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A Goodreads user asked this question about How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories (The Folk of the Air, #3.5):
Why does everyone love Cardan and glorify his (frankly abusive) relationship with Jude? There is definitely a difference between 'bad boys' and 'assholes', and Cardan falls into the latter for me. He's interesting, but why in the world would you have the hots for him?
Zoe Personally, when reading this series I'm distinguishing between what is healthy in reality and what is fun to read about in fiction.

This series is set…morePersonally, when reading this series I'm distinguishing between what is healthy in reality and what is fun to read about in fiction.

This series is set in a fantasy land where the rules the characters play by are completely different from the rules of our world, so I hold the characters to different standards than I would a real person, or even to a character in a contemporary novel.

In that sense, I can excuse the outlandish behaviours by all the characters simply because ALL the characters do crazy, messed up things.

Similarly, I don't consider the relationship between Cardan and Jude to be abusive simply because they both manipulate each other, and both gain and lose power over each other (at least, at the start). That (to me) makes the relationship toxic, not abusive. But, again, this is fantasy. These aren't real people. I just like reading about two messed up people who are attracted to each other, and later fall in love, while also using each other to further their own ambitions. It's interesting.

And, as others have mentioned, both characters grow a lot over the series. They become better people, and begin to love each other in a much more wholesome way. Spoilers, but their relationship makes them better people.

I don't glorify Cardan's behaviour towards Jude. I accept that they've both done crappy things to each other, but also that they grow from that. Simple.(less)
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How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories
by Holly Black (Goodreads Author)
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