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.
Fresiako Review
G L O R I O U S
the first YA fantasy book i’ve read in ages that focused on the fantasy and not on the romance!
This book felt one party fairy tale (hohoho), one part Alice in Wonderland and one part Game Of Thrones.
The book is set in the fantastical fairy world of the high king’s court
Meet our main character Jude, a messy ass hoe that lives for the drama and has a tendency to stab things.
She has been stolen away from the mortal world and placed in the world of the High King’s Court by her adoptee-by-murder daddy. Jude is one vengeful confused ass hoe modeled after my own heart and I loved it. She’s no mary sue she’s not even a particularly good person, she’s just a hoe tryna survive.
– The characters are all fun shades of grey and ur not really sure who to root for. You don’t even like Jude’s family for most of it, (At least I didn’t.)
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Especially not Jude’s hoe ass twin Taryn and locke her bitch ass lover. They petty but I love that they r petty cause I want them dead hohoho!
– Even though half the book was spent on what felt like faery highschool bullying it was still fun to read so I can’t fault it. (I guess I’m an angst kween what can I say?)
– The book dragged at certain points and could have been more fast-paced. But when things went from 🙂 to 
halfway through the book the hype got so real!
– I love that the main character’s main pre-occupation is being a power-hungry hoe, cause same. Not every heroine needs to spend her day dreaming of dick y’all.
– The world building was good and felt rich and multi-layered.
– The scheming and intrigues made up the bulk of the book which I loved. It wasn’t just a romance book masquerading as fantasy unlike some other books that shall not be named (Sarah J Maas looking at you). Every one was a bitch ass schemer and ya girl was L I V I N G her best life. That golden acorn reveal was a real oh shit moment but made sense!
– I wasn’t expecting to actually end up liking Cardan as cruel as it seems his
Click for Spoilers
whipping boy backstory is way too common in fantasy so I literally rolled my eyes when it happened.
So it was a real surprise when I wound up liking him in the latter half of the book in spite of his cliche angsty dark prince past. His personality was a real cracker.
Click for Spoilers
That entire coronation scene was omfg worthy and I loved all the bloodshed. 
And when homegirl fought and poisoned Madoc I was screamin hohoho! f u daddy!
Shookitha’s Review
Talk about an unpopular opinion right here! Last time ya girl gave a 2 star review her buns got toasted over the flames like a marshmallow at a literary fangirl campfire. But u know what it’s nearly summer time and I’m ready to be golden brown and delicious so ya girl ain’t gonna let anyone stop her from speaking ha mind!!
On a more serious, relevant and less dramatic note, I didn’t enjoy this book. Ya girl’s been around the faery block a time or two so when I pick up a book with fae I expect to see a unique interpretation. I didn’t really get that with this book. Perhaps I’m just experiencing fae fatigue (#faefatigue) because I’m so over it. I get it, the fae are BEAUTIFUL and they’re M E A N !
In this one I didn’t feel the fae had that otherwordly & immortal element to them. They just acted over the top petty and petulant. literally beating up a child who wouldn’t bow at a party. Granted, most of the fae we see in this book are high schoolers but still. Really the first half of the book was like Tales From Fairy High School HELL
Onto the characters! I didn’t feel any emotional engagement with any of them besides mild irritation.
Click for Spoilers
The mock red wedding had absolutely no impact on me because besides Dain those characters were so minor if they even showed up on page at all
Jude: I love flawed characters and there are parts of Jude I can appreciate but overall I found her to be written as unlikable. I also just find it to be a little bit much that Jude is
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a 16 year old spy, master strategist, cool calm murderer, epic fighter, smartest of her class, and a political genius who’s hand the entire world of faerie depends upon. (she literally says that last part)
Little Finger found in a ditch cuz Jude took his title as political mastermind!
Let’s be real here my real beef with Jude is that she was born in the 2000’s because as an aging millennial it’s offensive hoho. Damn u cruel father time!!
Taryn: I have some sort of unpopular opinions about Taryn.
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I don’t hate her and frankly find it kind of annoying people hate Taryn and in the same breath swoon over punk ass Cardan. (Hello fairy fruit scene? Kiss my foot??) Taryn’s been beaten down into submission, been told and convinced the best she can expect is to marry well and is otherwise useless. She’s not a natural born fighter, she could never be a knight her strength lies in being courteous and frankly homegirl can keep a secret hoho. I think if the author were to execute it right Taryn’s character growth could be very impactful. Honestly I also think she’d make a better spy than Jude, she belongs in fae court in a way Jude can’t.
Cardan: I am NOT here for his punk ass. Cardan in part 1 and Cardan in part 2 were disjointed to me. It didn’t seem like a natural progression imo.
This is my first book of Holly’s and I understand she writes about faeries a lot but there were so many random creatures and courts thrown in with no sort of explanation, no index. There were so many damn courts I was half expecting a Court of Fruitflies to roll up. With some points you just have to suspend belief and logic a little bit. Like Jude goes on and on about being protected because she’s the general’s daughter and that everyone knows the story…
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So you would think SOMEONE would notice the general’s daughter playing spy no? Why would Dain even choose her knowing she’d be spying in the house Cardan lives in, who is also her classmate and their feud is seemingly well known. Why would Dain show up to Jude’s house all easy breezy (covergirl) like that’s normal and wouldn’t raise any red flags? And why wouldn’t the big bad allies Jude magically convinced over to her side not recognize the general’s daughter? etc etc
I can see what it was trying to be but it fell short for me in the execution. I read this because the hype was so real! I may love the hype but tragically the hype does not love me 😦
As you can see ya girls have FEROCIOUS, WARRING opinions on this one. We delve deeper in a heated (spoiler marked**) discussion:
SHOOKITHA: So I’m assuming all the good sistrens that read our reviews and haven’t read the book yet might be thinking WTF? They said they’d get down to da bottom of this. Is the hype real or is it not? Well good sis, like da highly esteemed poet Avril Lavigne says: It’s complicated. So Fresiako bottom line for you, was the hype real?
FRESIAKO: ya i loved it im a hype hoe hohohho™
REAL FRESIAKO: smh rude ass this hoe is impersonating ya girls good name. I did indeed enjoy da book da book featured just an average morally ambiguous hoe like ya self and da rest of us nasty peasants as da heroine so of course i loved it hohoho!™ I also enjoyed reading about da plotting and court intrigues it felt like a real interesting homage to game of thrones/alice in wonderland and a twisted af fairytale. Ya girl was positively living her best life reading the twisted take on a nursery rhyme setting. so da good hoes wanna know shookitha did cruel prince make ya girl shookith???
SHOOKITHA: Absolutely not. The hype was incorrect and I feel misled. If I could sue I would. Faleena’s frivolous litigation has inspired me. Game of thrones? I think NOT hoe! Lil miss Jude might think of herself as da new Little Finger but I call fraudulency!!
FRESIAKO: much like little finger our girl jude had her little finger in every body’s pie
Click for Spoilers
and it made sense that the prince would hire homegirl to spy in madoc’s household, since he probs wanted to make sure madoc wasn’t a backstabbin hoe.
SHOOKITHA: I disagree with FresiasHOE about Dain
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choosing her to be a spy, it didn’t make sense to me at all. Dain choosing Jude to go infiltrate the house in which Cardan resides when apparently their feud is well known is just ??? And secondly, Jude is the general’s daughter which apparently in this world makes her a pretty big deal, her story we are told is well known. Therefore you would think SOMEONE would recognize her even though as Cardan says “her face is so plain”
Click for HEAVY Spoiler discussion
FRESIAKO: 1 dain sent da good hoe jude to spy in cardan’s household when cardan wasn’t even there, so it sees the good prince did in fact try to prevent cardan seeing jude. 2. Jude even though she is the general’s daughter she is also a lowly human (as if shookitha was paying attention while reading da book hohoho) would realise is enough for da fae to not give her da respect of even a cursory glance, holly black wrote that the humans were beneath the fae so entirely that no one would really have cared for jude at all.
SHOOKITHA: excuse me! I would think Jude being a mere mortal and the general’s daughter would make her MORE recognizable as the scandal behind that would have the fairy folks gossiping and getting their entire immortal lives over such juicy goss goss. And Jude is talented, people took notice of that during the tournament. It’s just not realistic!
FRESIAKO: in the household where jude was spying all the humans were weird servant automatons so i’d say based on just that it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for humans not to register to the inhabitants of the house she was infiltrating. Ur expecting them to suddenly taken massive interest in a plain faced human???
SHOOKITHA: but what about the powerful fairy overlords she convinced magically onto her side? And there were fairy guard hoes in Cardan’s mcmansion. Ya girl isn’t buying what u and Miss Holly r selling! Get off my lawn!!
FRESIAKO: the fae in the prince’s house are described as particularly vicious the fae outside of his household might be more broad minded regarding humans and also after the coronation it seems all bets were off and the mentality change was quite different since the entire royal family had just been (almost) purged!!!!
SHOOKITHA: either way this book did not have game of thrones level political intrigue so ya girl feels indifferent. Well no, ya girl feels it was unbelievable!
FRESIAKO: bitch wtf u being a h8er hoe again? Explain yo self to da good ppl y r u being a cruel mistress to da cruel prince hohoho™ ?
SHOOKITHA: I went into this one bein cautious of the hype especially since it’s a YA book. I’ve been burned by da hype see: Warcross, SJM’s series, Red Queen etc. Even so I was disappointed. As I’ve said in my review this ain’t ya girl’s first time around the fairy block and it was none of the things I personally look for in a book ie, fine, fresh fierce, and has it on lock. The fae were stale I didn’t see anything new or unique added to them, I disliked the heroine and really all the characters besides Vivi who is alright. There were weird issues with pacing and believability. Plot was boring overall I just wasn’t living for it and my pickle was not even remotely tickled.
FRESIAKO: u r crusty n ur lack of knowledge of good character development was foretold by da prophet ur first internet hater herself. U just a nasty h8er hoe and im declaring u cancelled!!!! For da rest of 2018
SHOOKITHA: ur just mad I’m da people’s princess. My fellow angel babies, if you are a nasty hoe with an eclectic and refined palette and a heightened sense of taste, stay away from this one. Or more importantly read it and decide for yourself and then come back to me and I will comfort u thru this disappointment!
FRESIAKO: smh explain yo self hoe, what didn’t u like bout jude. 😥
SHOOKITHA: I felt Jude was poorly written tbh and honestly pretty boring. As I also mentioned in my review it was a bit much Jude was a 16 year old spy, master strategist, cool calm murderer, epic fighter, smartest of her class, and a political genius who’s hand the entire world of faerie depends upon. (she literally says that last part)
FRESIAKO: UR POORLY WRITTEN AND UR HONESTLY PRETTY BORING
SHOOKITHA: ur tone seems very pointed right now!! I think the real question is what is there to like about Jude?
FRESIAKO: I think the ppl wanna know why u hate jude but love tarryn? You just don’t like strong independent poison eating sword bashing sister fighting ppl stabbing oak tree slapping spy hoes!!!
SHOOKITHA: For the record hoe I don’t love Taryn. In fact I didn’t really feel anything for any of these characters besides mild irritation. I JUST FEEL LIKE TARYN’S ARC WOULD BE MORE FULFILLING AND INTERESTING IF THE AUTHOR DECIDED TO GO SOMEWHERE WITH HER. I also find it irritating people hate Taryn with SUCH a passion and in the same breath swoon over Cardan who flat out abused her and humiliated her. I don’t think Taryn was acting out of malice, that wasn’t how I interpreted it.
FRESIAKO: OFF DA RECORD I’D JUST LIKE TO SAY THAT SHOOKITHA HAS BEEN STANNING HER BEST HOE TARRYN WHERE SHE THINKS DA COMMON PPL CANNOT SEE. Ya girl fres won’t stand for this injustice and will strive to keep shookitha’s counterfeit ways #EXPOSED as a TARRYN STAN GIRL
SHOOKITHA: If you would like to get into it I will get into it hoe!!
FRESIAKO: U WANNA GO HOE? WE CAN GO? U tarryn in this fight and im jude. Who do u think will win hoe?? 💁
SHOOKITHA: Cash me outside how bow dah?? LOCK YA MAN AWAY!
FRESIAKO: NO NEED I KEEP HIM IN A CAGE FOR EASY ACCESS ANYWAY!!
SHOOKITHA AND FRES R BUSY BEING CRUEL PRINCESSES RN PLS READ DA BOOK AND BACK A SIDE WHEN U DONE HOES! TEAM SHOOKITHA OR TEAM FRES ??? TEAM OVERHYPED OR H8RS ARE JUST MAD?
Also join in the discussion in our goodreads Cruel Prince thread!
FRESIAKO’S OVERALL VERDICT: SNATCHED
4 wigs out of 5
SHOOKITHA’S OVERALL VERDICT: YOU TRIED IT. WIG IS FIRMLY IN PLACE.
2.5 wigs out of 5
Please comment below and let us know what you thought of The Cruel Prince! Was the hype real for you or were you disappointed?
Click here to join in on the nasty gal discussion of The Cruel Prince on Goodreads!
NASTY GAL BOOK REVIEWS 
Great review – I love all the feelings! Haha.
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haha thank you ❤ ! We're messy but hey we're very passionate hohoho! I think the worst is when you read a book and it doesn't make you feel anything at all, for me that's when it's a real flop.
x
Shookitha
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I totally agree – I loved characters that I hate just as much as ones I love…because I’d rather feel something than nothing!
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holy crap. I skipped all the spoilers, but man I love the way yall write. Followed for more of this good stuff.
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omg, thanks so much, Cynthia!! more messy but entertaining reviews r coming thanks for following our hoe asses!
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