![]() Cassidy Serhienko Getting my hands on this book was a struggle, but now that I finally have, let’s just say: holy shit. No part of this book dragged for me, as evidenced by my approximately 5 hour reading time. While there wasn’t quite as much blistering sexual tension as I was expecting after reading other reviews, it was still definitely there and I love what was done with Cardan’s character and his relationship with Jude. One of the many, many things that I love about this series is how it takes that whole “I’m only an asshole because I’m protecting you and really I LOVE you and will proceed to shower you in mushy compliments” thing (which I’ve been known to enjoy) and flips it in The Cruel Prince. Sure, you find out that Cardan has major feelings for Jude, no surprise, but it’s not like he loves her. He doesn’t even particularly like her. He wants her but he’s disgusted by it and it’s hilarious and wonderful, at least for me. This dynamic continues in The Wicked King but definitely matures a little now that their positions in Faerie and with each other have changed so drastically. Cardan is the sarcastic, self-destructing, arrogant douchebag with a flair for the dramatic that I’m a complete sucker for and I thoroughly enjoyed peeping in on the power struggle between him and Jude. What I really love about his character, showcased epically in this book, is that just when you start to see Cardan as this big softie, albeit with piss poor social skills, he goes and does something fabulously clever and absolutely deplorable. And the really weird thing about this book is that it doesn’t make you like him less, if anything it makes you like the little schemer who schemes more as he dances circles around Jude. This is the same for all of the characters, including Jude. It’s a bold strategy to make your protagonist and focal character someone who’s (for the most part) unlikable, but it really pays off for Holly Black. Jude tells herself she’s holding the throne for Oak so that Faerie can be a better place with a better monarch, and that might be true to a certain extent but really she just wants power. And she isn’t shy about enjoying how it feels to have it. No one is especially likable or has particularly noble intentions except perhaps for Cardan, ironically. And even then his reasoning and approach is so morally questionable that it’s hard to qualify him as taking the high road. Though no one can lie in Faerie it’s best to assume that everyone is, and while they may look like humans and even act like humans, you can’t forget that they’re not. Just when you think you’ve figured a character out or correctly guessed someone’s intentions you’re reminded that these people are not human and do not have the same motivations, reactions or qualms. It’s what makes characters like Nicasia and Balekin fall flat in this book. They’re motivations are so obvious, juvenile and BORING that they seem unbelievable, particularly for characters who are supposed to be threatening. Cardan, Locke and others who are more unpredictable and dynamic are the ones who really drive the story. I’m hoping that there will be more development of Vivi in the next book, I spent the whole time wishing that she had a larger and more forceful role and that Nicasia had less. The entire plotline of Nicasia being jealous and a kinda-sorta rival to Jude for Cardan felt flat and unnecessary. The idea of her holding onto feelings for Cardan and being her driving motivation felt unrealistic given how irrelevant she has been to him so far. She had the potential to be an interesting character but with this storyline she seems small and inconsequential. The idea of her being a threat to Jude and Cardan’s relationship (if you can call it that) was boring and not needed, their dynamic is interesting enough without it. And to conclude: screw you Holly Black, you absolute delight, for ending this book like that and making me wait a whole year for the next one. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to beat my head against a wall until Queen of Nothing comes out
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