The Cruel Prince

The Folk of the Air, Book 1

De: Holly Black

Narrado por: Caitlin Kelly

By #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black, the first book in a stunning new series about a mortal girl who finds herself caught in a web of royal faerie intrigue.

Of course I want to be like them. They're beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him--and face the consequences.

In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

Screams in Faerie are Like Birdsong

Forget Tinkerbell.

Stories where faeries are portrayed as dangerous and wicked are something of a weakness for me. At one point, our heroine Jude is screaming as faeries are dragging her and her sister into the forest for dark purposes, and she reflects that "screams in Faerie are like birdsong." That image stopped me cold as I considered a dark forest full of screaming. And Holly Black does that kind of thing throughout the novel, filling it with twists, surprises, and terror.

This one reads reads as if Veronica Mars was kidnapped from Neptune and trapped playing a Game of Thrones. Jude and her siblings are brutally stolen from their parents by a faerie prince and raised in his house across the border of Faerie. Always an outsider, Jude is a human living among immortals -- many who see her as a lesser creature. And she's determined to show them she's just as dangerous as they are, while maybe helping out some of the captive humans trapped in Faerie.

Holly Black is on a hot streak lately. Between this, The Darkest Part of the Forest, and the Coldest Girl in Coldtown -- I just can't get enough, Not only does she have a knack for writing deliciously treacherous fae, she writes teenagers with the perfect amount of angst, honing in on how it feels to be at that point in life where you're not yet an adult, but definitely not a child.

Caitlyn Kelly's narration matches Black's prose perfectly -- tasting as delicious as the forbidden apples immortals use to trap their prey.

Black is the queen of the dangerous fae who live just across our border of reality but so love crossing over to steal us for a kiss, a bite, a drink. This one is a treat indeed, and I can't wait to hear what she has in store for us next.

How could she?

Wow. You won't see that coming. Gotta start book 2 immediately. I can't believe that she did that, but you seriously can't stand what happens. Shocking.

This story, paired with the reader of the story is perfection!

I never usually listen to books in the “fantasy” genre, but I will say this was absolutely brilliant. The story line was intriguing and kept me wanting to listen for more. I’m so excited for the next book, which I’ve already purchased, and will probably buy the entire set!

A little slow but great

The story is a little slow in progress but it’s still good.
The main heroine and hero are refreshing.
And you feel a little twisted but in a good way.

The YA we need.

An enthralling book, it manages to weave a tangible world. Characters are amazingly executed, with unique motivations and conflicting feelings. The way Holly Black plays with the words of the fae lends a subtle but powerful layer to narration.