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: