Alli

This series is one of my favorites. Holly Black is a masterful storyteller. She reveals both the beautiful and terrible in her world with excellent detail, efficient prose, and well-timed, natural dialogue. The world comes out to you from the page with lovely description and color.

Jude, our main protagonist (or, it could be argued, anti-heroine), is immediately likable and understandable: she's wickedly clever, ambitious, and sometimes kind. But Black doesn't write a banal coming-of-age character who allows herself to be swept away in the games of others, nor does she give us a girl who wants to be rescued. Jude battles her way through her world, trying to take what she wants, always becoming stronger, and fights for what she cares about. All the while, the reader is painfully aware of how Jude's upbringing has scarred her, and how the circumstances she's been borne to (not a typo here - hehe) continue to limit her heart and mind. She's not perfect; she's vicious and strong and scheming and desperately blind to her desire for love and praise. She's fully human, and I love her for it.

The Cruel Prince (and its sequel, which was just released) is a superior example of fantasy fiction that refuses to play on tropes. Its subject matter is Faerie, but its heart shows us just what it means to be human, to be a daughter, and to be a young woman who has grown up in a merciless world, and what that world ultimately pushes her to become. A must-read for sure.

Interesting world-building, but lack of clarity in lore, and oftentimes stumbling and vague prose, as if the author herself wasn't sure how to lead readers through her backstories (and their important conclusions). I started reading #2, but got bored.

Poor writing and a main character who starts off strong and likable but devolves into mostly a bystander. The subsequent sequel is painfully unorganized, anachronistic, and without art in its storytelling.

This is firmly a regret, and I don't recommend it or any of the others in the series.

Horrible.

A popular 5-star rating review of this novel on iBooks is that it's the “BEST BOOK EVAH!!!!” It's like going to a four-star rated Mexican cafe from Yelp...that's right next to a University: you're in for a gut bomb and a bathroom visit.

I googled Carter - turns out the author's been writing fanfiction since 11 years of age. The Goddess Test's prose certainly testifies to such beginnings. This isn't to say fanfiction's a bad thing - I've written (poorly) and read many a good fanfic! But let me tell you - there are fanfiction authors that do a much better job of clarity and depth than Carter does.

Simply put: Move on. Do not waste your time on this series. You will regret it.

1 in this series was a smidge better, and its ending propelled me to give COMAF a try. I wish I hadn't - I actually stopped reading about 2/3rds through. As A Court of Mist and Fury putters along, I felt myself become bored: annoyed by the flat character development, plot holes, and “info dumps”: long sections of recap or backstory that should have artfully been woven into the narrative, but are dumped in the readers' lap like a tub of ice water over your head. So many opportunities of foreshadowing, utterly wasted - just like my time reading this.