Review

Jude and her sisters witness their parents’ murder. They are then stolen away to live in Faerie. Years later Jude begins to fight back against the Faerie Prince Cardan. As she struggles she begins to become embroiled in intrigue and other deceptions, but she is a mortal in an immortal world.

I am always leery of books people say are absolutely amazing because I always get disappointed since it never lives up to my expectations. And perhaps that is why I didn’t really have any. I was prepared to go in and dislike this book or at best just find it okay. I’m so, so glad that I was wrong. This book was nothing at all like I was expecting. I was not prepared for how much I liked it.

It astonished me in all the best ways. A love triangle? Maybe. Sister relationships frought with tension. For sure. A powerful-not powerful main character. Yup. All those things in combination can make me dislike a book. But this one…oh no, it didn’t. It was done so cleverly and so well that I didn’t hate it — I really liked it!

There is something refreshing about Jude. I don’t know what it is, but I don’t find her annoying in all the ways I can when I read YA heroines. She wasn’t irritating super powerful or super weak. Jude had a really nice balance to her. And I liked the romance aspects of this book. They were interwoven in the plot really well, and I was so impressed by it. Because normally I dislike some of those plot points.

I did like the plot in this book a whole lot. It didn’t go where I expected it to, and that was nice. I am so very, very, very eager to read the next book. This is one book I am going to have to buy I liked it so much.

Also, Holly Black’s writing? Fabulous. Absolutely fabulous.