Author: Holly Black Genre: Fantasy Pages/Length: 384 pages
★★★☆☆ 2.8 stars
Book Summary: Jude Duarte, a human girl living amongst a world of faeries, makes the wrong enemies: she butts heads with the prince, Cardan, and his posse of beautiful, powerful faeries. When Jude gets a surprise visit from Cardan’s older brother, the next in line to be king, she receives an offer she can’t refuse…
Book Review: I liked the overall idea of this book but I did get a little bored.. it put me in a mini reading slump. I did like the plotting for the throne, drama and betrayals, and I also thought that Jude and Cardan’s relationship was well done. The romance is a slow burn that stems from pure hatred, which is something I think that typical enemies to lovers relationships don’t actually capture. That being said, the plot was a bit slow and a little bland. However, I’m not a huge fantasy fan, so I understand how fantasy lovers could really enjoy this book.
Quotes: “Sometimes I go down and stare at it, trying to see my parents in the tide lines of dried blood. I want to feel something, something besides a vague queasiness. I want to feel more, but every time I look at it, I feel less.” “‘Because you’re like a story that hasn’t happened yet. Because I want to see what you will do. I want to be part of the unfolding of the tale.‘” “’Nice things don’t happen in storybooks,’ Taryn says. ‘Or when they do happen, something bad happens next. Because otherwise the story would be boring and no one would read it.‘” “I get why he chose her. I just wish she had chosen me.” “‘My talent is making war. The only thing that has ever kept me awake was denying it.‘” “The odd thing about ambition is this: you can acquire it like a fever, but it is not so easy to shed.“
Spoilers: Jude makes it seem to easy to kill the faeries, for example when she killed Valerian. So if the faeries are so easy to kill, why is it an advantage to be a faerie over a human? Especially when humans can lie. While I didn’t really understand the advantage of being a faerie, I liked the twist where Oak was the secret heir. I thought that it was clever, and totally gave me Game of Thrones vibes. I also liked that Jude was asked to be a spy: it made sense that she was chosen because she is able to lie and sneak around. Additionally, while the Locke/Taryn/Jude love triangle contributed to the overall drama, I thought that it was unrealistic. Jude is a character who is a powerful individual. She seems independent and I thought that it was out of character for her to engage in a relationship so easily, and for her to be so trusting and naive. The slow burn with Cardan makes a lot more sense, and I don’t really understand why Jude, a character that wants power and not romance, so easily fell for Locke.
