However, while Jude tells Taryn about her newfound romance, Taryn keeps her lips locked. Taryn was in a secret relationship with Locke, a member of Cardan’s inner circle and Jude’s boyfriend. Vivi has a secret life and a secret girlfriend in the human realm, and her twin Taryn is clearly keeping secrets.Īt the end of the novel, we discover the secret that Taryn had been keeping all along. In addition to being constantly hurt by her nemesis, she is being hurt by her own family. He’s the most beautiful of all the fae and the meanest classmate to her, hence the nickname the “cruel prince.” Every time she does something outstanding, he seeks retribution. This endlessly annoys Cardan Greenbriar, her enemy and her tormenter. In class, Jude excels, having both brain and brawn. “The Cruel Prince” takes readers on a wild adventure of backstabbing, trickery and deceit. Here’s one last chance to look away before Holly Black’s genius plot is told to you. “The Folk of the Air” is an excellent trilogy, but there’s a lot to unpack in the first two novels. Warning: This is where the spoilers begin. Jude will have to work hard in the third book to get what she truly desires. However, the royal court of the faerie realm is more complicated than she can imagine, despite her 10 years immersed in it. Jude aspires to become a war general like her Uncle Madoc, the man that has raised her since she was seven. They cannot lie, so what they do say is warped. The fae are exquisite they are manipulative, magical, marvelous.

Thus Jude, her human sister Taryn and her half-human sister Vivi are thrust into the world of the fae. Her ex-lover murders the wife and husband, then, feeling a sense of responsibility, takes in Jude and her two sisters. He comes back to her, shocked to find out she’s alive, and when she fights back, things get ugly fast. Her mother used to be with Madoc, the real father of her sister Vivi, who is fae. However, her mother has a secret past that gets both her and her husband killed. Jude is a human, born to human parents in the human realm. Heroine Jude Duarte knows she doesn’t fit in, but she is trying her best to assimilate the only way she knows how: through violence. (The next FIVE paragraphs ─ but ONLY the next five paragraphs ─ will be completely safe to read.)

Even fans who don’t usually appreciate the genre can be captivated by the beautiful world-building, scandalous romance and familial tensions.įor those still on the fence about reading, here is a (sort of) spoiler-free review. “The Cruel Prince” by Holly Black and its sequel, “The Wicked King,” are two of the best YA fantasy novels of all time. “ The Queen of Nothing” by Holly Black, the conclusion to one of the greatest young adult series of all time, comes out very shortly.

The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black