Honest Book Review: The Cruel Prince
A 416-page epitome of immorals.
“If I cannot be better than them, I will become so much worse.”
- Jude Duarte, The Cruel Prince
As two human sisters are brought into the world of faeries by their parents’ killer, one indulges in desperate attempts to find love while the other seeks power. There is no right and no wrong in this book, only ambition.
Hence,
Don’t read the book if you view the world in black and white because ‘The Cruel Prince’ is everything except an embodiment of righteousness. It is yet another one of Holly Black’s wicked romance laced with betrayals and schemes, finally ending the book with lines (no spoilers) that give one a heart attack.
Honestly, I wasn’t exactly engrossed in the book at first. The female protagonist’s impulsiveness and her thirst for becoming something she was not, a faerie, were somethings that remained forced and rather unrelatable for me. But everything changed during the second half when she embraced her other side, her villainous side.
She is ambitious, calculative, manipulative, and an excellent schemer that makes you gasp-out-loud. While she doesn’t personify the so-called heroic characteristics conventionally, she is every bit of a strong female lead that you would come to admire. Someone that would entrap you in her story and force you to read the other two in the series.
While the book might be titled under the ‘Prince,’ frankly speaking, Prince Cardan is just a pawn. If I had to summarize the couple in one word, it would be obsession.
However, this doesn’t make the ‘enemies-turn-lovers’ romance any less swoon-worthy. Though it is yet to fully blossom, nothing beats a kiss with Jude’s knife along Cardan’s throat.
A short snippet for the romance lovers-
“Have I told you how hideous you look tonight?” Cardan asks, leaning back in the elaborately carved chair, the warmth of his words turning the question into something like a compliment.
“No” I say, glad to be annoyed back into the present. “Tell me.”
“I can’t.”
