The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

INTRODUCTION 

We have heard about a lot of fairy tales, but what happened when the author turn those stories wholly into a modern faery’s tale. Here the author shows an imaginative world, people of that world lived a very long life, have different kinds of magic and their appearance is also very different from ours. Beautiful sceneries and creatures were shown that we never heard of. This series will take us to a world that we never thought of.

ABOUT THE BOOK 

Elfame is a world of magic and faeries where mortals are treated as mere servants. Coming off one mortal girl changed the history of their world.

Jude Duarte is a mortal girl taken to a world of fey with the murderer of her parents. Later she wanted her place in that world. She tried very hard to be one of them to get to her place but the youngest prince of Elfhame had other plans. He despises her so much that he can do everything in her hands to make her life miserable.

BLURB 

The Cruel Prince shows the life of Jude who witnessed her parent’s murder as a child. She and her sisters were taken away by their killer to a magical immortal world. Raised by general Madoc, her parent’s killer and her foster father, she grew up in an environment of strategy and training, and willed herself as a shoulder to win herself a place in the court. Falling in love with the beauty of Elfhame, she is desperate to prove herself as one of them and make her dreams come true.

But there is a person who is the hurdle between her and her dream. Prince Cardan Greenbriar, is the youngest and the cruelest prince. He’s so beautiful and charming. He and his friends despise her very much for being a mere mortal.

In doing so, she agreed to become a spy for Prince Dain to be a king who promised her a place in court. In her way, she came to realize the truth of her true nature and capability of bloodshed. But the future has something different for everyone, there are some secrets and decisions that she had to make. Risk herself for her sister and the faerie itself.

THEMES 

• Cruelty: It is the main theme of the novel. As you see, one person pressures others to show how cruel they are. Balekin is cruel to Cardan, Cardan is cruel to Jude. Jude is mean to others. Madoc, Taryn, Valerian, Dain and many others have shown their cruelty in one way or another.
• Magic: As an immortal world, magic plays an important role. It is shown that every person or every single thing that was mentioned in the story.
• Hate: It is shown that most of the immortals hate mortals for no reason other than their being with no power. That is solely shown in Balekin and Cardan’s friends’ behavior.
• Enemies: Best and foremost enemies that are shown in the novel are Jude and Cardan. The conflicts between them were enlightened when Cardan’s friends Nicasia, Valerian and Locke teamed up against Jude.
• Power: It’s a running theme that passes from one person to another. First, it was shown in the hands of High King Eldred and lastly, we saw it in the hands of Prince Cardan as a pawn of Jude.

CHARACTERS 

• JUDE DUARTE: The protagonist of the story. A mortal girl who had been taken to a magical world with a stubborn and ambitious personality.
• CARDAN GREENBRIAR: The main lead and villain in Jude’s life. He is the youngest son of High King Eldred and is also neglected by him.
• TARYN DUARTE: She is the twin sister of Jude. Shown as the opposite personality of Jude. She likes to be ignored by the folks.
• VIVIENNE: An immortal sister of Jude, whose father is Madoc. She hates being immortal and wants to live in a mortal world with her girlfriend.
• MADOC: The killer and foster father of Jude and Taryn. He’s the general of High King Eldred and likes bloodshed.
• ORIANA: Wife of Madoc. She takes care of Jude, Taryn and Vivienne.
• HEATHER: She is the girlfriend of Vivienne and is a mortal and lives in the mortal world.
• NICASIA: She is the princess of the underseas who is welcome on the land because of a treaty and is a close friend of Cardan.
• LOCKE: A friend of Cardan who tricked Jude and played with her feelings.
• VALERIAN: Also a friend of Cardan and hated Jude so much that he tried to kill her a couple of times.
• DAIN GREENBRIAR: The 3rd son of the High King and chosen to be the next king of Elfhame.
• BALEKIN GREENBRIAR: The 1st son of the High King who takes Cardan to live under his hand.
• THE ROACH: One of the spies of the court of shadows who is a thief, he’s able to steal anyone or anything.
• THE GHOST: Another spy of the court of the shadows is in charge of explosive things and poisons.
• THE BOMB: Another spy from the court of shadows who is a light-speed sharpshooter.

BEST LINES 

• What could I become if I stopped worrying about death, about pain, about anything? If I stopped trying to belong? Instead of being afraid, I could become something to fear.
• If I cannot be better than them, I will become so much worse.
• Most of all, I hate you because I think of you. Often. It’s disgusting, and I can’t stop.
• I am going to keep on defying you. I am going to shame you with my defiance. You remind me that I am a mere mortal and you are a prince of Faerie. Well, let me remind you that means you have much to lose and I have nothing. 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. I promise you this is the least of what I can do.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Holly Black is an American writer and editor who is known for her fantasy novels. She did an amazing job to express to the readers a whole new world that we can’t even imagine. This book is the 1st part of her series The Folk of the Air. Readers are solely hypnotized by the way she writes every plot and character with different kinds of personalities.

CONCLUSION 

This novel is very imaginative. One can explore a whole new world with magic and different kinds of species. This series is known as one of the best fantasy series. The way Jude’s character was shown as an independent and powerful girl, and Cardan is wicked and cruel got the attention of readers. This part of the book left readers on a cliffhanger to excite them for the next book.