The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Mare who? Tris who? Harry who? Alright, alright, I’m kidding, I love them. A lot.

But Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude Jude

ANYWAY

I bring to you a tragic message.

I’ve finished The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. One third of the series - finished. Gone. There's no more of it. I never wanted it to be over! But jokes on me, I couldn’t stop reading it.

At the age of seven, Jude witnesses the murder of her parents and, along with her sisters, is stolen away to the faerie kingdom. Ten years later, she and her twin sister, Taryn, are still struggling to belong in Elfhame, full of faeries who despise mortals. One of them is especially cruel to them - Cardan, the youngest prince.

Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.
And 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.

Raised by the High King’s general and skilled with sword and dagger, and bow and arrow, Jude dreams of joining the High King’s Court and securing her future as a knight. However, as Jude becomes more and more involved in the intrigues of the Court, she finds herself seeking power, which seems to be the only way to make things better for her, her family and the whole of Faerie.

Oh dear, that book is a drug. Once you start reading, you can't stop. On the first day, I read for about six and a half hours in the garden, had dinner, then read for a few more hours. When I was to go home, I was reading on my way to my parents’ car and inside the car, and when I had gotten to my room, I started reading before I had even changed my clothes. And then I continued reading until I had to be in bed. The Cruel Prince kept me addicted until the moment when I turned the very last page. My best friend, who lent me the book, reported having the same feelings when she was reading it.

What pulled me in, I think, was the book’s atmosphere. The fairy world created by Holly Black was so rich and deep, it felt deeply familiar and reminded me of myths and fairy tales combined. In fact, Elfhame felt so out-of-this-world that it seemed impossible that the characters could so easily travel between the ordinary human world to the faerie one (and back). On ragwort steeds, no less, that is simply illegal! I recall texting my friend that I found the book so magical and awesome that I couldn’t even understand how it can be that other readers have stumbled across this secret world, too. A lot of other readers.

What seemed even more impossible was that this magical world could be contained in a completely normal paper book. Before I started reading, the cover had seemed fantastic but when I had read for a bit and closed the book, it suddenly seemed unworthy of its content. Don’t get me wrong, it is beautiful, but it cannot even begin to represent the wonders of the story. Not that it was ever meant to be as good as the book, but that’s how I felt at the moment.

Besides being a fantasy novel full of unpredictable twists and turns, The Cruel Prince is also an enemies-to-lovers romance story. Although romance is not the main focus of the story, I was absolutely rooting for Jude and Cardan (I still am). The way they went from loathing each other to slowly opening up and feeling more comfortable around each other to even deeper hatred kept me excited to see their relationship develop. By the way, I think I even cried because of how cute a tied-up Cardan at knifepoint was, hehe.

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

One thing that made the story deeper but also frustrated me was the moral complexity. Having spent a decade trying to be nice and endure being humiliated by the faeries, Jude is done being vulnerable and helpless. She becomes becomes increasingly more treacherous and turns into somebody who is capable of murder. She is falling and she knows it, it scares her but she doesn't turn back. She justifies her desire for power by her wish to change her world for the better. Although I dislike the current trend of romanticising the dark side of one's soul, I also appreciate that we are given the opportunity to explore the inner world and examine the motives of an imperfect person. Approached correctly, stories like this can prompt the reader to examine their own heart and understand what to guard it from, as well as help them develop deeper empathy.

As I passed the middle of the book and started approaching the other cover with increased velocity, I was overcome with dread. I hated the thought of finishing it. Neither could I stop reading - as I said, I wanted to remain inside the story. However, no matter how I might feel, as my art teacher once said, all things beautiful must come to an end.

Now it's your time to pick up a copy of The Cruel Prince and be sucked into the world hidden inside its pages.

What are you still waiting for?