Children born of fairy stock (The Cruel Prince by Holly Black sync read post)
ikel89 and hopefully cyanshadow, and anyone else who wishes to join us, are embarking on a sync read of Holly Black's The Cruel Prince . Wicked fairies and larcenous teens (probably) and complicated family relationships (almost certainly) galore!
Come join, or if you've already read it, comment along as we progress through the book.
Come join, or if you've already read it, comment along as we progress through the book.
I actually didn't have time to ponder this one, I was too busy going wtf at her putting her SLEUTHING and STEALTHING ABOUT in jeopardy by just stopping mid-mission to save a character that didn't even have a name for 3/4 of the book. Not like it was stupider than the rest of things she does on impulse, but I honestly missed the part where I would be surprised or not by eyerolling at this plot tangent. In retrospect, some substitution and consent leitmotifs were sure echoed, but like. Does it even matter in the context of teh rest of the book.
who literally derives his powers from doing laundry with the blood of slain enemies to murder his beloved daughter
Madoc's laundry list :DDD Also, did he really derive power from this dyejob or he did it for aesthetics as well?
Murderbot 3 isn't really as good at Murderbot2, so I understand the sentiment even outside the Hugo burrnout. Read the Silver and liveblog me everythiiiiing <3 <3 <3
I never stopped finding the idea of her being good at spycraft kind of laughable
I kept thinking also that this book is sorely missing at least one self-aware/genre-savvy character who could make things slightly bearable by calling them out and/or casting shade but nope. Dead serious and committed to faerie moodboard nonsense.
Nods along to your maths -- none of it looks too convincing, 14 yo or 7yo or otherwise, plus the dialogue is haphazard. Seriously, he doesn't sound 4 in the last scene!!
BUT I would have still appreciated some balance because Cardan is still not a great person, even if everyone else around him is even worse. I think this is one place where the POV is really limiting, because Jude is clearly unable to be objective about him in any way, and we don't see him through anyone else's eyes.
See, this is where the genre savvy or mouthy thrid person chara would have come in handy! Best outside description of Cardamom we get is "foppish" and like, okay, thanks for not going off in a spiel about him being OH SO CRUEL i guess, but imagine if someone was like, "don't give him more attention than needed, faeries in puberty are very hormonal and prone to white mushroom acne, he needs to occupy himself until it passes" or some such.
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That was definitely my initial reaction. And I do completely agree that it doesn't matter in the context of the book -- which I feel is kind of the book's problem and not that interlude's. But just as a twist, it was the only twist I actually liked, because I felt like it did jive with a theme the book was setting up in the beginning... and kind of lost track of around the 75% mark.
Also, did he really derive power from this dyejob or he did it for aesthetics as well?
In the beginning it said he needed the blood-laundry like mermaids need the salt spray -- so it sounds like he derives nourishment from it if not powers. But something more fundamental than aesthetics anyway.
Read the Silver and liveblog me everythiiiiing <3 <3 <3
I will for sure liveblog it when I do read it!
I kept thinking also that this book is sorely missing at least one self-aware/genre-savvy character
That's true, actually... and I think a departure for Holly Black -- an unfortunate one.
faeries in puberty are very hormonal and prone to white mushroom acne
*snerk*
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Yeah, I think I forgot to remark on that, but thought it was a nice touch.
I do agree that it dissolves into the backdrop of questionable/pointless narrative choices, and I doubt I would've remembered about it either if I wasn't doing a liveblog of the book. As it was, when I reread the comments I'd been making, I recollected it with a bit of surprise.
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