Holly Black Mini-Reviews

Let’s be honest, this is probably only part 1 of a series of Holly Black reviews (I’m on a binge) but I need to get these reviews out. I read the Tithe books years ago in junior high (I think I was just a tad too young to be reading them, but here we are) and haven’t really picked up any Holly Black since. I remember really liking that series and I just hadn’t gotten around to picking up anything else by her even though I kept adding her books to my TBR. This month I finally took the plunge and I am HAPPY to be back.

The Cruel Prince

I didn’t really know what to expect going into this book. I remembered Black’s version of Faerie, but I didn’t know anything about this series specifically. I’ll be honest–I don’t LOVE Jude as a protag. I guess she’s supposed to be an anti-hero? Perhaps I’ve just been extremely spoiled in my anti-heroes, but I didn’t find her as likable as some others that I’ve read. She was just a little much for me. I really wanted her to slow down and think a little bit more and for her to be less chippy. One thing I loved about this book were Black’s previous character cameos. THIS is how you do a character cameo *cough*LeighBardugo*cough*. It felt natural and not at all name drop-y. To be honest, I wasn’t totally sure that the cameos were happening–I had to go look up Black’s other characters. In the end, I did quite enjoy this book and was happy to find that I could immediately check out the next one. 4/5

Order: Hardcover | Paperback | Kindle

 The Wicked King

Just a quick spoiler warning for this one: this mini-review may spoil some of the events from the first book–just a warning.

Jude continued to be a confusing character for me. I don’t totally understand her constant lust for power. I felt like maybe I needed more backstory from her featuring the times when she felt most powerless. How did she get to this point? I also don’t love the relationship between Jude and Taryn. They’re twins that went through this really traumatic thing together and I wish they were closer. I really wanted them to be on the same team. I guess the argument could be made that Locke essentially turned them against each other? But I think if they’re relationship had been stronger, it would have been able to withstand that. Mostly, I just found myself a little confused throughout this book over characters and even sometimes over plot. I felt like I would have benefited from one or two other POVs. As it was, I didn’t feel like I completely understood everything that was happening. Without spoiling this book, I 0% understand why the person who betrayed Jude did. They gave minimal reasoning, but it still doesn’t make sense to me. Lastly, Valerian cursed Jude when she killed him towards the end of the last book and that literally hasn’t come up once. Just wondering if that’s ever going to come into play… Regardless, I will clearly be reading the last book and anticipation is HIGH. 4/5

Order: Hardcover | Paperback (preorder) | Kindle

 The Darkest Part of the Forest

This book mostly takes place in the human world which was both good and bad. I find the faerie world that Black has created to be extremely fascinating so I love getting to explore it. With that being said, I also thought it was really interesting how this mortal town has accepted the Folk and have learned to live around them. I really liked Hazel as a character right away. I thought she was tough and I felt like I could understand her as a person and why she made certain choices. In contrast, I felt like Severin got almost no development as a character and the romantic relationship that involves him also had zero development–it just kind of happened. Literally, Severin declared, “I love this person!” and we’re all just supposed to go along with it. Ummm…okay, I guess? One part of this that I especially liked was the relationship between Ben and Hazel. I liked that they were a monster-fighting team. They were friends and siblings and their relationship felt super pure. I’d love to see these characters (but especially Hazel, Ben, and Jack) in future/other books. 4/5

Order: Paperback | Kindle