*no spoilers are included in this I believe*
For its genre and general expectations of ya fantasy, I will admit this book was good. It had a consistent plot and lovely character development, and I especially loved the constant betrayal — it made me v happy!
Some criticisms I do have is the romanticisation of Cardan and his abusive behaviour, as this ought not to be condoned or excused just because he is also abused and therefore doesn’t know any better.
Jude Duarte. Jude is a wonderful character (may be influenced by the later books in this opinion) although she does begin very naive and perhaps annoying at times because of this, she certainly develops into a character who flourishes without the need of anyone and quickly realised and takes advantage of bad situations. Very pleased to finally have a clever main character who is not trying to sacrifice themselves every two seconds!
...and the fact that she’s hot and badass certainly doesn’t hurt.
Again, some characters (maybe intentionally) I do really hate such as her twin sister, Taryn, because of her overall selfishness and constant whiny attitude.
The Cruel Prince has the very popular Enemies-to-Lover trope that is often badly executed due to its constant use. However, the Cruel Prince does display actual violence and actual hate which I love to see — and while not entirely explored — the beginnings of romance to blossom, that stretches throughout the next two books. Again, not everything is rushed into one book nor stretched out.
(fyi, even if you don’t like this book please wait it out until the second one because it deals really well with the after effects of the events in this book!)
For its genre and general expectations of ya fantasy, I will admit this book was good. It had a consistent plot and lovely character development, and I especially loved the constant betrayal — it made me v happy!
Some criticisms I do have is the romanticisation of Cardan and his abusive behaviour, as this ought not to be condoned or excused just because he is also abused and therefore doesn’t know any better.
Jude Duarte. Jude is a wonderful character (may be influenced by the later books in this opinion) although she does begin very naive and perhaps annoying at times because of this, she certainly develops into a character who flourishes without the need of anyone and quickly realised and takes advantage of bad situations. Very pleased to finally have a clever main character who is not trying to sacrifice themselves every two seconds!
...and the fact that she’s hot and badass certainly doesn’t hurt.
Again, some characters (maybe intentionally) I do really hate such as her twin sister, Taryn, because of her overall selfishness and constant whiny attitude.
The Cruel Prince has the very popular Enemies-to-Lover trope that is often badly executed due to its constant use. However, the Cruel Prince does display actual violence and actual hate which I love to see — and while not entirely explored — the beginnings of romance to blossom, that stretches throughout the next two books. Again, not everything is rushed into one book nor stretched out.
(fyi, even if you don’t like this book please wait it out until the second one because it deals really well with the after effects of the events in this book!)