The Cruel Prince (A Novel of Elfhame)

I absolutely devoured this book. The Cruel Prince was my first fantasy read, and it did not disappoint—in fact, it completely hooked me. I ate this book up from start to finish. The world of Faerie is dark, cruel, and glittering in the most dangerous way, and I loved how unapologetically ruthless it was. Nothing felt soft or overly romanticized; instead, the story leaned into political intrigue, power struggles, and survival. The tension throughout the book was addictive. The mind games, betrayals, and shifting alliances made it impossible to put down. Even the characters I hated were fascinating, especially Cardan—cruel, complicated, and impossible to ignore. The dynamic between the characters added so much bite to the story. As my first fantasy book, The Cruel Prince set the bar incredibly high. The writing pulled me straight into the world, and by the end, I was already desperate to continue the series. If you love morally gray characters, sharp dialogue, and a fantasy world that doesn’t hold your hand, this book is absolutely worth the read. It's hard to top such a book. I

Holly Black really surprised me with this, a truly wonderful book!! I loved the story, the characters and the plot as a whole. I would absolutely recommend everyone to read this!!!

The way Holly Black was able to make me feel all of her characters emotions was just incredible. I also like that when I reread the books now, after finishing the whole series I'm able to see conections, such small things, which I shrugged off as meaningless before. <3

The cruel prince was great and it kept getting better. The whole Folk of the air series was amazing. I loved the tension between Cardan and Jude and it was seriously the first REAL Enemies to Lovers, that I’ve read. It’s well written and my absolute favorite Romantasy.

This is YA fantasy but make it the absolute blue print for what a good YA fantasy should be. The Cruel Prince revolves around a young heroine called Jude, who is a headstrong, bold and unique protagonist. She fights for what she wants and does not shy away from a challenge. And as a human girl living in the world of faeries that is a dangerous gamble with life and death. This is the first book in a trilogy by Holly Black that touches not only on the topic of fighting for yourself but also on the politics of this ornate fantasy world, as well as the complex relationships between Jude, her family and the faerie folk. Black constructed this incredible and dark fantasy that just absorbed me into faerie folklore and kept me captivated by all the characters, the plot and intricacies of the world-building. It had me intoxicated from the very first page.