Holly Black Archives - Brooke's Reviews and Sweeps

The Queen of Nothing

By Brookelorren on November 25, 2019November 25, 20192 Comments

The Queen of Nothing came out last week and… it was so good! If you’ve read The Wicked King, then you know that the ending of that story left you needing this book. If you haven’t read The Wicked King, I recommend you go read it before you read this review, because it will contain spoilers.

Jude is living with her sister in the mortal world now. She might be used to living in the fairy world, but now she has the same problems as the rest of us mundanes. She has no skills and no status with the government either. So to earn money, she’s been taking odd jobs from a fairy.

All of this changes when Taryn shows up at her doorstep. Jude has to return to fairy to protect her identical twin–and then becomes embroiled in fairy politics once again. I don’t want to give away much more than that, but I will say that the cover of this book is perfect for the story.

What I Liked:

What I like most about the Folk of the Air trilogy, including this book, is Holly Black’s voice. She has a style of writing that draws you in. I love the world she paints and the characters she creates. Plus, I love Jude and Cardan. These books have been criticized in the past as portraying their relationship as toxic, but both characters were toxic. In The Queen of Nothing, both the characters grow and so does their relationship.

I can’t think of anything I disliked. The Folk of the Air books tend to run on the shorter side of fantasy books, but they can easily be read in a day or two. Ms. Black doesn’t pad the books to make the book longer.

Conclusion:

Should you read The Queen of Nothing? If you read the first two books, then yes, probably. There’s a lot less toxicity between Jude and Cardan in this book. If you live for that in this series, then you might not want to rush this to the top of your TBR. I loved this book, however, and will definitely want to give this series a reread at some point.

Other books in the Folk of the Air Series:

The Wicked King was Diabolically Good

By Brookelorren on January 9, 2019January 9, 2019Leave a Comment

The Wicked King, by Holly Black, was sitting in my mailbox yesterday, and after reading The Cruel Prince, I had to read it right away. It was an un-putdownable book. After finishing it, my first question was “How long until the next Folk of the Air book again?” The next book, The Queen of Nothing, can’t come soon enough, if you ask me.

Because The Wicked King is the second book in a trilogy, there may be spoilers for The Cruel Prince in this review.

When we last left Jude and Cardan, Jude had managed to place Cardan on the throne as High King of Faerie. It was a scheme to eventually put her brother Oak on the throne while keeping her foster father, Madoc, from having control of the realm. Instead, she was actually the one in control, with Cardan as her puppet king. When we join them at the beginning of this book, Jude is acting as Cardan’s seneschal, and he has to do anything that she commands.

The two are no longer enemies in school. They spend their days running a kingdom where its inhabitants have to be truthful, even if they are scheming and deceptive. They still see themselves as enemies, but they have to work together nonetheless.

And they still just happen to have this weird attraction to each other. Which I love from a reader’s perspective.

It’s been five months since Cardan pledged to be obedient to Jude, and she can feel the months trickling away. Sooner than she’d like, he will be released from his promise, and he can do what he’d like again. Oak still won’t be old enough to rule. What then? Jude is concerned about all of this, when threats come to her, Cardan, and Oak from the Queen of the Undersea. She wants him to marry her daughter, Nicasia. And that’s all I’m going to say, because you’ll want to find out what happens for yourself.

The book was well-written. The prose slides through your mind like you’re watching a movie, and you forget it’s even there. Ms. Black brings the characters and the setting to life, and even though it was getting late as I read this, I just could not put it down. It’s almost as if I was in Faerie dancing: once you start, you can’t stop until it’s over.

At the same time, the ending! It was a little unexpected, but I absolutely loved it. It didn’t exactly end in a cliffhanger, but I wanted more. Immediately. I must have the next book!

Needless to say, I highly recommend The Wicked King. It’s the best book that I’ve finished all year (so far). Never mind that it’s January 9th and I’ve only finished three books. I have a good feeling that The Wicked King will end up on the list of my favorite books of 2019 anyway.

So when does The Queen of Nothing come out? Because we needs it! I will definitely try to get an ARC of the next book, because I need to find out what happens as soon as I can!

The Cruel Prince Is Magical

By Brookelorren on January 5, 2019January 3, 20198 Comments

One of the most popular books of 2018 (according to Goodreads readers) was Holly Black’s book, The Cruel Prince. I had to wait forever for it to become available on my library’s waiting list, and it was so good, I ended up buying the hardcover during Amazon’s Black Friday sale anyway.

The book drew me in right from the beginning. The text was inviting, and the book starts with… a murder. From there, the story continues to stay interesting.

The story revolves around a set of sisters. The oldest, Vivi, was half faerie. The two younger twins, Jude and Taryn, are human. After their parents are murdered by Vivi’s biological father, they are taken to live in faerie.

Jude and Taryn don’t exactly fit in. The prince, Cardan, along with his friends, treat them cruelly. Despite this, Jude wants to be a warrior among the faerie. She has the temperament for it.

The king is expected to pass on his throne, and several of his children are conspiring to get it. As with a lot of transitions of power, this one might come with some surprises. Jude becomes involved in one conspiracy, only to find that her father is involved in some shady dealings of his own. You won’t want to put down this book as you find out what happens.

There were a lot of things that I loved about this book. First, the writing is great. It’s hard to explain why, I just could feel how it drew me in. Second, the setting and characters were great. I haven’t read too many books set in faerie, but that didn’t matter, reading this book. The characters weren’t flat good-guy or bad-guy types; they all had a little of both to them, just like real life. The plot was also great.

The Cruel Prince was one of my favorite books from 2018 for a reason. I’m looking forward to reading The Wicked King when it comes out as well.