Format: Hardcover, 320 pages
Release Date: November 19, 2019
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Source: Library
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black, comes the highly anticipated and jaw-dropping finale to The Folk of the Air trilogy.
Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold onto. Jude learned this lesson when she released her control over the wicked king, Cardan, in exchange for immeasurable power.
Now as the exiled mortal Queen of Faerie, Jude is powerless and left reeling from Cardan's betrayal. She bides her time determined to reclaim everything he took from her. Opportunity arrives in the form of her deceptive twin sister, Taryn, whose mortal life is in peril.
Jude must risk venturing back into the treacherous Faerie Court, and confront her lingering feelings for Cardan, if she wishes to save her sister. But Elfhame is not as she left it. War is brewing. As Jude slips deep within enemy lines she becomes ensnared in the conflict's bloody politics.
And, when a dormant yet powerful curse is unleashed, panic spreads throughout the land, forcing her to choose between her ambition and her humanity...
“I exile Jude Duarte to the mortal world. Until and unless she is pardoned by the crown, let her not step one foot in Faerie or forfeit her life.”
Holly Black's The Queen of Nothing is the third and final installment in the authors The Folk of the Air trilogy. After Jude married Cardan, the High King of Elfhame, it legally made her High Queen of Faerie. But, in a shocking move, Cardan exiled Jude to the mortal world. She was left powerless,
unmoored, the
queen of nothing. Now living in Maine with her sister Vivi and her brother Oak, she spends her
days watching mindless TV and her nights doing odd jobs for fairies. She longs to return to Elfhame to best
Cardan, to seize the throne, to somehow get back who she was.
While doing a job, she meets Grima Mog who was once a Grand General of the High Court. Grima Mog will become an ally later in the story. When her twin sister Taryn (who stabbed her in the back and betrayed her) shows up asking of a favor, Jude (who cannot be glamoured to tell the truth) agrees to pretend to be Taryn at her inquest into the death of Locke. Jude's return to Faerie is fraught with danger as she assumes the
identity of her twin sister to protect her, but warring factions are
vying for the crown, and Jude has to choose between Cardan and her
family, who have both betrayed her ruthlessly.
With her father Madoc, once Grand General, now an enemy allied with the Court of Teeth to take down Cardan, Jude needs to move quickly to stop him while keeping the secret that she married Cardan and is truly Queen. When a dark curse is unveiled, Jude must become the first mortal Queen of
Faerie and uncover how to break the curse, or risk upsetting the balance of the whole Faerie
world. This story is a fitting ending to an epic story of love, betrayal, loyalty, and the
costs of being part of the royal court in the faerie world. It also made me question some of Jude's actions.
After all, if you have paid close attention over the course of this series, you know that Cardan did some things that seemed bizarre at the time. Think making Jude Queen of Mirth which allowed her to go anywhere. So, when Carden explains what happened in simple English, Jude is absolutely stunned as well as embarrassed. How could this boy she hates and loves so much, twist her heart into pieces? How could she not see that Cardan was also playing a longer game while letting Jude think she had everything under control?
The relationship
between Jude and Cardan is not the healthiest I've read about but I think
it is intended to be that way because Fae are sneaky, manipulative, devious
creatures and they would use whatever they have to achieve their goals. Jude is sneaky and devious and manipulative as well, especially when she becomes Jude's Seneschal. Now, the negative. The
ending itself was good and quite satisfying, but it would have felt so
much more intense if there was a final battle between Madoc army and
the crown, or even a fight scene between a father and daughter. When Jude discovers the remedy or the cure, the story pretty much ends. That's it. Move on, nothing to see here!
I declare that Holly Black should write more in this world. There is a whole lot more to explore. I'd also like the next story to feature Oak after he becomes King. I also declare that I never want to see Taryn again. Period. I don't mind Bomb, or Ghost, or Roach. They've been with Jude through some major dark times.
i thought this would be a good fit for me and your great review confirmed it
ReplyDeletesherry @ fundinmental