#Review - The Prisoner’s Throne by Holly Black #YA #Fantasy

Series: The Stolen Heir # 2
Format: Hardcover, 368 pages
Release Date: March 5, 2024
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Source: Library
Genre: Young Adult / Dark Fantasy

Return to the opulent world of Elfhame, filled with intrigue, betrayal, and dangerous desires, with this second book of a captivating duology from the #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black. 

An imprisoned prince. A vengeful queen. And a battle that will determine the future of Elfhame. 
 
Prince Oak is paying for his betrayal. Imprisoned in the icy north and bound to the will of a monstrous new queen, he must rely on charm and calculation to survive. With High King Cardan and High Queen Jude willing to use any means necessary to retrieve their stolen heir, Oak will have to decide whether to attempt regaining the trust of the girl he’s always loved or to remain loyal to Elfhame and hand over the means to end her reign—even if it means ending Wren, too.


 
With a new war looming on the horizon and treachery lurking in every corner, neither Oak’s guile nor his wit will be enough to keep everyone he loves alive. It’s just a question of whom he will doom.

Holly Black's The Prisoner's Throne is the second and final installment in the author's The Stolen Heir duology. The first book in this series was narrated by Wren. This is narrated by Oak. Prince Oak, who 6 weeks ago was planning a treasonous plot against the High King (Cardan) and Queen (Jude), is now paying for his betrayal of Queen Suren (Wren). Imprisoned in The Ice Needle Citadel, he must rely on charm and calculation to survive. 

With High King Cardan and High Queen Jude willing to use any means necessary to retrieve their stolen heir, Oak will have to decide whether to attempt regaining the trust of the girl he’s always loved or to remain loyal to Elfhame and hand over the means to end her reign—even if it means ending Wren, too. Wren, who has since made an alliance with the Troll Kings, has the power of annihilation at her fingertips. She can break curses and tear spells to pieces with barely any effort.

But every time she uses her powers, she loses a part of herself that she can't get back. With a new war looming on the horizon and treachery lurking in every corner, especially by Bogdana, neither Oak’s guile nor his wit will be enough to keep everyone he loves alive. It’s just a question of whom he will doom. It is fair to say that with Cardan and Jude participating in this story, the story was a bit more enjoyable since Oak is a character who seems to hate himself, while Wren is on the cusp of destroying herself because of outside pressure.

Wren isn't the only one with fears and insecurities about being loved. Oak's gancanagh power makes him wonder if anyone truly loves him or if he inadvertently made them do so, even his own family. Oak, he is charming and manipulative, but he also cares about his sisters and family. Wren goes from this scared and easily manipulated girl, desperate to be loved to a terrifying and powerful monster queen, but with no resolution to her major and justifiable trust issues. I don't think I am in the minority when I say that Wren's POV would have gone a long way to understanding what was happening to her thanks to the schemes of others. 

Fact: I do not intend to read another book in this world unless I am forced to kicking and screaming. While Black is a really good writer, the need to bring back certain characters, and also add unnecessary plots grated on my last nerve. 

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#Review - The Stolen Heir by Holly Black #YA #Fantasy

Series: The Stolen Heir (#1)
Format: Hardcover, 368 pages
Release Date: January 3, 2023
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Source: Library
Genre: Young Adult / Dark Fantasy

Return to the opulent world of Elfhame, filled with intrigue, betrayal, and dangerous desires, with this first book of a captivating new duology from the #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black. 

A runaway queen. A reluctant prince. And a quest that may destroy them both.
 
Eight years have passed since the Battle of the Serpent. But in the icy north, Lady Nore of the Court of Teeth has reclaimed the Ice Needle Citadel. There, she is using an ancient relic to create monsters of stick and snow who will do her bidding and exact her revenge.
 
Suren, child queen of the Court of Teeth, and the one person with power over her mother, fled to the human world. There, she lives feral in the woods. Lonely, and still haunted by the merciless torments she endured in the Court of Teeth, she bides her time by releasing mortals from foolish bargains. She believes herself forgotten until the storm hag, Bogdana chases her through the night streets. Suren is saved by none other than Prince Oak, heir to Elfhame, to whom she was once promised in marriage and who she has resented for years. 
 
Now seventeen, Oak is charming, beautiful, and manipulative. He’s on a mission that will lead him into the north, and he wants Suren’s help. But if she agrees, it will mean guarding her heart against the boy she once knew and a prince she cannot trust, as well as confronting all the horrors she thought she left behind.
  

The Stolen Heir is the first installment in author Holly Black's The Stolen Heir duology. Eight years have passed since the Battle of the Serpent. But in the icy north, Lady Nore of the Court of Teeth has reclaimed the Ice Needle Citadel. There, she is using an ancient relic to create monsters of stick and snow who will do her bidding and exact her revenge. This story starts as Oak seeks Wren out along with his knight, Tiernan, and a disgraced follower of Madoc’s, Hyacinthe, to ask for her help. 

Lady Nore, Suren/Wren’s mother, is planning an attack on Elfhame, and, in order to stop it, they need her help to command her to surrender (a power which Jude granted her in The Queen of Nothing). Suren, child queen of the Court of Teeth, and the one person with power over her mother, fled to the human world. There, she lives feral in the woods. Lonely, and still haunted by the merciless torments she endured in the Court of Teeth, she bides her time by releasing mortals from foolish bargains. 

She believes herself forgotten until the storm hag, Bogdana chases her through the night streets. Suren/Wren is saved by none other than Prince Oak, heir to Elfhame, to whom she was once promised in marriage and who she has resented for years. Now seventeen, Oak is charming, beautiful, and manipulative. He’s on a mission that will lead him into the north, and he wants Suren/Wren’s help. But if she agrees, it will mean guarding her heart against the boy she once knew and a prince she cannot trust, as well as confronting all the horrors she thought she left behind.  

Oak is often the target of assassination attempts, as well as false flattery and disingenuous relationships, and he doesn’t know which of those is more annoying. He hopes that Suren/Wren is the answer to what he is searching for. In many ways Suren/Wren reminded me of Jude, specifically her distrust of the Folk who hurt her badly, Oak in particular, as well as her constant need to outwit those around her and be accepted by them, at last. This journey is mind blowing. 

The ending to the story is incredible and you will have no choice into following Suren/Wren into her next journey. So, apparently, my sources are now saying that book 2, which will be the finale, will feature Oak's narrative. If you are searching for Jude or Cardan, don't. This book is all about Oak and Suren/Wren and their fight to defeat the Queen of Teeth who is as villainous as ever.

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#Review - Book of Night by Holly Black #Fantasy #Contemporary

Series: Book of Night # 1
Format: Hardcover, 320 pages
Release Date: May 3, 2022
Publisher: Tor Books
Source: Library
Genre: Occult & Supernatural /  Contemporary / Fantasy

Charlie Hall has never found a lock she couldn’t pick, a book she couldn’t steal, or a bad decision she wouldn’t make.

She's spent half her life working for gloamists, magicians who manipulate shadows to peer into locked rooms, strangle people in their beds, or worse. Gloamists guard their secrets greedily, creating an underground economy of grimoires. And to rob their fellow magicians, they need Charlie Hall.

Now, she’s trying to distance herself from past mistakes, but getting out isn’t easy. Bartending at a dive, she’s still entirely too close to the corrupt underbelly of the Berkshires. Not to mention that her sister Posey is desperate for magic, and that Charlie's shadowless, and possibly soulless, boyfriend has been hiding things from her. When a terrible figure from her past returns, Charlie descends into a maelstrom of murder and lies.

Determined to survive, she’s up against a cast of doppelgangers, mercurial billionaires, gloamists, and the people she loves best in the world—all trying to steal a secret that will give them vast and terrible power.

Book of Night, by author Holly Black, is the first of a two part duology that was confirmed by the author. From the danger of Blights to the protective properties of onyx and fire, Book of Night transports us to a place where security is a rare commodity (while shadows have become a hot commodity). The world of Book of Night is one much like ours, but where shadow magicians, called gloamists, manipulate shadows. Gloamists can fly on shadow wings, send their shadows to smother enemies in their beds, and even possess the unwary. 

Not only that, but gloamists can alter the shadows of non-gloamists, imbuing them with minor magic as a result. Politicians can appear taller, daredevils can hover a tiny bit, and actors can carry a particularly striking look onto the red carpet. In this world, 28-year old Charlie Hall is a thief of secrets. She’s an expert at stealing the books in which shadow magicians hide their discoveries from one another. But that’s led her to one disaster after another, burning through countless chances to turn her life around. 

She’s finally trying to quit the game by keeping her head down and staying out of trouble by being a bartender at Rapture Bar and Lounge. She's trying to appreciate her shadowless and maybe soulless boyfriend Vince’s ability to pay half the rent by allegedly being a cleaner of murder scenes. She's trying hard not to lose her job a dive bar with a shadow parlor with operating beneath it. Her magic-obsessed sister Posey is interested in something less destructive and follows in the footsteps of their mother with tarot card readings while itching for her own magic. 

Charlie was really good at taking things apart from puzzles to people. For 10 years, she stole from one gloamist after another which the author sets the stage for with flashbacks to the past. 20 years ago after the Boxford massacre in Massachusetts, the world became aware of the gloamists and their abilities. Symbolically, our shadow selves are the unacknowledged parts of us, the parts we want to shove down into the dark. Our anger, our shame, our desire. After Charlies stumbles across a man being torn asunder, she finds that she can no longer look the other way.

The most Charlie digs, the less she knows about her boy friend, and his past, or what he's actually been doing since the first met. Her decision to go for one last grift that would expose the one magic everyone wants to keep a secret lands her in the cross-hairs of the most powerful of those that wield magic. There are those from Balthazar, to The Cabal, to Lionel Salt who are looking for the Liber Noctem, or Book of Blights, or Book of Nights if you will. This story is dark and violent, full of people down on their luck, lots of sinister bad guys, sex against the walls, an evil Cabal, and scary shadows.

While this is the first part of the duology, readers can expect that there will be a cliffhanger ending that will hopefully push readers to read the sequel. This is Holly Black's first adult fantasy novel and I could easily have raised by rating on this to 4 Gizmos just for the darkness of the book, and the fact that pretty much nobody can be trusted to be who you think they are. Charlie’s life is thrown into chaos, and her future seems at best, unclear—and at worst, non-existent thanks to curious choices she makes towards the end of the book. If you have read Ninth House and The Night Circus you will enjoy this book.

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#Review - The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black #YA #Fantasy

Series: The Folk of the Air (#3)
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.

He will be the destruction of the crown and the ruination of the throne

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.

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#Review - The Wicked King by Holly Black #YALit #Fantasy

Series: The Folk of the Air # 2
Format: Hardcover, 336 pages
Release Date: January 8, 2019
Publisher: Little, Brown BYR
Source: Library
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

The enchanting and bloodthirsty sequel to the New York Times bestselling novel The Cruel Prince.

You must be strong enough to strike and strike and strike again without tiring.

The first lesson is to make yourself strong.

After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her younger brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.

When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.

 

“Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold on to.” 

 

The Wicked King is the second installment in author Holly Black's The Folk of Air series. This book picks up 5 months after the events of The Cruel Prince. Protagonist Jude Duarte is now seneschal to the High King Cardan whom she forced into the throne of Elfheim. But, things are far, far, far, from over. There are underlying political maneuvering going on that will find Jude and really put a damper on her future plans for her brother Oak. 

Jude is determined to protect her brother, Oak who is living in the mortal world with her sister Vivienne. As seneschal (right hand woman) to King Cardan, she believes that by controlling Jude, she can control what happens to Oak. But, in reality, Jude can't trust anyone, or anything in fairy. She has too many enemies including Balekin who is still living and scheming from his prison cell. But, Madoc, her "father" has finally come around to understanding that Jude is not someone to take lightly, or underestimate.

To make matters worse,  the Queen of the Sea is threatening to attack land and worse of all, Jude may be the one thing that will be the deciding factor to whether or not Cardan and the Queen go to war. I've said this before, but Holly Black is a twisted genius. She lures you into her evil web, then laughs when you think that things are going to go the way you believe. The book will take you for a wild ride, and you won't be able to put it down or guess in what direction the story will end up. 

Can I be honest for a moment? I loathe Taryn, Jude's twin sister. Honestly, I won't bother reading The Lost Sisters because I just don't care about Taryn, or her feelings. I do not care what anyone says about how she has her own way of coping or surviving in Faerie. The bottom line is only one of the sisters has double crossed and betrayed her sister, and it wasn't Jude. I pray that Jude stabs her several dozen times and she doesn't return.

That also goes for Locke as well. Locke deserves all the pain and suffering that is coming for him. There are others, of course, including Madoc, the man who killed Jude's mother, and brought Jude and Taryn to Faerie. He absolutely needs to have his comeuppance. But, at least I can understand Madoc and his machinations. He is trying to protect his family and doesn't understand why Jude is so hesitant about joining his side.

So much happens to Jude because she is absolutely blindsided by people she has no business trusting. Her relationship with Cardan is a total mess. Come on folks, be real. This relationship is toxic. These two shouldn't be in the same room together let alone falling in love with each other, or having feelings that may complicate Jude's plans. Would if be fair to call it beautifully tragic? In some ways, I am not mad at what happens at the end of this book. One could say that if you follow the story closely, you will see it coming.

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Tuesday #Review - The Cruel Prince by Holly Black #YALit #Fantasy

Series: The Folk of the Air # 1
Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
Release Date: January 2, 2018
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Source: Library
Genre: Young Fiction / Dark Fantasy

By #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black, the first book in a stunning new series about a mortal girl who finds herself caught in a web of royal faerie intrigue.

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.

The Cruel Prince is the first installment in author Holly Black's The Folk of Air series. The Cruel Prince is a blend of Faerie and Fantasy. In this world, Fae are a mixture of horror and pleasure. As with The Darkest Part of the Forest, Black has returned to the genre that launched her YA career with a setting and cast of faerie characters, and successfully mixes her expertise with the tone of bestselling fantasies such as the A Court of Thorns and Roses, And I Darken, and Red Queen series. 

When she was 7 years old, Jude Duarte, her sister Taryn, and step sister Vivienne, watched as a man named Madoc showed up and murdered her parents. Madoc isn't just any man, however. He is a redcap general of some merit who has fought many wars in his time. The sisters found themselves being dragged into the land of Faerie where we find them 10 years later. For 10 years, Jude has strived to be more than a puny human whose life span is short next to those she not only lives with, but goes to school with.

Jude wants to be a knight to prove that even mortals are worthy of rising to the top of the ladder. When that path is closed to her, she reinvents herself into a person that is as cruel as any fae. Jude's time arrives when Prince Dain asks her to be his spy and puts a geas on her to never to reveal who she is working for, or what she is doing. Even in the face of danger and threats from magical, violent faeries, she holds her own and manages to find her own power. Jude's ends up belonging to a group known as the Court of Shadows which includes Roach, Bomb, and Ghost. Loved all three. 

There is nothing like a group of  anti-heroes fighting the good fight against even more nastier villains to peak my interest. As Jude is fighting off those who hate her guts and want to see her dead, she doesn't leave any room for how much she is willing to do and the things she is willing to go through in order to survive and make her home in Faerie where she will finally get the respect she wants. For Jude, her antagonist is Prince Carden. Let me briefly summarize my feelings for Carden.

He is the most arrogant, the most selfish, the most twisted, the most damaged, the most cruel, the most curious male character in this entire book. As the youngest in his family, he doesn't give two craps about who is in charge or who he offends as long as he is having fun. He just wants to drink, taunt everyone who is lower in rank them him, and party like it's 1999. He struts like a peacock while everyone is looking. His main target more times than not just happens to be Jude who doesn't back down but fights back. He's also got a curious side that ends up making the final chapters that much more entertaining.

So, while Vivienne is acting out in rebellion against her father and wanting to return to the mortal world, Taryn is being sneaky as a snake. We shall leave that right there because while I would love to speak my mind about Taryn. Taryn's behavior goes towards Jude's growth as a character and the choices she makes. Jude's relationship with the Court of Shadows and her unknown pull towards the Cruel Prince Caden grows. Can Jude keep her head attached while sifting through the politics of the Fae world? Or, will she just become yet another casualty? 

This book is, in a way, very cruel. There are twists galore, and you better be ready for anything to happen. The ending leaves you wanting to connect this book with Games of Thrones and the Red Wedding episode. Yep, it is that bloody. Those who are left standing, will have to put the pieces together in order to go forward. In Jude's case, everything she's done, lie, steal, murder, and become a leader all of her own, means selling her soul to the boy that may end up breaking her into pieces.

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