finally click with cardan, it isn’t an ‘easy’ relationship where things just start happening romantically between them just because someone confesses their attraction. there’s this parallel of how jude was with (view spoiler) in comparison to cardan, in which you see jude ‘unfeeling’ and ‘frozen’ with the former, and then ‘hungry’, ‘ashamed’, ‘hot all over’ with cardan. even though jude doesn’t understand her feelings and their relationship is essentially nothing in this book, it still has just enough kindling that it ends up creating a delicious, little bit of longing that starts it off well.

in my first read-through, i thought the way faeries were depicted were a bit average. while i did notice in my first read-through that there’s a lot of darker hints, vulgarities, and rawness to the ‘faerie’ aspect, i still found myself wanting. on this read-through, though, i was able to appreciate what was given way more, because i’ve learned that the variety of faerie depictions is actually quite rare. it’s grown on me and i’m quite in love with it now. it could always be more whimsical and raw, pushed to the extremes, which is what i honestly long for often times with books in general, but that doesn’t mean i can’t appreciate what is here now.

in terms of criticisms, in my original review i found it odd how the book was relatively unstructured and was in a constant state of continuity. everything happened very coincidentally, and it all just happens to be happening with jude trying to maintain control over her lucky draw of events. that can be a little absurd to believe, and that was something that i didn’t know how to feel about in my first read-through.

in this read-through, i still don’t know. but i don’t think that’s a flaw of the story. i think it honestly just makes it more fun? sometimes in real life, we often have a bunch of coincidences happen to create impossible circumstances, so… whatever?

i love cardan. whatever, everyone who likes this book does, it’s pointless to go on about him, but i will. i love how he’s just a big loser, i love how he’s multi-faceted in how he interacts with others. he’s carrying this series on his back, i’m worried for his spine health. (said affectionately and not at the detriment/bashing of other characters, just out of appreciation; other characters are just as great and well-written, he’s just charming.) i want to squeeze him in my hand like a stress ball and put him in my microwave and watch him spin (this is a statement of cuteness aggression).

the only thing is, i don’t know if it’s just because it’s the first book or if i’m going to come back and give this like 5 stars later after i somehow swoon over the rest of the trilogy, but i just feel like this book is still missing something. like it’s just missing this one little thing that would make me give 5 stars to it right off the bat, and i don’t know what it is, probably like an emotional attachment or soul resonation feeling. ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Jun 30, 2023 ˖⁺‧₊˚syd˚₊‧⁺˖ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: books-that-own-a-piece-of-my-heart

First real fantasy I have read, and oh my god I couldn’t put it down. No, it isn’t the romance that booktok made it out to be, but the twists and turns, and the subtle connection between characters was enough.

4 likes · Like · see review

Jun 12, 2024 Georgia - Rose ~ ✨ Liam James Payne ✨~ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: long-live, iwoulddieforthesecharacters

Oh My Gosh I LOVED this book!
I will update thins when i can think of words to describe it!

3 likes · Like · see review

May 24, 2024 Kylin Swearingen rated it it was ok

Shelves: felt-like-a-chore

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 2.5 stars: Oki, I know this might make people mad, but I honestly didn’t really like this book. Let’s go over some pros and cons:

Pros:
1) One of the best enemies to lovers (although they aren’t technically together yet) I’ve ever seen. If I hadn’t seen stuff from the fandom, I never would have guessed they ended up together.
2) Language was pretty clean which I appreciate.
3) The story was interesting enough to make me consider continue reading the series.
4) The plot twists were unexpected.

Cons: ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 26, 2024 ୨ৎ Annie ୨ৎ rated it really liked it

I like the book but it feels like there was more world-building and getting to know the character for more than half the book and the main plot came only after page 200. It was still entertaining but I would've liked to see less describing all the time and more of the main points happening. I did love how our hate for Cardan was built up but not too much to where we couldn't sympathize with him when he was at his brother's house. Jude and Cardan's banter and the way he can't lie makes everything ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 23, 2023 Mostly Books rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, magical-world, enemies-to-lovers, romantasy

THE CRUEL PRINCE 👑 By Holly Black is a blockbuster of a novel. It's an absolute perfection💛 from first page to the last.
The world building, the strong characters, beautiful mesmerizing magic, with amazing twists.
This was so fierce, intriguing and enthralling.
JUDE and CARDAN really did put a spell on us Woooooooow they are perfect 😘.
Best FANSTASY and impossible to put down.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟-infinite starssss
...more

Like · see review

May 26, 2024 Ashen (Enzo's Blue Jay) rated it really liked it

Shelves: recs-for-you

I really liked the book, it had me in quite the emotional rollercoaster. Most of the time I didn't quite know what to think. I liked the plot, and the little banters Jude and Carden had. There were a few parts I didn't expect, and as I read, I started to like Carden more and more. Also hated specific characters (*cough cough* Locke *cough*) Hopefully The Wicked King will be just as good if not better than The Cruel Prince. ...more

Like · see review