The Cruel Prince | Holly Black

31 May 2018

No matter how careful I am, eventually I'll make another misstep. I am weak. I am fragile. I am mortal.
I hate that most of all.


I finished The Cruel Prince by Holly Black last night and oh my, I have a whole lot of feelings to work through.

If you haven't read this book yet, I would probably steer clear clear from the rest of my post, but to some it up in one line;

The book is compelling, complex and full of surprises. For me, the second half is definitely where the story really comes into it's own. The Cruel Prince really does leave you winded, and yet yearning for more.  

It is also worth mentioning that there are definitely trigger warnings in this book, it deals heavily with violence (in many forms) and may be YA, but this is definitely something to keep in mind when reading/recommending.

Ok, now onwards with you people who have already read the book (please leave comments, I am dying to talk to someone about it!)...

Firstly, lets talk about the ending. The ending has absolutely left me shook and desperately googling ways to see if I can get the next book. The final twist, surprisingly not by The Cruel Prince himself, left me feeling betrayed, and yet incredibly satisfied by the direction Black chose to take the book in.

Seriously, can I get The Wicked King now please?

I definitely got more swept away with this book the more I got into the story, but even with that said, the first half(ish) of the book definitely had enough to keep me turning those pages and I devoured the whole thing pretty quickly (I have a full time job y'all).

The Cruel Prince is definitely not perfect, I do think that the story line with Jude/Taryn/Locke jars for me, the relationship with the sisters needed to be developed a bit more, and I found the fact that they duelled over a boy rather frustrating. But here's hoping that this gets explored more in The Wicked King because I am more than happy to be wrong!

The world created is terrifyingly beautiful, and every character really buys into this theme as well, as Black never really affords us the luxury of trust as things start to unravel. There are definitely familiarities about the world presented, but to be honest, that is exactly why I picked up the book in the first place, it is the characters that really make this a stand out YA fantasy novel.

Have you read it? What did you think?

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