The Cruel Prince

The Folk of the Air, Book 1

By: Holly Black

Narrated by: Caitlin Kelly

Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

By number-one New York Times best-selling author Holly Black, the first book in a stunning new series about a mortal girl who finds herself caught in a web of royal faerie intrigue.

Of course I want to be like them. They're beautiful as blades forged 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 King.

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, and Faerie itself.

©2018 Holly Black (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Fantastic

Holly Black crushes it. The fairy lore is as whimsical as it is dangerous and the divide between mortal and immortal has a certain authenticity. Read. this. book.

Good but not unexpected

I actually began reading this book in physical form back in January. I set it back on my shelf having made it to the halfway point and not being compelled enough to finish. As my first Holly Black book, I don't know what I was expecting but it was not anything worth garnering the fan art it has nor is it exceptionally original. The audiobook was a lot better. the narrator was enticing even when the story was not.

Pretty good book

I really enjoyed this book and finished it in two days! I had no expectation going into this book so I didn’t know if it would be good or not but it was! There were times that is was predictable but then others made me gasp because I was surprised at what happened. The narrator did such a good job with voices for different characters and made it a really enjoyable book.

Good story, good narration, iffy audio quality

I loved the story, and the narration just on occasion you can tell that that the narrator used a lesser quality mic to redo certain spots, though the whole book although this was most noticeable during the last few chapters.

world building is the toughest

i flew this audiobook in 3 day's while working and doing chores. i assume i know the ending, but it got an unexpected twist 🤣 kudos now i wanna know what happened in book 2.

Loved The Cruel Prince!

Loved thia tale! I can't wait to see what Jude and Cardan do next. I didn't expect some of the twists thrown to the reader. There was just enough misdirection to keep you guessing.

Easily the best book I’ve read all year!

Despite my busy schedule, I somehow find time to listen to around 20 books a year. Because I listen to so many it is hard to find books that I really want to listen to, and this book completely blew me away. The storyline was intriguing from start to finish. I felt there was great character development and the love interest plot was not the “cookie-cutter” you know what is going to happen from page one, type of plot and I really appreciated that. I would like to think that I am a picky reader/listener and sometimes hard to satisfy this is probably one of my favorite books!

Highly Recommend

I rarely give 5 stars to any book, but this one deserves every one of them. Loved it! It has all the angst, all the feels, all the action. It's a great mix of fantasy and romance. The balance between story and action is spot on. HIGHLY recommend!!

Narrator not my style

I thought the story line itself was wonderful. Every time you thought you knew what was happening, a twist came. Wonderfully written novel and I hope there is a sequel. However, the narrator took me out of it somewhat. She modified her voice for the different characters. It seemed forced. I would much rather she read with conviction and emotion instead of false accents and tone.

Unexpected enjoyment

I’d heard some good reviews of this book so decided to try it. It’s pretty slow starting in my opinion until about half way through, then there were several unexpected twists that I did not anticipate. Even with a slow start it ended up being an enjoyable book and I am going to go start the second right now.