There was so much potential sitting in the pages of this book; Holly Black's past works on Fairy were fantastic (see my review on The Darkest Part of the Forest), there were great quotes full of intense meaning, the characters and locations were well defined, and the plot was intriguing enough, with great push and pull. This book had all those elements and could, or should, have been greater, but the potential seemed to fizzle. The first half of the novel, I felt like I was slowly making my way through, sluggish, sometimes even bored. The fairies seemed less scary and more like your average high school bullies. I was never really scared for Jude, which made the story less meaningful. Mostly, I was annoyed with the fairies, Jude, and especially her spineless sister, Taryn. Their insistence on staying in a place inhospitable to them made no sense to me; which, made me side with their older sister, Vivienne, on her indifference to living there and adhering to customs and her need to return to the mortal world. Jude was a hard character for me. I thought she was strong, independent, and there were definitely characteristics I loved about her; however, her character often proved to be too wishy-washy for me to really connect with her or care about her plight. She continuously mentions how scared she is of the fairies, and how she can do nothing to stop their bullying without facing deadly consequences (but leaving is a no?). Oh, but wait she then goes and does something to stop them, immediately after saying she cannot. So does she actually fear them, or is that all just blather? Is she really just damning the consequences and putting her sister, who she swears to protect, in danger? We are in her head and I still could not understand her thinking and logic sometimes. Her constant mind changing was giving me reading whiplash. Cardan was a well developed character that allowed for growth, he becomes better to understand as you receive small glimpses of his life and personality. He may have been terrible, and there were definite moments where I hated him, but I think he was also my favourite character. He was a more sympathetic character than Jude; Cardan was clearly unloved, used by everyone around him (even Jude), loathing himself and his emotions. A reject from his own family, with no aspirations. He had no hope of ever escaping his inevitable future. His character was more human than Jude ever could have been, ironically. As a reader, I have this aversion to books that use continuous descriptions of good looks throughout, especially as the only thing that seems to attract one character to another, hence why I stopped reading the Twilight saga after the first book. For example, a character continuously talking about how much they hate someone, but then saying 'they are so beautiful, and oh boy I can't stop thinking about them romantically', seems so disingenuous to me. This is just a small quirk I have, also works the opposite way, of someone continuously putting themselves or someone else down for their looks (see my review of The Upside of Unrequited). Maybe this is used as a plot point, a move to show that the character is fooling themselves in some way, or we are hearing true thoughts, but it just irks me. I stuck this book out, as there wasn't an overly annoying amount of this, and I could push past those moments when Jude would talk about the beauty of the fairies, Cardan's good looks, Locke, etc. Okay, small rant over. I am glad I did stick it out, because the second half of the book was a whirlwind of intrigue, new and interesting characters, and the blood and horror promised in Holly's fairy Kingdoms. It was interesting enough to warrant reading the next book in the series, The Wicked King. I am hoping that the next book builds on characterization, delves into more fairy politics, pits Jude and Cardan against each other and against their enemies. I would love to read less about Taryn and Locke, as I could not stand either of them. Taryn was whiny the entire book, pushing her inferiority and inadequacies on Jude, trying to change who Jude was, and basing her whole life around marrying a fairy (because that will stop abuse), yawn! Locke was annoying in the way that he seemed to care, but only when it made his life more interesting, yuck! I would love to read more about Oriana, did anyone else love this character as much as I did? I felt she was badass (cannot go into detail without giving away plot), but she was fierce, loyal, unafraid for herself, she did what needed to be done to protect her child. She was more of a warrior than Jude, in my opinion. I was also a fan of the Court of Shadows, now that is a spy team, #squadgoals. An okay start to the series, the second half of the novel building a solid foundation for what is to come.
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