Jude is a human girl living in Faerie together with her twin sister Taryn and her older half-sister, who is also half faerie, Vivi. The three of them were stolen from the mortal world after the murder of their parents by Madoc, Vivi’s Fae father.
After having spent ten long years in Faerie, each of the girls have accommodated themselves differently to their lives in the High Court of Faerie. The book mainly centers around Jude. Jude has adapted relatively well, and although it is hard to fit in as a human she is eager to prove she is worthy of her place there. Unfortunately, she is more than once tormented by her nemesis Prince Cardan, with whom she goes to school. Things start to unravel fast from here and Jude is forced to make decisions that will not only have an impact on her life, but on the lives of her sisters, and the whole of Faerie as well.
Seriously, I had never read one of Holly Black’s books before, but I am totally hooked. Jude was a mysterious yet intriguing character, and I desperately want to get to know her better. Most interesting are her relationships with her sisters, her adoptive father, and the gentry Fae boys Cardan, Valerian, and Locke. All of the characters were really well composed, and most of them are not afraid of violence at all.
Honestly, I find books like this really hard to review, simply because I just want to scream how amazing it was and how badly I need the sequel. But really, it was so so so good. Holly constructed this incredibly amazing world that gets you completely sucked in from the very first page until long after you have finished the book.
I received a digital review copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are entirely my own. My review is susceptible to changes in the final copy of this work.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and Holly Black for my ARC of The Cruel Prince. If there's anything in this world I love, its stories about fairies. Growing up I was obsessed with them, I had collections of picture books and of course the staple fairy book; The Complete Book of Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Barker. My favourite film was Fairytale A True Story and I was convinced that I would be able to see them. Because I truly believed, and that's all you need right? If you believe in Fairies, you'll see them.

Holly Black follows in the footsteps of her friend Cassandra Clare in that her Fairies are not the sprightly, sweet, pink wearing Flower Fairies of Cicely Mary Barker's compendiums. Instead they are dark, the Seelie and Unseelie courts, Lords and Ladies of Misrule, tempting humans into slavery with their narcotic spiked fruits, ensorcelling them with their commands and dark magic. That's exactly what kind of world Jude and her sister Taryn walk into when their older sister Vivienne's fairy Dad walks back into their lives and takes them to live in Faerie.
Jude has a lot to contend with, not only does she need to protect herself and her sister from the charms of the fey, she has also found an enemy in Prince Cardan, the youngest and cruelest prince who seems to be doing his best to make Jude's life a misery.

But there are bigger players in this game, a game much larger and more complicated than child's play. Somehow, Jude finds herself right in the middle of it. With everything to lose, she's everything to play.
Dark, dangerous and deliciously deceitful. The Cruel Prince is an outstanding first novel in what I think will become an addictively good series.

That was exceptional! Easily one of the best books I've read this year, by far!
The world building was amazing... I wish I could live there at the High Court of Faerie with all the plots and magic..!

Jude is an awesome female protagonist and she makes me feel everything she does. All the Faye and the princes and all the different characters that make this story are so so good. But I really liked prince Cardan from the beginning.

And I have to mention the food! Oh.My.God! I was salivating all through this book.

I loved every minute of it and now I have to wait for 2 years for book no. 2!!!!

Wow.

My friends, we have waited for years for another faerie book in the worlds that Holly creates--10 long years, I counted--and I am here to say that we have not waited in vain. This is a stunning book. A stunningly stunning book. A book that it is difficult to put down for mundane things like eating, sleeping, going to work....

Okay, enough waxing poetical. What is this book actually about, you might rightfully ask me. And, since this is technically a review, not a love note, I will go ahead now and tell you.

Jude is a young girl when she watches her parents brutally murdered and has no choice but to go into faerie with her half sister and the man who murdered her parents. There, she is schooled with one of the royal princes of Faerie, and his, frankly, awful Gentry friends. Only Locke seems slightly less bad. Only Valerian seems slightly more worse.

But there are other dangers to be faced as well, as this is the world of Faerie, and Jude and her twin sister Taryn are both still human, mortal, despite having grown up only really getting to know Faerie well. They both have their plans. Taryn is going to become Faerie by marrying one. But Jude, Jude is going to go for the power that a knighthood gives her.

The Cruel Prince is such a wonderful title for this book, because we don't actually know who this person is referencing. There are at least three princes to my count that it could relate to and, throughout all of the book, there is at least one of the princes that it definitely seems to be pointing to.

We get to see Roiben! I was happy with just seeing him walking around in the background, with his one line at the coronation, but no, we actually get a full scene with him and Kaye. And that was so... so many heart eyes.

I have been a HUGE Holly Black fan since I was a teenager and this did not disappoint. Dark and intriguing and creepy and intense.

*Arc provided by the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review*
I have been a huge fan of Holly Black’s Modern Fairy Tales series and even this the Cruel Prince was enjoyable I have to admit that I didn’t like it as much as I thought I did.
Honestly there is nothing wrong with this book. The world building is as usual phenomenal and the characters (loved or disliked) have dimensions.
However I admit the story fell a bit flat for me because it didn’t go the way I thought it was going to go after reading the summary and the title.
As much as I enjoyed Jude for a while I couldn’t really feel with her once she turned conniving – I also liked Cardan but somehow I expected more.
The plot was good and the pace was steady too and even if it fell a bit flat for me I still enjoyed it.
I believe this book will really appeal Holly Black’s fans as well as fairy universe fans.
I will definitely be checking out the sequel as there are some answers I am looking forward to.
Stars 3/5

Well I didn't expect THAT to happen at the beginning of this book. Wow. This book encompasses everything that I love about Faerie YA. It is cruel, dark, deceptive and largely unpredictable because of that; I absolutely adored this beautiful world filled with deplorable characters and dirty trickery.

The story doesn't even start off tame! Jude is one of three sisters. One of the sisters, Vivi, has Fey blood whilst Jude and her twin sister Taryn remain mortal. This fact alone somehow leads the three girls (in a very gruesome turn of events) to be taken to the land of Faerie (you'll need to see for yourself why!), and Jude soon learns that being a mortal girl in a Faerie land is not an easy ride. She is frequently tortured and teased by a cruel fey prince, Cardan, and his squad of beautiful, vicious friends. But Jude is determined to be a Knight for the High Faerie King and so she enters a tournament to do so.

That's the basic plot, but it's not AT ALL what this book is about and to be honest, the plot has so many forks in the road that you wouldn't even believe it to be the same story as the one you started out reading. The twists are brilliant, and the deception is rife! I think Holly Black has to be a genius to have been so many steps ahead of the reader, planning all of this out. It's so utterly complex and I only caught on to a couple of the traps she laid out for us to fall into.

I've read a few books by Holly Black before, and for whatever reason they didn't mesh with me - but this story is so much more mature and exciting. I can't express enough how beautifully written this is, but more so just how great this story and it's devious little characters are. Jude is a really fantastic main character. At no point did I find her weak; in fact she is cold, calculating and I adored her. She's exactly the kind of merciless, strong female lead I love to cheer on.

Definitely read this. It's going straight to my favourites shelf.

The Cruel Prince is part one of The Folk Of Air Series.
The next two books will be realeased in 2019 (The Wicked King) and in 2020 (The Queen of Nothing).

I had a sleeples night, because I couldn`t put this book down. And the chliffhanger was very mean. Over one year is a long time for waiting what will happen next...

I loved the worldbuildung and the vivid description of the Faerieland with its inhabitants.
I really liked Jude. She is a very complex , interesting and tragic character.
As a human she is an outsider in the land she was abducted as a child and risen up. She loves her family, even the `father` who has murdered her parents, and she loves Faerieland. But as a `weak` human she´s distained by most of the immortal race. She is beeing humiliated and has even to fear for her life at some point when her fellow students are playing their pranks with her.

She has one goal: To win her place in Faerieland. To be someone who belongs.
As she gets the chance, she seizes it.
... But the opportunity comes with a price and she´s pulled into the treasonous wold of the Court.
When she decides to become an open player in `the game of throne`; everything is changing.
She`s growing into someone to be recognized; but will it guarantee her a rightful place in the Faerieland or will it swallow her up?

I have been looking forward to reading this book for awhile, the plot seemed just right. A cruel prince, a human girl, revenge, intrigue; it was all there. For me it did not live up to the hype though.
Jude was an inconsiderate, foolish, and all around incompetent character. She just rubbed me the wrong way.
Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the plot and the idea of the fae not being good. That is different than most fae books today.

Well, I never thought I’d get an advance of this book, I’ve heard so many good things about it that I was so happy that NetGalley allowed me a copy.

And I am so glad they did, this book is brilliant.

It drags you in from the second it starts with a dramatic beginning that actually builds the characters you are about to deeply care about it in such a subtle way that allows you to just fall in to the story. Jude is a protagonist to believe in as she works her way up the Fae world in the shadow of Prince Cardan who is a very well written villain.

How she builds the world in which the Fae live is just as good as the world is grows around the characters, allowing the reader to see the world through the sheer imagery of the words in this book. This book sets up an incredible series, that Black is used to creating, see the Magisterium series for that.

I really need the second book, I really really do.