Holly Black’s The Cruel Prince is an enthralling fantasy story about a human girl, Jude Duarte, suddenly forced into the magical world of the Fae, called Elfhame. She must adapt to living in such a dangerous world where she is so powerless against the Fae. What hooked me is the poem by Robert Graves, called I’d Love to Be a Fairy’s Child that Holly Black referenced in the beginning of the book. Here’s a section of it:
“Children born of fairy stock
Never need for shirt or frock,
Never want for food or fire,
Always get their heart’s desire:
I’d love to be a Fairy’s child.”
This poem truly shows how different the Fae of Elfhame are to Jude and her twin sister. It hooked me because this poem sounds bitter and jealous, and I was intrigued to see this world through a human’s point of view.
Summary:
The prologue starts with Jude Duarte’s life in the human world with her parents, her older sister, Vivi, and her twin sister, Taryn, where a strange being shows up at their house and kills her parents. He is from the magical world of Fae, the kingdom of Elfhame, and is Vivi’s real father, who used to be married to their mother back in Elfhame, and takes the three girls back there. She is then raised in the faerie world, where she must be tough and strong to survive the bullying of her immortal classmates, the constant dangers of being mortal in a magical world, and all the enchantments that the Fae may put on her. She will do anything to feel power instead of the pit of fear inside her, and the story follows her dangerous and tough path to power.
Review:
Holly Black’s writing style is very concise, being able to build a world and all the things that occur in it with precision, helping to understand how everything feels. This also helps to truly feel like Jude is narrating the book, as she is a very tough and concise woman herself. But, Holly Black is also good at expressing emotions within her words, even if Jude is not always good at it.
The characters in this book are very complex, especially for a YA book. Cardan Greenbriar, the antagonist, is introduced as evil and malicious, but the more we learn about his background the more we start to feel bad for him and empathize with him, despite everything. Jude Duarte, our main character, is written beautifully, showing the complexity of her feelings as a mortal in a terrifying new world.
One of the most prevalent themes in this book is pride. Jude refuses to back down against faeries much more powerful than her because she refuses to give up her pride. Consequently, Cardan hates her because her defiance bruises his own such pride. Another common theme is fear, seen in Jude pushing herself out of fear of being weak, and Cardan being cruel out of fear for others seeing his vulnerability.
The Cruel Prince’s plot is very fast paced. Lots of time can pass between chapters, from a couple of days to many months. It is very helpful in getting the full scope of Jude’s life in Elfhame as she gets stronger and more determined in becoming better than the fae. It’s also really helpful for the reader to understand how the Faerie world works in full scope.
This book often has descriptions that are difficult to comprehend in terms of how the characters and their world looks, and I often found myself searching up drawings that others made to help me visualize the book. Despite this, Black was able to create a beautiful female lead. In many fantasy books, the girl is often very weak and then magically becomes strong by becoming immortal. But, Jude is always human, and yet she’s better than the faeries despite it.
This book is truly one of my favorites, and I recommend it to any girl who has big aspirations and loves a strong female main character. I rate this book 📚📚📚📚📚, a magical 5/5!
Love, Bruna
GFB Ambassador