Holly Black

"Lush, dangerous, a dark jewel of a book . . . intoxicating" - Leigh Bardugo, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Six of Crows 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. One terrible morning, Jude and her sisters see their parents murdered in front of them. The terrifying assassin abducts all three girls to the world of Faerie, where Jude is installed in the royal court but mocked and tormented by the Faerie royalty for being mortal. As Jude grows older, she realises that she will need to take part in the dangerous deceptions of the fey to ever truly belong. But the stairway to power is fraught with shadows and betrayal. And looming over all is the infuriating, arrogant and charismatic Prince Cardan . . . Enter the dramatic and thrilling world of the Folk of the Air, brimful of magic and romance from New York Times bestselling author Holly Black.

The Folk of the Air #1

The Cruel Prince

By #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black, the first book in a stunning new series about a mortal girl who finds herself caught in a web of royal faerie intrigue.
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.
Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King. To win a place at the Court, she must defy him--and face the consequences. In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.
"I require book two immediately. Holly Black is the Faerie Queen." - Victoria Aveyard, bestselling author of the 'Red Queen' series
"Complex, nuanced characters, frank sensuality and thorn-sharp intricate storytelling all conspire to ensnare." - Guardian

This is a YA book and it takes place mostly in the Fae world, but these are true, cruel fae and not the pretty A Court of Thorns and Roses fae. Jude is a competent badass heroine. This is more political fantasy, with romance. Sex is off screen & slight.

Sephirra

Taylor Grace

He leans in and closes his eyes. "Most of all, I hate you because I think of you. Often. It's disgusting, and I can't stop."

Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King. To win a place at the Court, she must defy him--and face the consequences. As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself. From #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black comes the first book in a stunning new trilogy filled with twists and enchantment, as one girl learns the meaning of true power when she finds herself caught in a web of royal faerie intrigue. -- From dust jacket.

Sheyd

Don't Understand what people See in cardan, He literally Rips Wings from Boy of, and tries to drown Jude and her sister.

Edna Aviles

 "Nice things don't happen in storybooks," Taryn says. "Or when they do happen, something bad happens next. Because otherwise story would be boring, and no one would read it."  

  He has been raised up in it, instructed in its nuances, honed through its appli-cation. However horrible Cardan might be, I now see what he might become and am truly afraid. 

 No matter how careful l am, eventually I'll make  another misstep. I am weak. I am fragile. I am mortal. I hate that most of all. Even if by some miracle,  I could be better than them, I will never be one of them.

rose.

I want to win. I do not yearn to be their equal. In my heart, I yearn to best them.

"Have I told you how hideous you look tonight?"

 Cardan asks, leaning back in the elaborately carved chair, the warmth of his words turning the question into something like a compliment.

 I say, glad to be annoyed back into the present. 

Come back when returning feels like a hard choice instead of an easy one.

Reshmah

Louise D'haens

"Have I told you how hideous you look tonight?" Cardan asks, leaning back in the elaborately carved chair, the warmth of his words turning the question into something like a compliment. "No," I say, glad to be annoyed back into the present. "Tell me." "I cannot," 

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

bella <3

with Vivi, i feel forever doomed to be the little sister, foolish and about to topple over onto my face. 

ivy 

Sometimes I just want to hate her; if can hate her, then I won’t be so bad that I love him.” 

“Being mortal means I have to try harder.” 

“He’s wrong about me. I am going to make my mayfly life count for something; if I cannot be better than them, I will become so much worse.” 

He seems taken aback, although the sneer doesn’t leave his face.

“Yeah, yeah, sure. I am going to die. And I am a big liar. So what?” 

“I am afraid that If I begin to feel, I won’t be able to bear it. I am afraid that the emotion will be like a wave sucking me under. It’s not the first awful thing I have endured and pushed into the back of my brain. That’s how I’ve been coping, and if there’s another, better way, I do not know it.” 

“Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place,” she reads. “If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!” 

“Our lives are the only real thing we have, our only coin. We get to buy what we want with them.”

Paige Leitner

“Well?” I say, lifting the crossbow again, glad to have a reason to reassert my position as the person in charge. “Tell me!”

He leans in and closes his eyes. “Most of all, I hate you because I think of you. Often. It’s disgusting, and I can’t stop.”

"Of course, Taryn is right about stories. Bad things happen to those princesses. They are pricked with thorns, poisoned by apples, married to their own fathers. They have their hands cut off and their brothers turned into swans, their lovers chopped up and planted in basil pots. They vomit up diamonds. When they walk, it feels as though they’re walking on knives.

I was looking for a fantasy book that was heavy on the fantasy and light on romance. This met the memo somewhat and got me back into fantasy. The dialogue is very YA, I'm not sure if I will be able to make it through the entire 6 part series but definitely keen to check out book 2.

Saffia

୨ৎ : 'if i cannot be better than them, i will become so much worse.'

to be honest i didn’t walk into this expecting to like it as much as i did. i loved the way jude was portrayed and changed during the book and i can’t wait to read more about her. she’s definitely my favourite character, and i can tell she’ll be strong and not need anyone but herself to save her.

*** updated: just reread this and it made me realise how much i genuienly adore this book and the characters. while cardan still annoyed me, i cant help but love him. vivi, oak, roach, ghost and bomb were such intricate side characters and i adore how much they add to the story. and of course my sweet baby jude. she can do no wrong and i support everything she does and will do. ***

୨ৎ : 'if i cannot be better than them, i will become so much worse.'

— ☆ 5/5 (was 4/5)

to be honest i didn’t walk into this expecting to like it as much as i did. i loved the way jude was portrayed and changed during the book and i can’t wait to read more about her. she’s definitely my favourite character, and i can tell she’ll be strong and not need anyone but herself to save her.

*** updated: just reread this and it made me realise how much i genuienly adore this book and the characters. while cardan still annoyed me, i cant help but love him. vivi, oak, roach, ghost and bomb were such intricate side characters and i adore how much they add to the story. and of course my sweet baby jude. she can do no wrong and i support everything she does and will do. ***

rain

this flowed impressively smooth. the story and the events jude was going through felt natural and not forced or rushed. the plot twists had me LOSING IT in the best way possible. the descriptions of the settings/clothing were rich and helped to set the feeling of the surroundings, even when they took a minute to piece together. i should have knew locke was being too shady for his own good… (adoption with locke ended, cardan is my new son) but THE END TOO hello??? i love this book so much, i’m glad i finally gave it a chance. excited to get into the next ones

graves

finished this within 24 hours because it was such an easy read. the atmosphere and vibes were really cool, reminded me a lot of one dark window but this was more politics heavy. i saw a lot of the plot twists coming which isn’t a bad thing but it didn’t have the shock factor that might have been intended. the relationships between jude and the male characters felt a little shallow and instalove at first, but seeing how cardan (?) reverted back to his “asshole” ways is an interesting direction and i’m looking forward to seeing where the series goes :)

this is my second time reading this, so i can remember events for the next books. and honestly, i think the second read through was more enjoyable than the first. seeing the foreshadowing and actually being able to connect pieces together was nice.

the characters are interesting and fun, and although not always morally good, they are overall good characters. i don't think i could pick a favorite; possibly dain or jude, or maybe even madoc.  what can i say, i love characters who are a bit of a grey area.

mars

this is my second time reading this, so i can remember events for the next books. and honestly, i think the second read through was more enjoyable than the first. seeing the foreshadowing and actually being able to connect pieces together was nice.

the characters are interesting and fun, and although not always morally good, they are overall good characters. i don't think i could pick a favorite; possibly dain or jude, or maybe even madoc.  what can i say, i love characters who are a bit of a grey area.

love Cardan. like I'm taking that diva home with me.

Carolann croteau

Love this book! but not as much as love Cardan. like I'm taking that diva home with me.

interesting, very fairytale kind of book!

Lucy Williams

 i wish the 2nd half of this book felt more prevalent in the first half. Because though we see why jude is so power hungry in the first half we dont see it in action until she starts making deals with people. And most of the tike where we get these parts where she wants power its with her peers in school, because thats where the cruelties of this world was highlighted. Which yes i liked but i wish in addition to that we see atleast some ground work on how corrupt the courts and stuff are. I think thatd make the 2nd part of this story make more sense and blend better. I think another thing that shouldve been highlighted was jude training i think it also wouldve helped make the 2nd half believable. This all would make the power hungry part of her make more sense and kinda be justified and let that good intentions she has still shine through. And also her sister was actually the worst, since the beginning, and i wish we got more of that juxtaposition between the two and just more dynamics overall. There was a lot of good aspects of this book i just wish that they were more deeply written into the story as subtext rather than going from 0 to 100 when the story picks up.

melanie

, I can say that I liked the overall plot, but I didn’t really care for the author’s decision to have the sisters have different fathers — one with a faerie father and the other two with a mortal father. The story is set in the faerie realm and told through the eyes of one of the mortal sisters, while the faerie sister doesn’t play a major role or appear much in the narrative. I think I would have preferred the main character to also be a faerie, or at least for the story to be told from the faerie sister’s point of view.

Chulandon leanday Bradley 

After reading The Cruel Prince, I can say that I liked the overall plot, but I didn’t really care for the author’s decision to have the sisters have different fathers — one with a faerie father and the other two with a mortal father. The story is set in the faerie realm and told through the eyes of one of the mortal sisters, while the faerie sister doesn’t play a major role or appear much in the narrative. I think I would have preferred the main character to also be a faerie, or at least for the story to be told from the faerie sister’s point of view.

I’ve never really read a fantasy book before, and it wasn’t my favourite. However, I am intrigued to read the whole trilogy as It left me on a cliff hanger! But apart from this series I think i’ll keep off the fantasy novels.

gracie

Very easy read. I was skeptical about this book as I read there is little romance, but do not stop that reading this book. The faerie world took me in and the development of the FMC (jude) is so well written. Although there isn’t explicit romance scenes the tension between Cardan and Jude was great and made me want to discover more. The story overall is page turning! 

ovgun

An easy read, for most of the book you don’t really know where the plot is going but kind of enjoyed that.

Then towards the end it really ramps up, quite predictable but really good.

Ella Williams

Felt like reading a fairytale.

An easy read, for most of the book you don’t really know where the plot is going but kind of enjoyed that.

Then towards the end it really ramps up, quite predictable but really good.

while this book isn't the best thing i've ever read, i mostly enjoyed myself. the first 50% was pretty boring though, and i don't like how quickly jude and cardan's relationship dynamic changed. i would've liked a little more hatred and scorn before the kiss lol. but i'm intrigued enough to keep reading, so! hopefully it gets better from here.

kaii

I definitely think you should understand going into this book this isn’t a romantasy book. The romance portion is so low  that I don’t think you can even put it into that category and that’s totally fine! 

This book is clearly a set up for the rest of the series which is also fine, there are a lot of politics in the book so if that’s your thing you’ll love this one! 

Brittany Peterson

3-3.5 stars from me 

I definitely think you should understand going into this book this isn’t a romantasy book. The romance portion is so low  that I don’t think you can even put it into that category and that’s totally fine! 

This book is clearly a set up for the rest of the series which is also fine, there are a lot of politics in the book so if that’s your thing you’ll love this one! 

I loved this book so much! The only thing that irritated me was the mention of Vivi’s cat eyes over and over. Jude is such a girl boss‼️

molly louise

mica ♡

Not one of my favorite sagas for nothing, nothing like good conspiracies with a very slight touch of romance 

Axelle

Amazing book! It does have a few rude words in though. 🙂

Isla Smith

hana

When I think of a fantasy story , I'm looking for a few things: sharp writing, well-plotted story, compelling characters, and seamless worldbuilding. And if there's a dash of romance, I certainly love, this book has them all! There's so much packed into this one story: politics, family drama, revenge, power, and murder. There's even a bit of romantic intrigue disguised as mutual hate. I will say the world building was slow but halfway through I was turning pages as fast as I could.

Hard read. Why does he have a tail?!?! Good story though

Elle bagnall

I was looking for a quick and easy fantasy novel and The Cruel Prince proved to be perfect. With high school’esk bullying, the yearning to prove oneself, politics, fighting, and an enemies to lovers trope, what more could you ask for? For the YA fantasy novel it is, the book was charming and managed a few plot twists that I wasnt expecting in the least. If you’re looking for something quick and easy I’d highly recommend.

The Cruel Prince The Folk of the Air #1

Reviews

Highlights