The Cruel Prince - Book Rant

The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1)
by Holly Black

What is it about:
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.

What did I think of it:
*spoilery*

I should have known this book would push my pet peeve buttons. With a title like The Cruel Prince, and with a gazillion people sighing dreamily over Prince Cardan, I should have known!

But I loved other books by Black, and if Cardan was a love interest: how bad could he be?

Yeah...

This book mixes two of my biggest pet peeves:
1 - Poor bully only bullies because he is bullied himself.
2 - He only bullies her because he likes her!

If you are bullied and decide that bullying others who have nothing to do with you being bullied is your way to cope, you're not a "poor bully", you are a jerk!
If you bully a girl because you like her, you don't deserve her, and she should realize she deserves much much better than you!

So yes: I hated Cardan, and could kick Jude for feeling sorry for him and feeling attraction. And don't get me started on the other participants in this messy drama. There's Locke who tries to win Jude's heart, but his intentions were so clear, that I wondered why it was in there except for it being an easy way to give Jude information about a certain plot point, and to add some extra love drama.

That I did actually read the whole book, was because I liked the worldbuilding, some of the other characters, and some of the storylines. And - I confess - I was curious if things were indeed as obvious as I thought they were. All in all I don't think I'll read more books in this series. Cardan and Jude can go bully each other for all I care, but I'm not staying to watch this train wreck.

Why should you read it:
If you like bullies enemies to lovers, and can stick it out for a few more books, maybe you'll like this.


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