There has been so much hype over this book and frankly, I just don’t understand why. To me it was a slow read. It wasn’t horrible, but it just wasn’t good. It was the sort of book I’d read while doing something else, or listening to really good music. It’s not a book I’d read again.

The Cruel Prince written by Holly Black follows the story of Jude, a human girl who has been raised in a world of faeires, where almost everything is fatal including the fey inhabiting it. She lives with her faerie guardian Maddock, her twin Taryn and elder sister Vivi. It is at school that Jude meets Cardan, a prince of Faerie, who along with his gang of friends bullies the two human girls in their world.

All of this is at the back of the dust jacket. And you’d think there’d be more to the story. But aside from this nothing else happens. There’s a (SPOILER) sidelined plot of how Jude trains to become a spy and eventually uses her skills to take the king and his son off the throne so her younger brother Oak can rule. But this happens maybe in the last two chapters. Every other aspect of this book focuses on how cruel Cardan is to Jude and his unhealthy obsession with her.

I am all for romance books with a hate to love plot. In fact, it’s my very favorite kind. But this was just a lot of Cardan being mean and using his magic to be as cruel as he could. There was no chemistry, no small sparks that led to larger infatuations and eventually allowed Jude to fall in love with him. I understand that this is just the first book in this series, but even the slightest build-up would be better than nothing.

I didn’t find any of the characters compelling. Taryn was so annoying and Jude was just a girl trying too hard. Maybe that is the character development, but for me it wasn’t gripping, captivating or interesting in any way. The world building seemed dull, with lack of proper description. Holly Black has once created the world of The Spiderwick Chronicles, it’s astonishing to me how much that word-building has fallen short in this new series. I kept waiting for something to pick up, the character arc, the plot line, the world.

With my problem, I probably will try and read the sequel, though I don’t see the point considering the best description I could probably give this book was that it was boring. So I might, I might not, let’s see how desperate a book slump I have to be in to read this series again.

2020 UPDATE: So it’s quarantine here, so I did pick up Wicked King and Queen of Nothing to help pass the time, and the story has definitely improved. I’d say the first book is the biggest hurdle to get through in this series. It still seems like an average series for me, because while the plot picks up a little bit the romance seems unrealistic. There doesn’t seem to me anyway as to why Jude suddenly falls in love with Cardan. It could be described as sexual desire – lust, but love seemed farfetched, on Jude’s end that is. Now that I’ve finished it, I still don’t have any horrible feedback, nor any feedback that would advertise this series as fantastic. I may be one of the few who found this series average, and that’s okay too.