Mel Campbell's Reviews > The Cruel Prince

This is more like a 3.75.

This was a satisfying example of fae-themed YA. So much YA is really about the intrigue that comes from the main character learning to navigate complex and hostile institutions; and so it is with the treacherous High Court of Faerie, from which the human protagonist Jude yearns for acceptance, even though all the beautiful faries think she's a pathetic puny mortal.

It's tragic how the more fae-themed books I read, the more intertextually they all operate so that the whole milieu of careless beauty and violence seems familiar.

I love that so many YA novels, no matter their fantasy or sci-fi setting, manage to have a setting that's basically 'high school', where the teen characters go every day to mingle and perform their interpersonal dramas. Here, it's a kind of fairy school where the younger members of the High Court go to learn their lore and practise their fighting skills – but only Jude really pays attention, realising it's the key to her survival. Education really is a lifeline!

Of course Jude finds a way to strategise and defeat her enemies in the Court, as well as handling the cruel Prince Cardan who seems to have it in for Jude particularly. Of course, anyone who's read any romance fiction whatsoever will know that it's, uh, not hate that he feels.

I enjoyed this as a trashy escapist pleasure and would definitely read the sequels if they cross my path.