The Cruel Prince Diaries

Hello everybody, and welcome back to The CW Torch! Today, I am introducing a new series on my blog, titled …The Diaries. The Diaries will essentially be my individual reviews, for the books I am currently reading! They will also include a Youtube Vlog at the end of each review! I have decided to add this series to my blog, to help upload more interesting content to my new bookish blog. I also had a lot of fun editing my first Youtube Vlog during the Winter Biannual Bibliothon, that I wanted to film more Vlog's. Hoping this would be encouragement to start my Booktube Channel. So, without further ado, let's get into the review!

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Dates Read: Feb. 13th-Feb.21st

Final Star Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Of course I want to be like them. They're beautiful as blades forget 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 Kind. 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.

My Thoughts:

*Minor Spoilers Ahead

Story: At first, I was really intrigued by the story, mostly because of the fact that the Human world was side-by-side with the Faerie world. However, about half-way through I became very uninterested in the story, because I felt like there wasn’t a whole lot happening. I thought the story was very slow-moving, and I found myself speed-reading through a lot of the political intrigue. I didn't find that the political intrigue was very intriguing, and thought it was very boring. When the major events happened, I didn't find them very epic in any way, and kind of just read past them. However, there were certain parts that I did find very interesting, such as the Faerie Fruit and how the Faerie's could control Jude's mind and actions. However, I didn't enjoy the actions for their bullying towards Jude. While these were the most "cruel" sections of the book, I was really interested in seeing how Jude would overcome the Cruel Faeries. But, in the end, I didn't like how she approached or thought of those terrible parts in her life. She still admired the Fae and wanted to be a part of their world, even after all the terrible things they did to her.

Writing: While I thought the story was very slow, I did really enjoy Holly Black's writing. She has a very lyrical writing style that really stands out to me, from other Fantasy authors I have read from in the past. She has a quirk to her writing style, yet it is still very real and atmospheric. I loved her description of the faerie world. It felt as if it was right in front of my eyes, in my human world, just as it was for Jude. I could tell that Holly Black knew this world at the back of her hand, almost as if it were real, which it very well could be. My experience reading this book, reminded me of when I used to read The Spiderwick Chronicles to my family members. Her writing style instilled a nostalgia within me, when reading this book, even when it dragged on.

World: As I stated earlier, I loved the world this book was set in. I have been very interested in the Fae ever since watching True Blood, and reading The Court of Thorns and Roses series. This world that Holly Black created, was very realistic in my eyes. Even from the first chapter, which was one sentence about how there was no fish sticks or television in this Faerie world. I thought it was very interesting to have the Faerie world side-by-side with the modern world. When many Fae books, have the human world set in some sort of unknown "middle-earth" type of land. While I loved Holly's description of the Faerie Court, I wish the history was developed a little bit more, to be able to understand the politics of this land. One reason why I did feel that the political intrigue was lacking, was mainly due to the lack of historical fiction of the world.

Characters: Another reason why I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I thought I would, was because of the characters. I knew these characters were supposed to be unlikeable, given the title, but it really did take away from the story. There was only one or two characters, who I really enjoyed and wanted to learn more about. Those were Oriana and Vivi, to me these characters had the most fleshed out character development, as well as the most interesting background stories. I wasn't a fan of Jude, mainly because she was a very unreliable character, especially in the way she admired the Faerie so much. Even though they were the reasons for the death of her parents. I also didn’t like Prince Cardan, and not just because of how he bullied Jude. I just didn’t like his actions for being cruel to Jude, simply because of the fact that he was jealous of her and likes her. I felt that was a very juvenile way of thinking, and I didn't like how we were excusing his behavior, because he was being beat up by his older brother. I didn’t really care for many of the side characters, and didn't feel that they added any depth to the story. I thought most of them were very juvenile and not very unique, the only exception might've been Madoc. I thought his relationship with Jude was very interesting, in the fact that even though he killed her parents, he still acted as a father-like figure to her. All in all, the characters to me, didn't really add a lot to the story. Which was why I gave this book a lower rating, because I am such a character-driven reader.

Overall, I rated the story a 3.5/5 stars! While I didn't enjoy the characters or the political intrigue very much, I did enjoy Holly Black's writing and the world the book was set in. I thought her whimsical and lyrical writing style added to the story, and made it a somewhat enjoyable read. Especially during the first few beginning and ending chapters of the book. I am not sure if I will be continuing on with this series, because the first book wasn't very gripping to me. However, I will be interested to see how Prince Cardan acts towards Jude, after the big reveal.