Cruel Price by Holly Black – book review
Cruel Prince by Holly Black was July’s pick for the book club The Lazy Foxes Book Club
My main feedback about this book is that the story seems nice but the writing is not my style.
The book is the 1st one in a series of 5 books and is labeled as Young Adult.
Even though we heard a lot of recommendation about this book, the one part that we missed is that this book really is Young Adult.
The story feels like an adolescent story without any explicit adult content, if there are parents trying to decide if the book is suitable for their teens.
The story is about 2 human girls that are taken into the Fairies land after their parents are killed.
The 2 human girls are raised by a fairy commander that is very close to the king along with their half- fairy sister and fairy brother.
The main character of the book is Jude, one of the human girls, that is 17 years old and dreams to become a knight of the king.
Humans are not very well seen in the fairies land and they are usually victims of bad bargains which almost always ends with the human being servants for fairies.
Jude and her sister are under the protection of the most powerful commander in fairy land and they are trying to fit in.
In order to be safe from the fairy magic, the girls have to be careful and take protection against it.
The king has 7 children and the youngest is the same age as Jude, which makes her life miserable most of the times.
The young prince is cruel and is trying the make Jude suffer on a daily basis.
Jude’s only wish is to prove herself worthy and gain the respect of the king and fairies but also to have power. In order to achieve her goal, Jude takes a path that will either bring her the power she craves or will be the end for her.
The story is filled with political intrigue, complex characters and a plot that keeps the reader engaged.
For me, the dislikes of the book is the way the author describes the characters and builds the world. It was very hard to imagine the the looks and feels of the characters based on the descriptions and it made it very hard for me to in the story.
The last 50-60 pages are feel more animated and where the most interesting part of the action takes place.
For me the adventure ends here and I do not think I will continue the series.