The Cruel Prince Review | A New OTP?!

Hi friends! I’m back with another review, and yes, I am really late to the hype train for this one. I actually didn’t care at ALL to read this when everyone else was jumping around with it but then Wicked King ARCS came out and for some strange reason I fell to that hype. I don’t know how my brain works either. BUT AS FOR MY THOUGHTS:

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 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.

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.

So. My thoughts are a bit muddled when it comes to this book but I felt like this was a great fall book? I loved the atmosphere and the world-building! Somehow Holly Black managed to create a world as complex and interesting as the mortal one*.

*for your information, I’m actually a BEAUTIFUL FAIRY so that is why I call your world the mortal world

I did think that the first half, while doing a great job of setting up characters and politics, was crazy slow. And I FLIPPING DESPISED CARDAN, that arrogant, cruel, son of a witch.

Actual footage of Cardan

But I will say that the second half? It was fantastic!!! I absolutely adored how the plot just went TWIST! TWIST! and I just died every time. Something about Holly’s writing that I absolutely love is how purely cinematic it feels. There were certain scenes that I pictured so smoothly, and played so epic-ly in my head, I can’t help but be impressed. Also she handled the whole “um what about Faerie periods” question.

I love how anti-everything the characters are. And while at the beginning I had NO IDEA why anyone would ship Cardan with Jude but hey hey hey, I’ve got a new OTP now!

Jude to everyone

Honestly, the shipping feels are real. There’s so much potential with this relationship in the sequels, and I’m excited to see where it goes! But I also adored the dynamics with the princes, Madoc, Taryn, Oak…it’s so amazing!

And the ending was just…insane. I called it (those sequel titles were the hint) but at the same time it shocked me? I was impressed with this book as a whole but I really loved the second half far more.

Tell me how you feel about this book! Did it live up to the hype for you? Do you want to read it now? AREN’T CARDAN AND JUDE FANTASTIC TOGETHER?! I mean, I’m just sayin. Catch ya later, au revoir!