Hello Rad Readers!
I have begun a new series that I will finish but not immediately, for this is just not as good as the hype lead me to believe. It was good, don't get me wrong, I don't think this was a bad book, it just wasn't anything special and I think I have the hype to blame for my disappointment. I didn't really care after a certain point. When I started the Mortal Instruments series I had to read them all back to back to back until I finished it because they each left me on cliff hangers and they made me want to know more, even after all the series was done. The Cruel Prince? It was good... it was okay... it wasn't anything super. I do intend on reading the rest of the series but even if I didn't I wouldn't feel like I'd be missing out on much. Oscar Wild said, “If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.” I personally would not reread this book. Honestly I think that it went on far longer than it needed to. Too much sulking, too much internal contemplation, too much that strayed away from the main plot lines, too much that I didn't really care about (that last part is just a personal issue). It was a fun story if you cut all that out and I really did like some of the characters and I thought they were developed pretty well. The world was interesting and there were a lot of great aspects to this story. So, that is why I gave it 3 stars on GoodReads.
We follow the perspective of the main character Jude. Her and her three sisters were taken captive at a very young age and taken to Faerie after their parents were murdered by... you guessed it... faeries. Being mortals in the land of Faerie is no easy gig. Jude has never belonged, but as the story develops you come to see that all she wants and all she has ever wanted has been that. To be like them, no matter how much she hates the truth of that matter. In order for her to find her place at the Faerie Court she needs to defy the prince and in this mission she figures out essentially what she is made of, what she is willing to do to get what she wants.
This was both the most hated and most loved book of 2018. The reviews were beyond mixed. Some people loved it and some people HATED it and some people hated it because other people loved it. I felt none of these ways...
Initially I was absolutelyyyyyy sucked in. I thought the world building was impeccable, I could really picture this beautiful land with magic and towers and castles. It reminded me of the way they describe places in children's books. Really beautiful and vivid writing! The politics of this world are also extremely developed and well thought out and well explained to the reader. The same cannot be said for a lot of books and I find frequently that is what will take me out of a story, little things that will make the rest not believable or too underdeveloped. That, as I said previously, was not the case at all in The Cruel Prince. You could tell that the author knew everything about her world and her story. The characters were for the most part fairly interesting even though the majority of them were terribleeee to Jude.
I liked our main character Jude a lot more as the story continued. In the beginning she is a little too contemplative for my liking, too sulky, too bland. Towards the middle and a small bit of the end big dawg is bold. She is willing to do whatever she needs to and isn't going to waste a moment of her time thinking about it and that is... damaging in reality but soooo exciting to read about. Low-key, buddy might be going a little crazy, but only a little and that ladies and gentlemen allows for a twisty and turny story line and fun character to follow. She is like the opposite of America Singer from The Selection series who thought and rethought and rethought EVERYTHING before she even took a step out the door. That is capital B Boring to read! We need some impulsiveness and we need it now! It actually reminded me a bit of Mare towards the end of The Red Queen series. And here at Rad Reads we praise that series. She was willing to do whatever for her cause and didn't care about the repercussions. She was fine with the fact that some people would resent her and hate her and blame her. She was fine with the fact that there was no way that everyone would make it in the end. She had been through so much that she was in total self preservation mode and I think it is really exciting to read about, plus, then the story moves a lot quicker. I thought it was very interesting how she looks at Madoc like a father figure becuase he raised her, even though he is the one that murdered her parents and took her to Faerie and basically started this life of suffering for her. It is interesting how that realization develops and how that shifts the dynamic in the end. I think it is really cool how she has grown to see that she needs to be sharp and a strategist and quicker that the faeries. If she cannot make up what they have in physical power and magical powers, she must do it in another way. Smart smart smart! You really want to root for her! Jude loves Fae but she shouldn't because she's human! I don't know, it's a cool dynamic to consider! It is like she is going against herself? I liked that once she was betrayed she was stone cold to those that betrayed her no matter the past connection to them. It is so annoying when you want a character to hate someone but they don't! Not the case in The Cruel Prince! I liked how Jude evolved as a character from this girl that just wants to be accepted to this total baller that will poison herself and do... some insanely tough stuff (ugh it is hard not to spoil!) to get a foot forward.
Now, I know thus far I have only had positive things to say about this book and you may be wondering why I only gave it 3 stars. I gave it three stars because I feel like it had the most dragged out boring ending that did not match the pace of the rest of the book at all.
There was a hugeeeee zinger towards the beginning of the end (if that makes sense) that really got me, to the point where I had to sit back and look out at the world and just accept the insanity in the pages of this book. I found that to be the climax of the story, yet I don't think that was the intended climax. After that, it was all confusing and uninteresting. Maybe I found it confusing because I was now so uninterested? Whatever. Anyways, that was the point where the book went from a four, maybe even five star rating to a three. There was just attempt at epic battle after attempt at epic battle after attempt at epic battle and the whole time I was like nooooooo let's go back to that one part that was actually the most exciting and interesting part of the story! The battles could have been saved for the second book because I found this first one to be primarily centered around getting to know the characters and their motivations and their world very deeply. I was interested in that, I cared about that! It was very --and I mean VERY-- well written. Then the mojo of the book changed and I didn't want it to because I felt like there was a lot that went unfinished with my favorite character. Hint hint: Locke is my favorite character... I really enjoyed how the entire time you just feel a little off about him. There is an air of excitement each time we followed him around. Nooo spoilers though... ;)
Some people praised this book for being so unique. I just didn't really agree with that at all. I'm not criticizing it for not being unique, I think to be completely unique in a world with so so so many amazing books is relatively impossible. To criticize a book for not being original is a little ridiculous sometimes, I think. I just didn't see anything in here that I hadn't seen before. Betrayal? Been done before. Evil fae? Been a staple since... like... the 17th century. Character that "doesn't belong?" Don't even get me started. Like I said though, I didn't have a problem at all with the lack of uniqueness in this novel. I thought there was plenty that the author took her own take, interpretation, and style on. However, there was nothing about this book that made me think "Wow! Unique!" Like I said, not really a problem though. That didn't take away from anything at all for me!
Okay rad readers, sorry for the many many many jumbled thoughts, there was just so much going on in this book and so many takes I had to make. There were parts of it that were great and parts of it that were lame and my feelings were very mixed and thus you get a very mix review!
Stay Rad, Readers,
- C8 ;)