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poisonedwilds · 3 years

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The Cruel Prince (by: Holly Black)

This is one of the most hyped up books that I’ve seen on BookTok and it was pretty good

Something that I really loved to read about was how different all three of the sisters were and their dynamics with each other.

They all took on different approaches in response to being thrust into an unfamiliar world, so I really love how Holly made them each individual in the aspect of how they dealt with it.

Jude, our lovely protagonist, and the always ambitious manipulator seems like she’s trying to fit in with the faerie. Or rather be BETTER than them, which is quite hard since they are all, frankly speaking, far more powerful than she is. (For now)

Taryn, the middle child that I absolutely despise, seems to have accepted her ‘fate’. Which is apparently to be married to a fae and be a ‘peace offering to another court’. Fighting back isn’t really her thing.

And Vivi, the oldest and only half-fae out of the three siblings, whom I also happen to love decides that rebelling against Madoc and making things as hard as possible for his new wife is the way to go

The start of the book was a bit slow because it introduced the whole backstory thing, but it does pick up pretty quickly (especially towards the end)

But as the book continues to go on, the storyline and all the characters are really interesting and I got really hooked to it

I know that a lot of people hype this hook up as an enemies to lovers book, but I honestly don’t know if I would even consider it that

Tbh, Cardan seems more like Jude’s bully and the build-up as to why he hated her was a little lacking

I actually like how Jude’s whole ‘enemies to lovers’ thing with Cardan is used as a subplot in the books

The whole reason that I stayed with this book and continued to read it was because Jude. She is the epitome of a strong female protagonist.

I love how Jude didn’t say ‘I don’t want power, I just want to be normal’ like a lot of female protagonists in fantasy novels do (*cough cough* Alina)

She knew exactly what she wanted and she was willing to do anything to get it. It didn’t matter to her if she had to step on a few people to get there. And I loved that about her.

This isn’t a ‘typical romance’ story about a young beautiful maiden who was brought from another world and falls in love with a fae prince who does nothing but belittle her and make her life miserable

This is a story about a determined and ambitious young girl who knows that she might never be as powerful as the fae are, but is determined to keep fighting and scheming, despite the risks and costs

This book is absolutely enthralling and filled with secret plots that Jude is always managing to somehow uncover. It is dark and twisted and I love that more than I would if this were just another love story

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poisonedwilds · 3 years

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Not Even Bones (by: Rebecca Schaeffer)

Personally, I absolutely loved this book. The plot, the characters, their developments, and everything else in between

The characters and plot were really easy to follow, but it was still interesting enough that I didn’t want to put it down before I finished it

This book follows a teen named Nita who dissects the dead bodies of supernaturals (“unnaturals”) for her mom to sell on the black market

When her attempt to save a live victim goes wrong, she finds herself sold on the black market. And for the sake of her survival, Nita decides that there is no line that she wouldn’t cross

This book has a lot of relationship building in it and I guess it could almost be considered a type of ‘enemies to lovers’ romance

Nita and Kovit were both morally grey characters, although, I would say that they lean me towards the darker side of the spectrum

Which only made me love them even more. I’ve read a ton of books with hero like characters, so to see ones who are different is really refreshing

Kovit is a zannie, which means he feeds on physical and emotional pains of others. Which is a bonus for him since his job is to torture people

Nita, even though she tries to think of herself as a better person than Kovit and all other supernaturals, has an obsession with cutting people open and dissecting them

One of the things that I really liked about Nita is that she prioritizes her own survival about others. She has the basic human impulse to want to save and put yourself first which is pretty realistic to me

But something that I liked even more was that it showed us how important have morals is. Sure our two main characters may seem completely evil at times

However both Nita and Kovit have lines that they will not cross. In order to keep a semblance of their humanity

Sure Nita dissects people and Kovit gets high off of torturing people, since he is a zannie, but they both have lines that they aren’t willing to cross

And that makes them, at least to me, seem more human. Not like some all powerful villain, but just people. People who aren’t perfect or completely good

This is a dark fantasy book which in its torture scenes, can be a little brutal. At times it seems a little to dark to even be a young adult fantasy, but it is such a good read! And I would definitely recommend it!

#not even bones #Rebecca shaeffer #books #review #book review #book blog #book #book recommendations #bookaholic #book reccs #nita and Kovit #nita #Kovit

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