The Cruel Prince by Holly Black: A Discussion

Sometimes if I love a book enough, I will devour it start to finish; I loved The Cruel Prince by Holly Black and yet could not read it in one sitting. Every chapter (and I mean every chapter) I had to put the book down because what had happened was either so dark or so surprising, that I just needed to process it. That being said, I highly recommend this book; both to people who like fantasy (obviously) and people who are tired of the typical stories and are ready for something that will surprise them. This book managed to avoid every stereotype and typical plot twist that Young Adult fiction has and I loved it for that reason.

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black follows the story of Jude, a human girl who is taken to live in the courts of Faerie when her parents are murdered. The book follows the Jude as she tries to navigate the complicated world of the courts, as well as the cruel people around her. This blog post is partially me reviewing the book and partially me still freaking out over everything that happened.

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****Warning: Spoilers Ahead******

This book, this book, this book. First of all, I found this book because of Instagram. I did this thing where I let Instagram decide which books I read (which you can read about here) and this was the first book I read based off of those recommendations. This set the bar high for me, and I’m a little nervous to see how the rest of the books compare, because this one was outstanding. I loved hoe I had absolutely no idea where this book was going. It didn’t follow a plot that I’d read about ever, and all of the characters were super interesting to read about.

The Cruel Prince was perhaps super interesting because it was so dark and twisted. Some moments that really affected me were when the servant girl committed suicide, when Prince Dain made Jude stab herself and when everyone was slaughtered at the dinner. Both were just heart-breaking moments that I didn’t see coming. part of me is still unsettled because of this book. That being said, the brutal moments were paced out, so it wasn’t just a book of one horrible thing happening after another without an emotional break.

In the beginning of this book, I enjoyed trying to figure out which character was “good” and which wasn’t. The signifier of “cruel” made me wonder about character labels and I think subconsciously made me try to categorize people. However, by the end I came to the conclusion that they’re all pretty cruel in their own way; every character acted out of concern for themselves except maybe Oriana. Jude desperately tried to find her place in court at the expense of others, Taryn double crossed her sister for a guy, Madoc literally killed everybody, Vivi cared about her sisters yes but she also was pretty self-centered enough to ignore her sisters wishes about living in faerie, Locke, Valerian, Cardan, and Nicasia were all jerks, Prince Dain made Jude stab herself and Madoc was blood thirsty. And yet, they all had redeeming qualities. I am honestly so impressed that Holly Black managed develop all of those characters, and each character had their own internal and fascinating personal struggle happening. If we look at Jude, you see her trying to fit into the court for the entire book at the expense of others, which isn’t exactly noble. And yet, you see her trying to do good, like saving the servant girl.

Despite how much I loved it, this book did have one of my biggest pet peeves, and that was the romance between Cardan and Jude. Nothing bothers me more than when the villain becomes the romantic interest because it completely disregards what the character did in the past. Although Valerian is the true perpetrator of most of the violence in that friend group, Cardan said some messed up things, and somehow they were all forgiven by the end.

Overall, this book was amazing and definitely one of my favorites I’ve read in a while because it wasn’t afraid to be dark, it surprised me constantly, and the characters were all dealing with interesting inner struggles.