The Cruel Prince
2018 • 384 pages

Ratings752

Average rating3.8

15

By #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black, the first book in a stunning new series about a mortal girl who finds herself caught in a web of royal faerie intrigue.

Of course I want to be like them. They're beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him--and face the consequences.

In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.


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Series

Series

3 primary books5 released books

#1 in The Folk of the Air

The Folk of the Air is a 5-book series with 3 released primary works first released in 2018 with contributions by Holly Black.

#1
The Cruel Prince
#1.5
The Lost Sisters
#2
The Wicked King
#3
The Queen of Nothing
#3.5
How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories

Series

5 primary books6 released books

#1 in Elfhame

Elfhame is a 6-book series with 6 released primary works first released in 2018 with contributions by Holly Black.

#1
The Cruel Prince
#2
The Wicked King
#3
The Queen of Nothing
#4
The Stolen Heir
#5
The Prisoner's Throne

Reviews

Popular Reviews

Reviews with the most likes.

Yes, Jude may be vicious and annoying but consider this: she is so me

(*Reread. I simply cannot explain the hold this trilogy has over me. Don't ask and don't judge you haters!!)

September 13, 2020

3.5 Good pacing and action and Black has always done well with world building. In spite of that I found Jude saying “xxx sucks” jarring and both out of character and out of world. Think my BOB team will like it and I'm interested enough to read/skim the next one.

June 11, 2019

Hmm okay. I actually liked this. Honestly wasn't expecting that. I feel like hate everything. I might even change my rating to a 5 stars. Let me sit on it a bit and we'll see.

May 29, 2021

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