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THE CRUEL PRINCE

(The Folk of the Air #1)

By

Holly Black

Genre: #YA #Fantasy

My Rating: 5

Cover: 5

Publication: January 2nd 2018

Read: February 18th 2018

POV: First-person single perspective

Hardcover: 370 pages

Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26032825-the-cruel-prince

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Cruel-Prince-Folk-Air/dp/0316310271/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539465581&sr=8-1&keywords=the+cruel+prince

Series: https://www.goodreads.com/series/159680-the-folk-of-the-air

Synopsis:

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 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.

As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal 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.

📝My Review📝: 

The Cruel Prince was everything I needed and more. Holly Black is an amazing writer and I am so glad that I gave her books another chance. Everything about this book was fantastic, the characters, the plot, the relationships. I NEED the second book right now! The world was so fascinating and beautifully crafted. Holly Black’s fae may look beautiful but they are undeniably wicked. Seeing how humans traversed their world was exciting.

Jude was an amazingly complex character. She was so unique and different from any YA female protagonists I have read. She is flawed and I love that. Her anger was really something that I resonated with and because of that I could connect with her character deeply. Her relationship with her sisters is portrayed in a really great way. She refuses to be put down by anyone, especially the cruel prince himself: Cardan.

Cardan is terrible when we first meet him. But of course there was much more to him than we thought. His character was explored well but I really wish he was flushed out a little bit more. But I guess that will definitely happen in the next book considering how this one ended.

I am curious to see where the story is going to go because everything ended pretty nicely. What plots could be awaiting Jude and Cardan next?

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EVEN THE DARKEST STARS

(Even The Darkest Stars #1)

By

Heather Fawcett

Genre: #YA #Fantasy

My Rating: 4.5

Cover: 5

Publication: September 5th 2017

Read: May 26th 2018

POV: First-person single perspective

Hardcover: 432 pages

Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33385230-even-the-darkest-stars

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Even-Darkest-Stars-Heather-Fawcett/dp/0062463381/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539295184&sr=8-1&keywords=even+the+darkest+stars

Series: https://www.goodreads.com/series/204064-even-the-darkest-stars

Synopsis:

Kamzin has always dreamed of becoming one of the emperor’s royal explorers, the elite climbers tasked with mapping the wintry, mountainous Empire and spying on its enemies. She knows she could be the best in the world, if only someone would give her a chance.

But everything changes when the mysterious and eccentric River Shara, the greatest explorer ever known, arrives in her village and demands to hire Kamzin—not her older sister, Lusha, as everyone had expected—for his next expedition. This is Kamzin’s chance to prove herself—even though River’s mission to retrieve a rare talisman for the emperor means cimbing Raksha, the tallest and deadliest mountain in the Aryas. Then, Lusha sets off on her own mission to Raksha with a rival explorer, and Kamzin must decide what’s most important to her: protecting her sister from the countless perils of the climb or beating her to the summit.

The challenges of climbing Raksha are unlike anything Kamzin expected—or prepared for—with avalanches, ice chasms, ghosts, and other dangers at every turn. And as dark secrets are revealed, Kamzin must unravel the truth about their mission and her companions—while surviving the deadliest climb she has ever faced.

📝My Review📝:

4.5 Stars

I have no words right now. THE ENDING TO THIS BOOK HAS LEFT ME SO SHOOK I AM IN SHOCK. Even The Darkest Stars surprised me in more ways than one. Firstly I have never read a book like this. The story focused on adventure and exploring which is not a genre I have really ever read about. The world was so unique and incredibly detailed I was in awe. Heather Fawcett did an amazing job of creating a world never seen before in YA fantasy novels. I loved this book a lot more than I thought I would and I am so happy about that. That being said, I did have some problems with it that prevented me from giving this book 5 stars.

The world was incredible but it was also VERY confusing. When reading this book you really have to pay attention because there is so much world building. Even I would be confused about things sometimes and just not understand their purpose. I felt like there was so much thrown into this world that it felt cluttered. Witches, ghosts, weird bird creatures, fire demons? It was a bit much and all of those creatures are connected in some form so then you have to understand that. It is not too hard to follow along to but it does get confusing and someone who is not paying attention will have no idea what is going on.

The book’s description on the inside jacket of the book was such a throw off it basically gives you no information of the extent to which this book goes. It is a bit misleading but that was not such a big deal. I do like when books surprise me but I feel like I needed some information about the witches before going into it. Also it says that River demands to take Kamzin instead of her sister Lusha (to the surprise of the whole village) on the expedition but that is not really what happened. The whole description in general paints a different picture of the book than what it actually is.

The characters had little to no personality. Norbu, Aimo, Dargye, and Mara had absolutely no personalities of character development. I get that they were minor characters and were only really there so that Kamzin and River were traveling in a group but I think a lot more could have been done with them. Lusha also had little personality, she just came across as stern and mean almost the entire book. Tem had some personality but he was stagnant through the entire book. Kamzin had ambition but lacked personality. There was nothing special about her except for the fact that she was talented at exploring. Her ambition is what drove her the entire book but her personality was very dull. River was the most interesting character because he had the most personality. He reminded me so much of the Mad Hatter. I really loved him but the ending leaves me weary…I won’t spoil it but damn things got crazy.

I was able to guess a lot of the plot twists in this book but Heather Fawcett did a good job of throwing me off the trail from time to time. I also feel like not that much happened until the end. I can see where people might think this book was boring but the world was so fascinating to me that it kept me intrigued. But like I said, THAT ENDING, I still can’t wrap my head around it.

I am so damn excited for the next book I don’t know how I am going to wait until December. I need to see what Kamzin is going to do next, I need to see what River will be doing, I HAVE to know what is in store for Kamzin and River. I’m going to have to wait a bit to find out and I will be anticipating every second of it.

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