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The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black Review

4/5 stars "My sweet nemesis, how glad I am that you returned.” She risked it all fighting for the power she so desperately wanted, and now it's come to bite her in the ass. After being tricked by Cardan, Jude is now exiled to the mortal world, where she struggles to adjust to a more sedentary lifestyle. If she attempts reentry into Faerie, she risks being killed on site, or worse, having to endure whatever punishment Cardan sees fit. Still reeling from the events in Faerie (being exhiled, the pain of opening her heart to Cardan only for him to turn on her, and adjusting to the ways of the mortal world), Jude finds odd jobs from other Faeries to try and make a living to help out Vivi and Oak, as well as giving her the risking-your-own-neck kind of adrenaline she craves. Until one day, an opportunity to get her back into Faerie shows up on her door: Taryn.

SPOILERS

And the Oscar goes to......... Jude Duarte for the role of Taryn and somehow managing not to fool anyone for very long, but still being able to persuade herself out of trouble. Or just beat them into submission *cough* Madoc *cough*. Honestly I was really impressed with how she managed to weasel her way out everything. And then Cardan and the Roach show up!!! My cheeks hurt from grinning so much when I read this, because HE. STILL. CARES!

And when Madoc came to fight her and Vivi, Taryn, and Grima Mog all show up to back her up??? That was definitely a fav scene. I just pictured Jude laying kneeling on the ground, waiting for the killing blow, and then the camera pans to show behind her, where Vivi stands on a tree covered hill, bow draw and pointing at Madoc, with the wind blowing her hair behind her and all the hate she's ever felt for her father flaring in her eyes. And Taryn is standing just slighting behind and to the side of her with Jude's sword strapped to her side, and Grima Mog looking sinister on the ragwort pony and then it cuts back to Jude, bloody and injured, rising to her feet. The whole thing played out like a movie in my head. I was also super surprised with how helpful Oriana was. It's very clear that she's trying to protect Oak above all else, despite him not being her biological son, even if it meant withholding information from Madoc. Madoc: fuck you

Cardan. Holy crap. This boy does not give you the chance to anticipate his next move. Obviously deep down I knew that he had to still love Jude (A: because he's practically admitted it before. and B: because as a reader, you kind of know that in the end they are going to end up together. It's just a matter of what in the heck are they going to go through until then, which in this case, is a lot), but when he admitted in front of everyone that she was his wife, my jaw dropped. I was waiting for the facade again of her being in exile but boy was I pleasantly surprised when that didn't happen. And then we find out that Jude had the power to return if she wanted 

C'mon Jude, I get why I didn't see this coming, but you spent most of your life in Faerie, so what's your excuse? Then there's the whole "politics" bit, in which I would like to reiterate-- Madoc: fuck you. (Infernal Devices by Cassanda Clare spoilers--kinda) BENEDICT LIGHTWOOD IS ON THE LOOSE AGAIN!!!

Anyone else think of that? No? Just me? Okay. Just when I thought we might get a good ending and maybe have a few chapters left of some cutesy Jude and Cardan stuff, Cardan has to go and get himself turned into a giant serpent! This is why we can't have anything nice. Stupid faerie tricks and riddles.

But you know what? I am very pleased with how this ended. It seemed a teeny tiny bit rushed but everything just felt so complete and wrapped up with a nice little bow. That being said, I would really love some more 'Cardan in the human world' scenes in my life. And Taryn and the Ghost???? Like?? I NEED TO KNOW WHERE THAT GOES. Spin off, novella, I don't care. Just give it to me. I really did enjoy this series. I'm not going to say its the most well-written, or perfectly plotted or anything like that but this is the first series I've started and finished in a short time period and I found myself counting down the hours until class ended so I could get home and finish it. The Wicked King was definitely my fav out of the trilogy, and I'm excited to read more of Holly Black's books!

#holly black #the queen of nothing #book review #bookblogger #the folk of the air #books #booklover #review #belleofthebookblog

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The Wicked King by Holly Black review

4.5/5 stars I'm sending Holly Black my medical bills for whiplash. Any issues I had with the first book -- out the window. This one was so incredible and restored all of the things that I was struggling with when I read The Cruel Prince.

SPOILERS

Jude is such a wonderfully unlikable person. The deceit. The cleverness. The stubbornness. The resilience. EVERYTHING about her makes it so easy to see her as the villain in some of the other characters story but that just makes me love her even more. She's not your typical heroine where she has all of these high moral standards she holds herself to. Jude knows what she wants and is willing to sacrifice ANYTHING to get it. Everything that has been thrown at her (literally and figuratively) she has just flipped them the finger and said "Watch me. Watch me beat this. Watch me beat you." Cardan. Ohhh Cardan Cardan Cardan. The villain I love to... hate? No. Love. Definitely love. Like, did someone say CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT ??? He went from Mr. Jude's drunk puppet to Mr. Schemey-McSchemerson. At the end. When he gets Jude back. And the he SENDS HER BACK TO THE MORTAL WORLD.

liKE WHTAT and the two of them together??? SEX. U. AL.

TEN. SION.

Every time the two were near each other it was just through the roof. And it just kept building and building until the "I hate you" sex. First of all, Holly Black, how dare you because the whole time I was like

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Jude. and. Cardan. are. mates. Every time they touched or were near each other in The Cruel Prince, Jude felt the connection, and Cardan has admitted to being attracted to her and longing for her!!! And if him pushing her back and sending her to the mortal world isn't some way of him protecting her against Queen Orlagh, then I'm gonna throw hands. But Book 2 of this one. This is where shit hits the fan. This is where the medical bills come in. Everything was laid out so perfectly. Every plan so carefully calculated and yet EVERYTHING goes to shit. First the Ghost betrays Jude, and she is taken to the Undersea, where she is tortured for a month (which, once again, I love how she's all. "Oh, I'll play your faerie games. And I'll beat you at it."). And then Cardan gets her back! But Madoc tries to keep her away from Cardan because he realizes how she has so much control over him, and believes she is trying to keep Oak off of the throne. But even sick, and dehydrated, and starved, Jude lies and deceives her way back to Cardan, and they begin scheming again. And then my fav line happens-----> 'Cardan shakes his head and drinks another cup of tea. "We show her that I am no feckless High King" "And how do we do that?" I ask. "With great difficulty," he says. "Since I fear she is right."' (I LOL'd for reals at this one. Besides the "I hate you" sex, this line made me fall in love with Cardan) And then Cardan gets poisoned, and Balekin realizes Jude has been lying about being under his commands this whole time. And then Jude deceives him once more, and stabs him in the throat during the duel, which I was totally expecting to be this looong, drawn out, dramatic battle. But Jude's like "Screw this, my mate is dying" *stabby-stab* "Bye, Bitch!" Then Jude gets back, and Cardan is better and he says he granted half the army to Madoc because TARYN pretended to be Jude, and it was because he wanted to show Jude that he trusted her and my heart just... broke. Shattered. I was just like... Oh, shit. The proposal. oh my. It felt there there was such a vulnerability coming from Cardan that makes me unwilling to believe that he just wanted to trick her into giving him back his freedom before sending her away. Olagh said something to him or threatened Jude in some way that made him want to send Jude away so she would be safe, and he had to ban her from entering Faerieland because he knows she's too damn stubborn to listen otherwise. If that doesn't happen in the Queen of Nothing and Jude and Cardan aren't mates then I'm... okay I don't know what I am going to do because I'm still going to finish the book. And I'll probably still love it... but still. Better happen

#the wicked king #holly black #book review #bookblogger #the folk of the air #belleofthebookblog #booklover #books

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The Cruel Prince by Holly Black rewiew

3.5-4/5 stars

If you hurt me, I wouldn't cry. I would hurt you back.

      When Jude was seven, her parents were murdered, and the man who killed them whisked Jude, her twin sister (Taryn), and their older half-fae sister (Vivienne), to Faerieland. After ten years of living with her parent's killer in the High Court of Faerie, the human world has become foreign, and all Jude wants is to be accepted by the Fae. To be able to hold any sort of position of power as a mortal, Jude has to be willing to do what ever it takes, and risk trusting the wrong people, as well as deceiving those close to her in order to belong in Faerie.

      I love faeries. I love books about faeries. But the thing about faeries is that they can be very hard to write in order to maintain consistency while trying to follow all of the rules and standards they uphold. I've only read one other book by Holly Black, (<i>The Darkest Part of the Forest</i>) and I remember really loving her take on the Fae world. The Cruel Prince just solidified this love.

      I can see why there are some mixed reviews on this book. Some of the conclusions the characters came to seemed a little far-fetched and it made me have to reread the last few lines of dialogue to see if I missed something, and there were a few times when I had to pause and think back because I was a little confused on where the characters were going with this, but overall I really enjoyed this book.

      The world-building was really fun and interesting, and Jude is exactly the kind of headstrong and determined character I love reading about. Being a mortal in the Faerieland is not easy, and Jude is not willing to just keep her head down and disappear in the crowd. She wants to fight to belong in the only place she has known as "home", even when no one is willing to accept a mortal into their land.

SPOILERS

       During the last third-half of the book, especially the last few chapters, I was racing to finish it and see what would happen. I loved that you didn't know exactly what Jude was planning until it was happening, and how the skills she had been practicing came into use perfectly. Like the part about ingesting little bits of poison so that she could poison Madoc and herself at the end when they duel???? OMG. I think that was definitely my favourite part. My jaw was hanging out on the floor for the whole feast scene. And the fact that she didn't try and be clever by guessing which glass Madoc would chose, so she poisoned both-EEK! I LOVED IT. And then she tricked Cardan, with Oak being in on it! alskdfjk I still can't get over that.

    Also. Jude and Cardan are totally going to end up being mates right?? If they don't, this will be me ---->

END OF SPOILERS

   Despite the few issues I had with book, I enjoyed it wayyy too much to let it dictate how I feel about it and I am very excited to read <i>The Wicked King</i>. (I actually started it right away last night after I finished this one).

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Cut Blackstairs scene from Queen; unedited (in all ways!)

mortalbrooklyn said:Hey Cassie, are we going to get the Blackstairs sex extended scene before Chain Of Gold?

brittychelle1708 said:Hey Cassie. Hope you’re doing well and recovering from your surgery. Just wanted to ask, are we ever going to get the extended Blackstairs scenes from Queen of Air and Darkness?

silent-victim said:Ms. Clare, do you know when you will be posting the blackstairs unedited scenes? Love your work, can’t wait for more!

herongaystairs said:Is there a chance you will still release the Blackstairs unedited scenes from QOAAD? :

SO! I posted about this earlier on Twitter — I haven’t had the time or the mindspace (I’m fully, mentally, in the world of Last Hours) to do what I wanted to do, which was expand and polish an existing Jules/Emma scene from Queen of Air and Darkness. So I’m going to post a scene that was cut: in the original version of QoAaD, Emma and Julian slept together early on in the book, when they were both emotionally very raw. I wound up cutting it and changing it — they still kiss, but they’re interrupted. For me, sex scenes/intimate scenes are about changing dynamics between characters, and advancing plot and characterization. This scene was about an expression of their shared grief over Livvy, and the different ways they were coping: Emma by reaching out, Julian by seeking annihilation of the self. 

I cut it for several reasons — sex scenes deepen intimacy and implied trust between characters, and I was concerned that Julian’s actions in cutting off his emotions after this would tip over into being too unfeeling/too painful for Emma. So consider it an AU. When authors cut scenes, we often cannibalize them for other purposes, so you may see sentences in it you recognize from other parts of Queen, wBut there’s definitely a lot you won’t. ;) My sex scenes, even unedited, aren’t that explicit, but I’d definitely call this an R.

Emma/Jules: Starts on page 30 of my copy of Queen of Air and Darkness.

Keep reading

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Chain of Gold Chapter Titles

For fun! ;)

Chapter 1: Better Angels

Chapter 2: Ashes of Roses Chapter 3: This Living Hand Chapter 4: Half Sick of Shadows Chapter 5: Fallen With the Night

Chapter 6: No More of Mirth Chapter 7: Fall of Songs  Chapter 8: No Strange Land Chapter 9: Deadly Wine Chapter 10: Loyalty Binds Chapter 11: Talismans and Spells Chapter 12: The End of It Chapter 13: Blue Ruin Chapter 14: Among Lions Chapter 15: The Whispering Room Chapter 16: Legion Chapter 17: The Hollow Sea Chapter 18: Darkness Stirs Chapter 19: All Places Hell Chapter 20:  Less Than Gods Chapter 21: Burn Chapter 22: The Rules of Engagement Chapter 23: No One Who Loves

Epilogue

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Restore Me by Tahereh Mafi Review

3.5/5 stars

WAS THAT NECESSARY??? i mean... c'mon. That ending-just-ughhhhhhh. Why do you do this to me??? I was a little late to the party when it came to reading this book, considering I read the first three as they came out wayyy back in 2011-2014, but now I'm glad I waited because it means I can run to he bookstore and buy the next one

Back when I finished Ignite Me for the first time (as a wee teenager), I was fairly content with leaving the series as it was. Sure, there was a lot left that could have been written and there were a lot of questions left unanswered. What happened to the reestablishment? How did Juliette and Warner manage with taking over an entire continent? How did the other continents react? Well... I guess that's where Restore Me came into play. It seems pretty common for the end of dystopian series to leave the "restoration of the world" part up in the air, just letting you assume that yeah... everything turned out fine after all the war and fighting and hardship. You know, the interesting stuff that we love and hate but ultimately end up coming back for time and time again. I had high hopes for this book. But right after rereading the series when i picked this book up I felt kind of... ehh

SPOILERS

I love the whole "17-year-old girl being the only one who can change the face of the world" but when it happened and Juliette took over as supreme commander and the rest of the world just kind of... let it happen. And all of the soldiers just... let it happen. And everyone in the sectors just... let it happen. You're telling me that NO ONE was loyal to Anderson? Yeah, the guy was a douche. Grade A, top tier level douche canoe. But there's always a group of loyalists, ya know? And we just didn't see any of it. However, we did find out why the other continents just... let it happen -- why they let the 17-year-old girl from an asylum and crazy indestructible powers take over the continent. And the whole thing where they sent their children to scope out the situation because they didn't feel it was necessary to come out and do it themselves? *chef's kiss* Loved it. Wayyyy better answer to my question than I was hoping for. Warner. Ahh! Warner. My favourite (besides Kenji obvs.) character from the last books.

WHERE. DID. HE. GO. That boy has got some serious communication issues. "Ohhh but she didn't aaaaaask" asdfha;sdhfasdhd. UGH. This frustrated me so much. Your girlfriend is taking over an entire continent and has ZERO idea of how to run it. Hmmm, wouldn't it be convenient if she had a boyfriend who was raised for this. exact. job. Yeahhhh that'd be real helpful. Yes. I understand that he was upset about his dad, even though he was (as previously mentioned) a grade A, top tier douche canoe. But it was still his dad, and his girlfriend was still the one to kill him so I understand why he was upset. But Juliette asked if he wanted to talk about it and he would never open up. Juliette was just as bad. She had no clue how to do this job but she never really actively sought out the people who were there to help her with it. AKA the boyfriend who was raised for the very job she took over. Or even Castle, who had decades of experience running and underground organization. But nope. Anytime either of them had to discuss anything, they somehow ended up ripping each other's clothes off like a couple of animals. Don't get my wrong. i love me some Warner sexy times. But this was about the only time either of them seemed to not be just a bundle of "wahhh emotions". I couldn't even fall back on my favourite comic-relief character. Kenji in this book seemed really... watered down. This whole book, which I loved despite it seeming like I'm just tearing it apart, lacked structure. Everyone was moving around in circles without a whole lot feeling like it was accomplished. It felt little like the author forgot who the characters were. But I'm have high hopes for the next one, because I've loved this series for so long. Yes I had some issues with this book but i still really enjoyed it. It answered the questions I had after finished Ignite Me and I'm really hoping Defy Me cleanses away the issues I had with this one.

Not only that, but also answers what in the holy heck is going on with Juliette having a sister (which I did not expect) and that her REAL parents are not only alive, but are the supreme commanders of Oceania (which I did expect). 

There’s a looooot more that I could say about this book, like how it touches on soooo many mental health issues, transphobia, and honestly a lot of things that are probably more important to talk about than me whining about the characters. But I already feel that this review is pretty redundant, considering I’m about 2 years too late. 

Hopefully I’ll be on the ball for the final installment. 

#tahereh mafi #restore me #books #bookblogger #book review #juliette ferrars #aaron warner #kenji kishimoto #belleofthebookblog