The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, #1) by Holly Black

Narrated by Caitlin Kelly

Synopsis (via Goodreads): 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. 

“Because you’re like a story that hasn’t happened yet. Because I want to see what you will do. I want to be part of the unfolding of the tale.”

Oh, wow. The beginning of this book is brutal, and that's just the first unexpected twist to the story. I never knew what was going to happen next! Almost everything Jude decides to do is a surprise, and it wasn't often I was able to guess her next move.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story for The Cruel Prince. It's different, but in a good way. There's a love interest, but there's not. There's a good family dynamic, but there's not. Good friends? Yes and no. You never know what you're going to get from page to page, because the rules of the game are constantly changing.

It was interesting to see how two mortals would survive in Faerie (twins!), even though they were practically raised there from a young age. Humans are the equivalent of toys, and it doesn't matter who your "daddy" is. They have the same problems as other mortals, so they cannot eat faerie food, they're susceptible to compulsion, and their only advantage is that they can lie without consequence.

A little more character development and background information of the secondary characters would have been nice, but it didn't detract from the overall story.

It's so hard to review this book, because I feel like every small detail could clue you in on something big that happens, and I want you to be as surprised as I was! All I can say is: READ THIS NOW (and then we can talk about it 😉).

Unrelated: If you want to participate in the next DNF&Y, it's going to be posted on the last day of the month (February 28th). You'll be able to link up on here!