Wednesday 31 January 2018

The Cruel Prince



I owe @JennieLy huge thanks for sending me a signed copy of this book, which I devoured in a few days. If I could have done nothing but read for twenty-four hours I would have finished this in one go. 

“If I cannot be better than them, I will become so much worse.” 

Jude and her sisters were abducted as young children and taken to the High Court of Faerie. Instead of hating her new home, Jude wants nothing more than to belong. With politics, danger, action and complex relationships, The Cruel Prince is a novel not to be missed. 

"You may win in the end, you may ensorcell me and hurt me and humiliate me, but I will make sure you lose everything I can take from you on the way down."


The world building in this novel was superb; it made me yearn for childhood fairytales. It was dark, cruel and believable despite its fantastical elements. Jude was a brilliant main character - she was flawed and difficult. Everyone in this novel is morally grey, so you never knew who you could trust. 


“I stand in front of my window and imagine myself a fearless knight, imagine myself a witch who hid her heart in her finger and then chopped her finger off.”  


There were elements of Jude and Cardan's relationship (if you can call it that) which reminded me of Pride and Prejudice, although this was far from being a fantasy YA retelling. 


"Like taking a dare to run over knives, like an adrenaline strike of lightning, like the moment when you've swum too far out in the sea and there is no going back, only cold black water closing over your head."

I can't believe I have to wait a whole year to know what happens next. I can see this being one of my top reads of 2018.  

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