The Stolen Heir
Reviews
౨ৎ | ‘sometimes it feels as though there's a knot inside me, and were it to come apart, whatever emerged would be all teeth.‘
— ★ 5/5
i loved this book so much. the way holly writes is so beautiful and i found myself so immersed in this world.
wren can do no wrong, she is my favourite girl ever. and i can’t wait to see her evolve more in the next book.
oak was okay, i mean i liked him but he didn’t give much and i get the faerie deceive but he annoyed me a lot LMAO.
i LOVED the side characters too and i hope we get more of them in the prisoners throne.
anyway all in all, wren is baby and i will support whatever she does!!
it was pretty good! the plot twist at the end got me and it definitely made me want to read the second book. the rest of the book was a touch slow though.
not the turn that I expected this duology to take, but okay
🤭
I have an Elfhame bias so take my rating with a pinch of salt. I just love this world and how Holly Black writes fae. It’s both witty and darkly humorous. I’m not as attached to the characters in this duology as much as The Cruel Prince but it was still a good time.
I actually like this Oak story better than the original trilogy if I am being honest. I think Holly Black is settling into storytelling now that the world is built.
I've put off reading this book since the day it came out, and now that I've read it, I can't believe I've denied myself of it for so long. I haven't reread tfota in a while, so maybe it's not as good as the original trilogy, but I was so impressed by this book. Something about being back in this world filled me with so much glee and whimsy it's crazy. Holly Black's pen is truly unmatched. In her true fashion, I knew there would be a betrayal, but I wasn't quite prepared for the scale of it, even if I should've known better. Wren is so captivating, and her struggles are so relatable despite not being made from snow. I was also pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Oak. He has so many crazy layers to him that I wasn't expecting based on seeing him as a kid. The plot kept moving, and I was trying to figure out where things would go wrong the whole time. I'm so glad I finally read this because it feels like it might move up to favorite status. Idk I just love this world, and I would probably read anything if I got to see it again, but this felt special. It is familiar yet totally different in its own way.
I HAVE TO WAIT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENED JWJFIWU37E8Q77×7$<+&×*'8H3EHFJJD2H3U
I love being back in Elfhame, and seeing Oak older and just as clever and charismatic as both Cardan and Jude, it’s wonderful. i love how he’s grown and seeing him take things into his own hands now that he has the power. can’t wait to see what’s next for him and Wren! i love her sm and she deserves the world.
4.5/5 rounded up <3 I honestly loved this so much. I think my one criticism (and it's something I feel with the original trilogy too) is that I wished plotlines went for longer !!!! I know this is ya and the books are short but I am always left wanting MORE. I love Wren and Oak and I definitely think they will be so much more fleshed out in the sequel and I love the new stuff we learned about faerie and I love their relationship it was a breath of fresh air. And I'll be honest sometimes reading spin-offs can feel like reading the original work in a different font but I did not feel that way at all this was great!
** spoiler alert ** 4.5 stars ms holly black never disappoints devoured this and got me out of a terrible book slump now i see what people meant about jude and cardan being pissed at wren as much as i'm on board for a villain arc, i fear wren may be in trouble and also that perhaps the betrayal was not as big as it was made to seem by the prisoners throne summary BUT i understand why she was pissed and did what she did. i support woman's wrongs 🫶🏻 speaking of wren, absolutely adored her. my favorite type of fmc and as much as she talked about being traumatized, it didn't annoy me the way it does with other characters (looking at you juliette shatter me). i love oak as well despite his betrayal and the fact that i still feel like i barely understand him, but i enjoyed the direction holly took with his character as an (almost) adult. absolutely cannot wait to see jude and cardan in book 2
☆☆☆⋆ To be so real with you, I just don't care about these characters as much as Jude or Cardan. I was eating up every little mention of them. I do think Wren is a very interesting and complex character and think there is room for my appreciation of her to grow. Quite frankly though, I thought the pacing was a little odd and the middle of the book wasn't very interesting. I did really like the plot twist and the ending of the book, which pretty much convinced me that picking up the second book is worth it. Will report back with my findings with that.
i loved this omg need book 2 immediately
This book was incredibly mindfucking in the best way I could think of and I cannot wait to have the sequel in my hands! Holly Black’s writing was entirely different in this book in comparison to when she wrote Jude and Cardan’s story and this still had the signature short number of chapters, but the length made it feel so slow-paced. Oak has surely grown up and well into the prince of Elfhame that his sister wanted him to become and Suren’s character is incredibly complex yet loveable at the same time. I’m excited to meet Tiernan and Hyacinthe in the next book as well! The Stolen Heir will truly put you on edge because of the build-up of the tension. You simply just don’t know what’s going to happen next so the ending really fucked me up. I need The Prisoner’s Throne NOW with a judecardan cameo <3
4.5* i loved it. i love the betrayals in her books and her world and characters and everything. chef’s kiss.
2.5 stars! ‧₊˚ ⋅𐙚 spoilers are hidden 𐙚 ‧₊˚ ⋅ i don't know if it was me or the pacing was too slow. i think it was the reason why it took me quite a while to read it. i somewhat ended up being bored even though i know that the author tries to make the reader become familiar with the new characters. it is criminal to compare but there are times where i thought that this book and the cruel prince's plot is strikingly way too familiar. moreover, i felt that the story only begun on the last few chapters. the action and the pace began to pick up when (view spoiler)[wren, oak, and tiernan got caught by lady nore. (hide spoiler)] it was kind of shocking to learn that oak changed a lot after nine years. like, that is my baby!! (ó﹏ò｡) overall, it was nice revisiting the world of elfhame. i wouldn't give much detailed review of this because i would like to see how the characters would develop in the prisoner's throne. now, onto the next book ! ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡
A fun return to Elfhame!
not as good as the original trilogy, but still really good! can’t wait to read the next one
love love love holly black and how she writes. i was excited to read this asap after finishing the folk of air series and even though i wasn't As Hooked reading this one, i still couldn't put the book down... i loved loved loved loved learning more about Suren after she was introduced in the folk of air books and then seeing Oak all grown up... i kept forgetting he has hooves instead of feet ... i cant believe he's just a lil guy.... anyways i'm starting the next book as we speak
Wow was really not expecting that ending!
3.5★ i can’t help but compare this to the original trilogy. while i still enjoyed the adventure they were on and the tension between Wren and Oak, the stolen heir feels like one long introduction to the prisoners throne. i look forward to reading it, though!
that ending left me so confused LMAO idk i had extremely high expectations because of the previous books but i shouldve known that nothing could top them 3 idk this book was so slow literally nothing happened in the first 200 pages so yeah love oak though ❤️ hes bae cant wait for the second book 3.75/5
Highlights
My greatest weakness has always been my desire for love. It is a yawning chasm within me, and the more that I reach for it, the more easily I am tricked. I am a walking bruise, an open sore. If Oak is masked, I am a face with all the skin ripped off. Over and over, I have told myself that I need to guard against my own yearnings, but that hasn't worked.
I hope you're not about to tell me that you hate it and you were just beingpolite. "I don't hate it," I say softiy, "And Iam not polite.
Fear is not love, but it can appear much the same.
So too, power.
“Sometimes life gives us the terrible gift of our own wishes come true.”
“A small group is nimble,” Tiernan says. “Easier to hide. Even if I think crossing through the Stone Forest is a fool’s notion.”
Oak traces the route up the coast with a finger and gives us a roguish grin. “I am the fool with that notion.”
If I look at him too long, I want to take a bite out of him.
lmao
“My vanity took the worst of the blow,” he says.
“Worried about your pretty face?” the knight asks.
“There is too little beauty in the world,” says the prince airily. “But that is not my area of greatest conceit.”
hmmm okay i love him
"What a freeing thought it was to no longer believe I had to deserve something in order to get it."
He's right; that would be a shockingly freeing thought.
Loved this line from Madoc to Wren.
Also, Holly's absolute love for Madoc is showing in this book and I am here for it. 😂
A massive bone chandelier hangs in the center of the room, candle wax dripping hot enough to melt indentations in the floor.
While the exterior of the Citadel is formed of giant slabs of clear, bright ice, some of the interior walls are enhanced by having things frozen inside the ice, resulting in something like wallpaper. Stones suspended, as though forever in midfall. Bones, picked clean, occasionally used to form sculptures. Roses, their petals forever preseved in their full flowering. This room's walls have two faerie women frozen inside them, preserved so that they never decay into moss and stone, like the rest of the Folk.
The description of the ice citadel from the outside is imposing and neat, like any beautiful ice castle I've seen in other works. But the added detail of the inside with frozen, suspended, "wallpaper"-like elements totally blew me away.
The troll camp is set in a large clearing, where buildings of stone and clay have been constructed around a massive bonfire. Sparks fly up from it, then fall as black rain, smudging whatever they touch.
The houses are cleverly and artistically made. The stucco-like clay ahs been sculpted into shapes--spirals and trees and faces, all in the same pale mud color, decorate the dwellings. High up on the walls, circles of mostly green and amber glass have been inset, creating the effect of stained glass windows. I draw closer and see that they are parts of bottles, and spot a few in brilliant blues and crimsons.
I love this description of the troll village. Holly Black is masterful at painting a scene, but this book really excels in giving unique settings to different locations!
The troll camp and the ice citadel are incredibly different, but very distinct and inventive in their structures and decor. I like the artistic, sculptural element to the troll houses in particular.
We pass a fletcher, selling barrels of arrows with different feathers affixed to the ends. Crows and sparrows, even those from a wren. Pass a display of gowns in beetle-bright green, saffron, and pomegranate red. A stall with bouquets of drying herbs hanging upside down, bedside seedpods. Then a bookseller, shelves of old tomes and empty, freshly bound books open to creamy pages waiting to be written in. One stall over, an alchemist displays a shelf of poisons, including poisoned ink. A row of oddly shaped skulls sits alongside them.
More passages from the Undry Market scene, some of my favorite scene setting in the book.
The threshold of the Undry Market is announced by two trees leaning toward each other, their branches entangled. As we duck beneath, what had previously been scraps of song and spots of color lose their disguise and the entire panoply comes into view. Shops and stalls fill the clearing. The air is rich with perfumes, honey wines, and grilled fruits.
...
There is a forge not far from where we are standing, one with a display of swords in the front. And beside that, a maypole and a few dancers going around it, winding the ribbons. A stall selling cloaks in all the colors of the sky, from the first blush of dawn to deep as midnight and spangled with stars. A bakeshop hawking braided breads, their shining crusts decorated with herbs and flowers.
One of my favorite scenes in the book. I love how Holly Black weaves a scene, I just want to walk right in it.
He half smiles. "Sometimes life gives us the terrible gift of our own wishes come true.”
Sometimes life gives us the terrible gift of our own wishes come true.
This book appears on the shelf favourites
