all the kingdom, and making decisons from behind the scenes while controlling Cardan, the newly crowned prince, we see a lot more of the political systems of the land. If you are into that type of fantasy trope, then you might enjoy something like that. However, as someone who does enjoy that type of thing, I really disliked this one. The political system itsself just came off as stupid and pathetic. Jude was unlikable to begin with, and seeing her try and navigate something she had no business being apart of was just so stupid. For one, from what we are told throughout the series, the fact that a human could ever be placed in that type of power is just laughable, especially considering there is no way in hell no one would know that she was the one making decisions. 

 

It felt like the story as a whole was just trying to jam all of the romatasy tropes together into one, but the author had no idea what made people actually like those stories. 

 

There were numerous plot holes that could not be ignored aswell. I am not the type of person that pays much attention to stuff like that, but my god it was so distracting. The whole thing about the fae not being able to lie was such an oversight. It could have been so so so easy so many times to avoid the lying and manipulating and conflict that went on by just using this to Judes advantage. 

 

It was just SUCH a boring book. I will say, I enjoyed it more than The Cruel Prince just because it had a bit more action and depth, but not enough for me to ever get engaged in. All of the conflict and situations that made up the first 80% of the book were completely wiped clean near the last 20% of it, where it kind of actually got interesting. Literally nothing had any consequences at all. There were stuff that I genuinely wanted to see play out that were just totally skipped over or never brought up again. Also, this is an ENTIRELY a tell-not-show kind of series. All of the interesting stuff got little to no detail or explanation, and all of the boring stuff went on and on and on. It was like the author started this book and had no idea where it was going so she just rushed through the important stuff. I said it in my last review, but I honestly think that this is just Holly Black's writing style, which I have realized I really, really dislike. 

 

By far, the worst part about this book is the charecters. Not a single one of them was likeable or even interesting. Jude herself is one of the protagonists that claims to be strong and clever, but makes so many dumb desissons and mistakes its actually laughable. There were so many times I had to put the book down out of embarrassment or cringe. 

 

Her sisters are HORRIBLE people, plain and simple. I am not going to spoil anything, but Tayrn is actually the most self centered, annoying side charecter I have ever had the hatred of reading about. Also, Vivienne? Oh my god. The shit that she did to her poor girlfriend is disgusting and was just so brushed over and not valued enough. All of the characters from the court of shadows were so one dimensional and boring. I coudnt care less about who they are or what they did. 

 

Probably the only decently interesting character was Cardan, and that is only because he actually has some semblance of a back story. Yes I feel bad for him, but that does not mean he is a likeable character, because he is not. 

 

And ok, BIGGEST criticism so far, I have heard about this book on tiktok again and again, and so many people claim the romance is adorable. I'm sorry, WHAT romance? It was actually nonexistent. Jude and him have absolutely no chemistry at all, they barely even talk, and god knows what Cardan has any interest at all in that annoying girl. I mean yeah they had some romantic scenes here and there, but they all came out of nowhere and made no sense at all. Plus, there was no pay off at all. It was so unbelievably disappointing. 

 

I honestly dont think I have the willpower to read the last book. I dont know, maybe I will one day, but there was nothing enjoyable for me in these pages. The plot twist at the end was interesting, but it was completely ruined by the fact that you could see it happening a mile away, and it was caused by complete stupidity. 

 

If you have read Holly Black's books in the past and like the way she writes, then honestly you will probably enjoy this series. It is a major hit or miss for a lot of people, and for me personally it was an absolute airball. Trust me, there are plenty of other much better books that follow very similar Fae/Human storylines.