Eat some fruit, dance and foremost... Stay.

Let me give you just a glimpse of Holly Black's wonderful faerie world in this spoiler-free review of 'The Cruel Prince'.

I think I was seventeen when I bought this book. But by the time I decided to read it, it had been on my shelf for ages. When I moved out of my parents house and finally had my own bookshelf, I used The Cruel Prince as table book... Auch! All I knew about the story was that it is about a grumpy prince and politics. I never could have been so wrong!

Somehow it got popular on TikTok, even Holly joined the platform, and it was summer, so I got obsessed with faeries (like every summer). The book just seemed right at that moment, six years later than planned. And by the High King, how I loved reading it.

While reading the first chapter, I remembered some of it from when I just bought the book. My English was not good enough to understand it then and I put it away. What you need to know about the first few chapters, is that is basically an introduction of the underlying bonds between the characters. It may not feel important, but pay attention to details because Holly plays tricks on you.

A brief description of the main character Jude Duarte is that she is a fierce, scheming, mortal girl who doesn't let her bullies get to her. That last characteristic is what I think is the best about Jude. Another beautiful trade of her is that she is ready to sacrifice anything for her family, something I can relate to.

Here follow some spoiler-free fanarts :)

The story continues like a typical high school novel, haha just kidding! Be aware, typical high school situations are swept away by lurking danger. But still, there is some truth in it. For example, the youngest prince of Elfhame, Cardan Greenbriar, is a bully who constantly has to have Jude and her sister. I find this mutual challenge between the two incredibly interesting, and Jude is a wonderful example of how to shrug off hate. Minus the wanting to murder part.

I'll leave the rest of the story to your imagination, but I will say that you need to pay attention from beginning to end because there are some twists and turns. I enjoyed it very much and was anxious to read the last few pages. This book I highly recommended because you will soon not want to leave Faerie anymore.

This was it. Kisses and hugs!

Daniella,

Books&Butterflies

---

The Cruel Prince

★★★★★