Rating: 4 stars
Going into The Cruel Prince I had a very conflicted bias. I knew that this book was split down the middle, half of the readers absolutely loving it, and half thinking it was terrible. I tried very hard not to let that affect my opinions while reading, but I still found myself struggling. In hindsight, I think my opinions on the book are very much my own, and I very much enjoyed it. It isn't my favorite Fae-centered YA series (yes, my heart was stolen by ACOTAR and it is now the standard against which all other Fae stories are measured), but I thought it was original and well-written.
Our main character, Jude, is in a strange predicament. She was raised by her parents' murderer, after he murdered her parents in front of her. She was whisked away at the age of seven to Faerie, a land outside the mortal realm where Faeries rule and humans are at best used as overcompliant servants. Jude spends the next decade of her life training to be a knight so as to be accepted by the Fae, and lashing out at her worst bully, Prince Cardan. No one is more surprised than Jude herself when she must enlist Cardan's help to save the kingdom from a tyrannical ruler.
Let's start with the positives of this book.
What they don't realize is this: Yes, they frighten me, but I have always been scared, since the day I got here.
#1: Jude
I thought Jude was a very good female lead. She was strong and defiant, but she was also constantly aware of fear. I think a common mistake is to make female protagonists too strong and brave to the point that they implausibly have no fears and can beat everyone at everything. Jude understands her fear, she looks it in the face and then crawls over it. She uses it as fuel and motivation. Jude's emotional awareness on the whole makes her more personable and realistic. She shows and understands her anger, fear, and sadness. Another thing I love is that she uses what is supposed to be her biggest weakness, her humanness, as an advantage. She becomes sneaky, deceptive, and is always one step ahead of the competition, and she embraces it as her identity and her responsibility.
#2: The plot
This seems like a stupid thing to include as a positive aspect of the book, but I just really enjoyed how the events unfolded. There were distinct parts of the book, so that no matter where you were, there was always something happening, some goal in the process of being achieved. There is very little white space (pages spent on only explaining things and not moving the plot along) in the novel. I am a plot driven reader so I really enjoyed this aspect. There were twists and turns, and the plot also served to develop the characters and their relationships.
Only in my dreams has Cardan ever been like this. Begging. Miserable. Powerless.
#3: The Jude/Cardan relationship
This was not something I thought I would like in the beginning of the book. Here you have Cardan, a horribly mean bully with the posse to back him up, who is constantly belittling and physically hurting Jude for being human, a race that has been systematically reinforced as inferior. I knew from the title that there would probably end up being a romance between the main character and the Cruel Prince, but I was dreading it. But then, it wasn't so bad. I appreciate how the author didn't throw all of it into our faces at once, like Cardan admits his attraction and Jude is suddenly and irrevocably in love with him. In general, the book is very light on the romance. It fixes some of the truly horrible things Cardan has done and sets up a future romance, but Jude still remains skeptical, malicious, and vindictive in her treatment of Cardan, which is highly preferable IMO.
I do have a couple of critiques for this book.
#1: World building
I really liked the concept of this world. There's a Faerie kingdom, which exists alongside the mortal world, but the mortal world is our modern world, with fish sticks and Target and girls with dyed-pink hair. Unfortunately, the author didn't really do justice to this idea. How the two worlds coexist is unclear. The humans don't know where Faerie is, so clearly it's hidden, but the response to the question of "where" is a glossed-over half-answer. The relationship between Faerie and the mortal world is also unclear. Hopefully this will be more thoroughly satisfied in future books of the series.
#2: Lack of companionship
Jude doesn't really have a "sidekick" through the book, and I don't really see her having any kinsmanship with anyone throughout the book. And the thing is, there was ample opportunity. Jude is inducted into a super-secret spy group, and still they have really professional, non-friendly relationships. She doesn't have kinship with her twin sister, who like kind of betrays her, and she doesn't spend enough time with her older sister to feel friendship with her. Basically, Jude doesn't have any friends. To me, friendships are a very important part of fantasy series, so I hope this is amended in the next book.
I was impressed with this book. I liked the characters, the writing, and the plot. I didn't ever think it was boring, and I definitely recommend this to people who like fantasy, high fantasy, and Fae-centered storylines.
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