Holly Black didn't just write another trilogy about faeries. She basically took the "sparkly, misunderstood supernatural boyfriend" trope, threw it into a blender with a copy of Machiavelli's The Prince, and served it up cold. It’s brutal.
If you’ve spent any time on BookTok or lurking in the depths of Reddit’s fantasy communities, you know The Cruel Prince series books aren't exactly a secret. But there's a specific reason people are still obsessing over Jude Duarte years after the final page of The Queen of Nothing turned. It’s the sheer lack of "nice." In Elfhame, if you’re nice, you’re dead. Or worse, you're enchanted to dance until your feet bleed.
Jude is a human girl. She has no magic. No wings. No iron-hard skin. She’s just a teenager with a sword and a massive chip on her shoulder because she’s living in a world that views her as a particularly interesting species of hamster.
The Jude Duarte Effect: Why We Root for a Mess
Most YA protagonists have some secret destiny. Not Jude. Her only "destiny" was to be a victim of Madoc, the man-hawk-warrior who murdered her parents and then raised her in the High Court of Faerie out of some warped sense of honor.
She's angry. All the time.
It’s refreshing, honestly. Instead of being the chosen one, she chooses herself. She decides that if she can't be loved by the Folk, she’ll be feared by them. This isn't your standard "strong female lead" who is magically good at everything. Jude fails. She gets beaten up. She makes devastatingly bad tactical errors because her pride gets in the way.
💡 You might also like: Is Steven Weber Leaving Chicago Med? What Really Happened With Dean Archer
The Cardan Problem
Then there’s Cardan Greenbriar.
Let’s be real: at the start of The Cruel Prince, he is an absolute nightmare. He’s not a "bad boy" with a heart of gold; he’s a cruel, drunken bully who goes out of his way to make Jude’s life a living hell. The shift in their dynamic throughout The Cruel Prince series books works because it isn't based on Cardan suddenly becoming a "good person."
It’s based on mutual leverage.
They are two toxic people who realize they are the only ones who actually see each other. Cardan sees Jude’s ambition; Jude sees Cardan’s vulnerability and his utter hatred for the crown he’s forced to circle. Their romance—if you can even call it that for most of the first two books—is built on a foundation of knives at throats and whispered threats. It’s addictive because it feels dangerous.
Politics Over Petals: The World of Elfhame
If you go into this series expecting Tinkerbell, you’re going to have a bad time. Holly Black draws heavily from actual folklore—the kind where faeries are capricious, terrifying beings who can't lie but can twist the truth into a noose.
📖 Related: Is Heroes and Villains Legit? What You Need to Know Before Buying
The political maneuvering in The Wicked King is where the series really hits its stride. Jude is acting as the power behind the throne, trying to keep a hedonistic king in check while fending off an underwater invasion and internal coups. It’s like Game of Thrones but with more fruit that makes you lose your mind and more riddles.
- The Blood Crown: Power in Elfhame isn't just about who has the biggest army. It's about bloodlines and specific, ancient enchantments.
- The No-Lying Rule: This is the best part of the series' world-building. Watching Jude navigate a world where no one can lie—but everyone is a liar—is a masterclass in dialogue.
- The Stakes: In many YA series, the "war" feels like a background event. Here, the consequences are visceral. Characters lose fingers. They get exiled. They die.
Why the Ending Polarized the Fandom
The Queen of Nothing had a lot of weight on its shoulders. After the cliffhanger of The Wicked King—which, let’s be honest, left everyone screaming—the finale had to stick the landing.
Some fans felt it was too rushed. They wanted more of the political fallout in the Undersea or a longer buildup to the final confrontation. But looking at the series as a whole, the ending fits Jude’s arc. She starts as a girl with nothing and ends as someone who realizes that power isn't just about holding a position; it's about who you can trust when the crown is gone.
The revelation of the snake? Truly wild. It took the "curse" trope and flipped it in a way that felt consistent with the weird, dark logic of Faerie.
Misconceptions About Elfhame
One thing people get wrong about The Cruel Prince series books is the idea that it’s a standard romance.
👉 See also: Jack Blocker American Idol Journey: What Most People Get Wrong
It’s not.
It’s a political thriller that happens to have a very intense, very complicated relationship at its center. If you read it only for the "spice," you might be disappointed. The tension is there, sure, but it’s the kind of tension that comes from wondering if one character is about to poison the other’s wine.
Another misconception is that Jude is a "villain." She’s an anti-hero. She does terrible things. She lies to her sisters. She manipulates people who trust her. But in the context of Elfhame, she’s just surviving. She’s playing the game by the rules she was taught by a war-mongering redcap.
Practical Steps for New Readers
If you're just diving into the Folk of the Air universe, don't stop at the main trilogy. There is a specific way to consume this content to get the full effect of Holly Black's world-building.
- Read the main trilogy first: The Cruel Prince, The Wicked King, and The Queen of Nothing. Don't skip around.
- Pick up "How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories": This is a novella that gives much-needed perspective on Cardan’s childhood. It’s illustrated and beautiful, but more importantly, it recontextualizes his behavior in the first book.
- The Stolen Heir Duology: If you finish the main series and have a hole in your heart, read The Stolen Heir and The Prisoner’s Throne. These follow Oak (Jude’s brother) as an adult. It’s a different vibe—more of a road trip through the broken parts of Faerie—but it expands the lore significantly.
- Check the Short Stories: There are various "lost" letters and short stories (like the one about Taryn) that clarify some of the side-plots that felt unfinished in the main books.
The legacy of The Cruel Prince series books is its refusal to make its characters likable in the traditional sense. Jude and Cardan are prickly, arrogant, and often cruel. But in a genre saturated with "perfect" heroes, their jagged edges are exactly what make them feel human.
To truly understand the series, pay attention to the imagery of iron and salt. It’s a constant reminder that Jude is an intruder in a world that wants to reject her. Her survival isn't a gift; it's a theft. And that's why we keep reading.
Actionable Insight: If you're struggling to get through the first 100 pages of The Cruel Prince, stick with it until the "mock duel" scene. That is the moment the series shifts from a school-bully trope into the high-stakes political drama it’s known for. If you're a writer, study Jude’s "active" decision-making; she never waits for the plot to happen to her, which is why the pacing feels so relentless.