The Cruel Prince
By Holly Black
This book will not change your life, but it will certainly entertain you.
The main premise here is of a human girl who ends up living among fey as a result of a deranged fey killing her parents and adopting (if you can call it that) her and her two sisters. She is viewed as inferior by pretty much everyone around her, and is tormented and bullied relentlessly. Despite all that, she aspires not only to become integrated with the fey, but to achieve high social status, possibly by taking advantage of the impending unrest at the imminent crowning of a new fey king.
The things I liked:
- The moral ambivalence of every character in the story, and the believable way in which they are the product of their environment. For example, the adoptive father of the main heroine acts like a bloodthirsty maniac one second but takes care of the children left behind by his victims the next. The heroine herself can be quite bloodthirsty and cunning and at times. She seems to enjoy her participation in nasty political games. Cardan, the main male of the story, is quite the asshole, but that's not all that there is to him.
- The story ends on a cliffhanger, but the kind that makes you want to read more - aka one that still gives you a conclusion for the current plot.
- The story flows well and is entertaining enough.
The things I liked less:
- Although the characters are mostly well-developed, at times, the story lacks nuance. The plot twists are sometimes a little hard to follow or are not really necessary, which causes someone with a short attention span like mine to become impatient and lose interest.
- This is a true YA book - no smut for those of us who crave it :)
Rating: 3.75 out of 5.
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