Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1)

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My Opinion

(4 / 5) I can’t believe I’m giving this 4 stars. Let me preface this a bit; I tried to read this two years ago and didn’t make it more than a few chapters in. The land of Faerie was too much for me. Nymphs, horns, bunny ears, cat eyes….ugh. I just can’t. My brain doesn’t understand these descriptions. I cannot in all reality picture this and not cringe, or laugh! But this series is HUGE on Instagram and I knew I wanted it on my website, purely for the popularity aspect. So I pushed through the first few chapters. I learned to put aside all the crazy faerie descriptions and just focus on the story. The story. Um, wow! Brilliant. I got sucked in. It’s full of intrigue, drama and mean, mean people. The main character was seriously bullied, but bullied is not a strong enough word. It was scary at times! Then something BIG happened in the middle and it blew my mind. I raced through the rest and loved every second of it. If I put aside the toads they ride, tails and blue skin then I loved it. It’s not 5 stars cause Faerie land is still a bit much for me and I am NOT sold on a budding romance or even can see these people tolerating each other. However, I’m going to read book two!

Content is very small for language, intimacy is medium with a few passionate kisses and brief mentions of being naked. The violence is medium except for some bullying violence and some killings. Those are definitely more intense. I recommend it for slightly more mature teens due to the intense nature of some of the scenes.

Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air #1)

Holly Black

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 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.

As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal 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.

-Excerpt taken from Goodreads.

Check Goodreads to see the book’s ratings. 

Detailed Content Review

Language 

F***-

H***- 1

S***- 2

A**- 2

B****- 2

D***- 1

Bas****-

Religious Cursing-

J****-

Chr***-

G**-

L***-

Derogatory terms etc-

Alcohol, Drugs, Smoking

Two young men faeries drink wine. One young man is known for drinking too much then numbing himself with poisons and powders (like drugs).

Beer is served at a celebration. 

Wine is served at a dinner. Children mix in water. 

A man once forced a young girl to drink so a lot of faerie wine.

A faerie man drinks alcohol.

A powder is used as a drug to stupify faeries and glamour humans. It’s used at parties. Mead is served. 

A faerie man offers drinks to 3 others. A young woman refuses. 

A couple drinks wine. 

A man is drunk. A young woman tries to drink but coughs. 

A faerie man is drunk and high. 

A man drinks wine. 

A man drinks from a flask. 

A man is very drunk at a celebration. 

A group plays cards and drinks several bottles of wine. 

A group drinks wine. 

Wine is served at a celebration. A young woman drinks and immediately feels a “floatiness.”

A young woman poisons a man’s wine, not enough to kill him. He passes out. 

Intimacy, Sex, Immodesty

A young woman has a girlfriend. She kisses her briefly.  Later she talks about laying next to her. No details. 

While under a drug’s influence, a young woman is told to take off her clothes so she does. She stands in her underwear in front of a group of faeries. 

A faerie man kisses a young woman. Again later. Her hands are in his hair, he kisses her neck. He sets her on a table to keep kissing. She vaguely wonders about “what happens after kissing.”

A man is laying outside with one young woman kissing his calf and another his neck. She kisses his mouth and slides her hand up his shirt. A naked boy is painted with gold paint and sings. A man kisses a young woman. 

A  young woman wakes up next to a man. Both are fully dressed. 

A woman admits to previously being a consort. 

A man is rumored to have been lured away from the mortal world to a faerie Kings bed. 

A faerie man goes in front of a crowd naked, to accept a crown.

A man was sleeping with his father’s consort and she got pregnant.  

A young woman kisses a man. He kisses her hard, tangling his fingers in her hair, “teeth over lips over tongues.” Desire is surging in her. 

Violence, Weapons, Crime, Blood

Young children watch as a man plunges a sword into their fathers stomach. He throws a knife into the mother’s back. 

A faerie boy doesn’t bow to a faerie prince so the prince punches him and tears his wing, making the boy scream. 

A faerie warrior likes to dip his hood in the blood of his enemies. 

A group of faeries are bullies. Most are minor things like kicking dirt on their food or words. One tries to compel a young woman to jump from a window to kill herself. Sometimes he grabs a young woman and threatens her.  Once, two young women are grabbed and thrown in a river with nixies in it. Nixies will hold you you underwater and bite. Another time, A faerie man forces a magical fruit in a young woman’s mouth, where it will control her mind. He chokes her with more fruit, she’s blacking out. She cannot fight him off due to her mind thinking it’s ecstasy.

When a young woman was young, a faerie bit off the tip of her finger and said he’d eat the rest of her if she told. 

A young woman punches a young man, kicks his gut and is about to stomp on his windpipe. He’s bleeding. 

A man orders his servant to whip a man. The man already has many whipping scars. 

A faerie man chokes a young woman. She stabs him in the side. 

A young woman stabs a knife into her hand to show loyalty. 

A man attacks a young woman with a knife. She kicks it and he grabs her throat. She stabs a knife into his heart. He makes gurgling sounds, curses her and dies. 

A man is rumored to have killed his lover to take the throne. 

A man pierces a woman’s throat with his knife. Blood pours out, she staggers. Someone throws knives at the offender. Another man thrusts his sword in a man’s chest and drags it up to his heart. A woman is beheaded with one slice of a sword. A man is “run through” and killed. A bolt is thrown at a woman’s chest. Her eyes roll and she collapses. A woman slits her own throat. 

A young woman punches a man in the gut. 

A young woman holds a knife to a man’s chin.

A man poisoned his unborn child. 

A woman is poisoned and killed. The poison turns off your body but not your brain. 

A young woman and man fight with swords. She slices his side, he elbows her in the face, causing blood to run.

A bomb explodes. A faerie is shot with an iron arrow in the hand.

Potentially Intense Themes

A man returns home to find his house burned and the bones of his wife and child. 

A household is known for glamouring humans into eating refuse, being drugged on faerie fruit and being very abused. 

A young woman puts rocks in her pockets and jumps from a height to the water, killing herself. 

***SPOILER*** A pregnant mother dies and a woman cuts out the baby. 

**As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.