Be as strong as the King of the Elves himself...
Jude has only one goal – as a secret power behind the throne, to protect her brother Oak, the true heir to the elven kingdom. For this she has tied Cardan, the new king of the elves, to herself and secretly pulls the strings. Running Faerie’s fortunes would be difficult enough. But Cardan does everything to subjugate Jew, even if the fascination that Jew exerts on him is unbroken. When someone unknown in Jude’s entourage apparently plans to betray her, she must not only face the traitor, but also get her conflicting feelings toward Cardan, if she doesn’t want to lose control of the elf kingdom.
Already the cover is very appealing and after the cliffhanger I had to read the book one way or the other. So, since I wanted to read other books, I planned to read a chapter every now and then. I’ve failed miserably. The story had me so spellbinding that I couldn’t get away from the book. Holly Black seems to have planned the book so well that every new twist is a total “shocker” and almost forces you to read on. The elf kingdom is really wonderful in itself, even every little side character seems to have secrets, to be involved in the story and to improve it a lot. I particularly like the fact that on one side everything can be so steadfast and on the other side the sheer chaos breaks out again, that everything that was thought to be the truth is suddenly void. Rarely have I read such a captivating book. The book gets a small minus, however, because I think that between all the lies and the political machinations, the love between Cardan and Jude gets to little attention. I am aware that their hatred for each other is deeply rooted and it is difficult to write such unifying scenes, yet the love was so sudden and then not. It’s all very confusing. This helps the book to gain suspense in many respects, but for me as a reader it has truly pushed me to the limit of despair. This book is not for the faint-hearted.
About the characters: In the first book I found it difficult to say much about this, because the characters were so fundamentally opposed in themselves. When do they fall out of character? Is that even a character trait? In this part I liked Jude more, in my opinion she had a brutal character development, but still somehow it fits her. The “constant” killing has demanded a lot of things from me. For Jude it seems to have become a small gesture, but I can’t really describe what I think of it myself. But in any case, I can say how much I love her strength, she has always had it in her, but now she can live it out to the full. It’s going to be great. I’m already looking forward to what she’s going to do next. Because I’m sure her hurtness spurts her on, thinking bigger, being more brutal, even more intrigue, even more power. Her desire for power is completely understandable to me, she can no longer stand the oppression and wants to put an end to it. After all everyone (Taryn) can complain, but only a few (Jude) have the courage to do something about this suffering, for that I admire them. Cardan is still a mystery in himself and with this end the question marks have only become bigger. What does he really want? What’s he willing to do about it? I can’t quite understand his feelings towards Jude either, I hope to find out more about them in the next book. I don’t have much to say to Taryn, it’s the way it always was. It is bad. She is bad. I don’t like her. Her actions annoy me, I find them insidious, wrong, and as soon as I hear her name, I want to skip the pages. She and Locke have a perfect match.
The writing style hasn’t changed much, it´s easy to read and fun.
I recommend the book to everyone who loves fairies, and since it has certain similarities, also to anyone who has loved the Red Queen series.
Jude has only one goal – as a secret power behind the throne, to protect her brother Oak, the true heir to the elven kingdom. For this she has tied Cardan, the new king of the elves, to herself and secretly pulls the strings. Running Faerie’s fortunes would be difficult enough. But Cardan does everything to subjugate Jew, even if the fascination that Jew exerts on him is unbroken. When someone unknown in Jude’s entourage apparently plans to betray her, she must not only face the traitor, but also get her conflicting feelings toward Cardan, if she doesn’t want to lose control of the elf kingdom.
Already the cover is very appealing and after the cliffhanger I had to read the book one way or the other. So, since I wanted to read other books, I planned to read a chapter every now and then. I’ve failed miserably. The story had me so spellbinding that I couldn’t get away from the book. Holly Black seems to have planned the book so well that every new twist is a total “shocker” and almost forces you to read on. The elf kingdom is really wonderful in itself, even every little side character seems to have secrets, to be involved in the story and to improve it a lot. I particularly like the fact that on one side everything can be so steadfast and on the other side the sheer chaos breaks out again, that everything that was thought to be the truth is suddenly void. Rarely have I read such a captivating book. The book gets a small minus, however, because I think that between all the lies and the political machinations, the love between Cardan and Jude gets to little attention. I am aware that their hatred for each other is deeply rooted and it is difficult to write such unifying scenes, yet the love was so sudden and then not. It’s all very confusing. This helps the book to gain suspense in many respects, but for me as a reader it has truly pushed me to the limit of despair. This book is not for the faint-hearted.
About the characters: In the first book I found it difficult to say much about this, because the characters were so fundamentally opposed in themselves. When do they fall out of character? Is that even a character trait? In this part I liked Jude more, in my opinion she had a brutal character development, but still somehow it fits her. The “constant” killing has demanded a lot of things from me. For Jude it seems to have become a small gesture, but I can’t really describe what I think of it myself. But in any case, I can say how much I love her strength, she has always had it in her, but now she can live it out to the full. It’s going to be great. I’m already looking forward to what she’s going to do next. Because I’m sure her hurtness spurts her on, thinking bigger, being more brutal, even more intrigue, even more power. Her desire for power is completely understandable to me, she can no longer stand the oppression and wants to put an end to it. After all everyone (Taryn) can complain, but only a few (Jude) have the courage to do something about this suffering, for that I admire them. Cardan is still a mystery in himself and with this end the question marks have only become bigger. What does he really want? What’s he willing to do about it? I can’t quite understand his feelings towards Jude either, I hope to find out more about them in the next book. I don’t have much to say to Taryn, it’s the way it always was. It is bad. She is bad. I don’t like her. Her actions annoy me, I find them insidious, wrong, and as soon as I hear her name, I want to skip the pages. She and Locke have a perfect match.
The writing style hasn’t changed much, it´s easy to read and fun.
I recommend the book to everyone who loves fairies, and since it has certain similarities, also to anyone who has loved the Red Queen series.