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A review by dustilane
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
3.0
Jude and her twin sister are normal human girls, except for the fact that they live in the High Court of Faerie and their lives are anything but normal. Jude only wants to fit in in the place that she calls home, but in the process, she gets involved with politics, spying, and a good bit of bloodshed.
This was one of those books that I maybe started at the wrong time. I was already in a slump and the first third of this book did not help, AT ALL. I think that was partly due to the previously mentioned reading slump and partly to do with the fact that the first part of the book is basically just hearing about Jude and Taryn, the twin sister, being bullied. I find books with a lot of bullying are a bit of a turn off for me, so it was hard to get past that part.
When I finally did, however, the book improved immensely. I think once more of the action came in, in the second half of the book, it really quickened the pace and made the reading experience more enjoyable for me. I loved the political side of things so much and I think Black did an incredible job with her interpretation of the legends of fae. She dictated them as cold and cruel, but with just enough of that hint of "human" to help you connect with the characters.
The characters are very interesting and while not incredibly unique, Black still did a great job of creating interesting characters that you want to know more about.
Overall, I ended up enjoying it much more later in the book than I thought I would've at the start! I would definitely recommend this book to others, but warn them to be patient.
As I can't decide between 3 and 4 stars, I'll go with a 3.5!
This was one of those books that I maybe started at the wrong time. I was already in a slump and the first third of this book did not help, AT ALL. I think that was partly due to the previously mentioned reading slump and partly to do with the fact that the first part of the book is basically just hearing about Jude and Taryn, the twin sister, being bullied. I find books with a lot of bullying are a bit of a turn off for me, so it was hard to get past that part.
When I finally did, however, the book improved immensely. I think once more of the action came in, in the second half of the book, it really quickened the pace and made the reading experience more enjoyable for me. I loved the political side of things so much and I think Black did an incredible job with her interpretation of the legends of fae. She dictated them as cold and cruel, but with just enough of that hint of "human" to help you connect with the characters.
The characters are very interesting and while not incredibly unique, Black still did a great job of creating interesting characters that you want to know more about.
Overall, I ended up enjoying it much more later in the book than I thought I would've at the start! I would definitely recommend this book to others, but warn them to be patient.
As I can't decide between 3 and 4 stars, I'll go with a 3.5!