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My [REREAD] Review:
Faeries make up for their inability to lie with a panoply of deceptions and cruelties. Twisted words, pranks, omissions, riddles, scandals, not to mention their revenges upon one another for ancient, half-remembered slights. Storms are less fickle than they are, seas less capricious.
I think of Madoc, who had been at Dain's right hand all these years. Faeries might not be able to lie outright, but Madoc had lied with every laugh, every clap on the back, every shared cup of wine. Madoc, who'd let us all get dressed up and given me a beautiful sword to wear tonight, as though we were really going to some fun party.
I knew what he was, I try to tell myself. I saw the blood crusted on his red cap. If I let myself forget, then more fool me.
I think of the note I found, of the press of his nibbed pen hard enough to send flecks of ink spattering as he wrote my name. Hard enough to dig through the page, maybe to scar the desk beneath.
If that’s what he did to the paper, I shudder to think what he wants to do to me.
My [ORGINAL] Review:
Here’s why I don’t like these stories: They highlight that I am vulnerable. No matter how careful I am, eventually I’ll make another misstep. I am weak. I am fragile. I am mortal.
I hate that most of all.
Even if, by some miracle, I could be better than them, I will never be one of them.
The Cruel Prince should be a case study for authors trying to write unlikeable characters. Everyone in this book is terrible, and the lines between good and evil have been so blurred, they barely exist.
The way The Cruel Prince is written, it feels like anything could happen at any time, and boy, does it. I mean, any book that starts with murder and kidnapping sets an expectation for the rest of the story to maintain that intensity. And, somehow, Black makes it work. The first half maintains a surprising level of anticipation and anxiety while introducing the setting and characters. But, once you start to feel like you have a handle on where the story is going, something changes. Sometimes it’s small, and it feels like a small side-step or diversion before continuing, and sometimes it feels like every action until this point has been a waste because the entire game has changed.
There is not a single likeable character here; they’re all petty, cruel bullies, picking on whoever is weaker at the moment. And it’s absolutely glorious. There is so much depth to explore within the characters and their relationships to one another. Locke is the only shallow, predictable one, and it serves to illuminate how much more complicated everyone else is.
Another high point is the ‘romance’. These characters hate each other so much, and their unavoidable connection is painful and humiliating. It’s so well-written, you can feel the repulsion within their attraction. I’m so conditioned to expect instalove and intense forever love in fae stories, The Cruel Prince was a breath of fresh air. This is most definitely not instalove, and any allusion to how they may feel about one another is avoided at all cost.
The Cruel Prince blew away any expectations I may have had before I started reading. I didn’t think so many twists and turns could be executed while still telling an overarching narrative that made sense. It makes me so happy that this is only the beginning, and I can work my way through the rest of the series now.
I have tried to be better than them, and I have failed.
What could I become if I stopped worrying about death, about pain, about anything? If I stopped trying to belong?
Instead of being afraid, I could become something to fear.
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