The Cruel Prince by Holly Black (book review)

Dear Reader, 
I am really excited to talk about this book since I enjoyed it so much. 
This is my first of Miss Blacks writing but It won't be the last. 
Something I absolutely adored about this book was the writing style. Oh my god, I LOVED it. It really reminded me of Heartless by Marissa Mayer, that same gorgeous, fairy tale way of describing the location and general description which just makes the flow and atmosphere of the book so whimsical. It was the absolutely beautiful writing that made me love reading this book. 

Before this book, faeries/ the fae were not my thing. I really didn't like reading about them and I found them a real turn off in fantasy books. This book changed that massively. 

Before picking up this book I decided not to read the synopsis because I thought it would put me off reading it. Going in blind with really no expectations of enjoying it, I was shocked that by the 5 or 6th page, I was absolutely locked on the characters and thoroughly enjoying it. This was especially strange since usually when I read fantasy books it takes me around 75-100 pages to understand the main basics of the world and what is actually going on. But with this book, I was so intrigued by the plotline and the characters that I was doing 200 pages a sitting and not even noticing the time that passed and of course, that beautiful writing just made the whole thing feel like a dream. 
I loved that Jude had a twin, I've only read one other book where the main character was a twin and that was One, Jude having her sister to go through all that bullying from Cardan and his gang of Rich Pricks I think, as a reader made me sympathise with her more. I personally loved Jude's character, she was so brave and ready to prove to any schmuck in that place she could do anything. For a while, I thought something would happen in the first book where Jude somehow would gain fae powers or become a fae and that was hinted at the end of the book so we will see, but I was actually really happy when that didn't happen because it just showed she didn't have to change to beat them she just had to play to her strengths. 

There where so many amazing scenes and interesting characters in the book. I think I may be in love with Cardan but aren't we all. I knew that Locke and Jude's sister where engaged but I wonder if that is still going ahead in the next book? I'm excited to find out that's for sure. The roach and the bomb where such cool characters and that scene where the prince and the princess die to stop their brother becoming queen was so powerful and amazing to read. 
This book was such a rollercoaster packed with awesome elements and some of the best world-building and balancing I have ever read. I think there are so many ways for Holly to mess around with this plot and make it even better, I'm really excited to see what she does with it. 

Before you ask, of course I ship Jude and Cardan, they are definitely two of the most well-written characters I've ever had the pleasure of reading and they are the most toxic couple ever to fictionally exist and we love them for that. 

Since I already own the Wicked King, as soon as I can I will be reading that and then hopefully Queen of Nothing will magically find its way to my door so I can read that too haha. Honestly, I'm so happy I got over my random fear of faeries in fantasy and picked up this twisted, gripping and heavily addictive book and I advise you to do the same. 

Till next time
Love 
Issy x

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