The Cruel Prince is the first book in the Folk of the Air series by Holly Black.

BLURB

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 years old 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.

In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war 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.

REVIEW

I really enjoyed this book. Jude is a strong and mindful person who knows exactly what she wants to do and isn’t afraid to stand up for herself.

Jude’s relationship with her sisters is just like a normal sisterly relationship and doesn’t romanticise it at all.

I enjoyed seeing the changing relationship between her and Cardan and the twist at the end has me wanting to read the second book.

4.5/5 stars