Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    From $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Cruel Prince
    The Cruel Prince
    The Cruel Prince
    Audiobook12 hours

    The Cruel Prince

    Written by Holly Black

    Narrated by Caitlin Kelly

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    By #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black, the first book in a stunning new series about a mortal girl who finds herself caught in a web of royal faerie intrigue.

    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 years old 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.

    In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war 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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateJan 2, 2018
    ISBN9781478923749
    The Cruel Prince
    Author

    Holly Black

    Holly Black is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of fantasy books, including the Novels of Elfhame, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, the Spiderwick Chronicles, her adult debut, Book of Night, as well as an Arthurian picture book called Sir Morien. She has been a finalist for an Eisner Award and the Lodestar Award, and the recipient of the Mythopoeic Award, a Nebula, and a Newbery Honor. Her books have been translated into 32 languages worldwide and adapted for film. She currently lives in New England with her husband and son in a house with a secret library. She invites you to visit her online at blackholly.com or on Instagram @blackholly.

    More audiobooks from Holly Black

    Related to The Cruel Prince

    Titles in the series (5)

    View More
    View More

    Related audiobooks

    YA Fantasy For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • UNLIMITED

      Crescent City

      Dec 1, 2021

      Crescent City
      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      The Coven

      Oct 2, 2024

      The Coven
      6 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Cricket League

      Jan 1, 2022

      It was an unusual birthday. Colorful banners blanketed the backyard. Kids chased each other through the grass. Adults talked. It all went downhill from there. My little sister was turning five. On her birthday cake, painted in frosting, was a fat, pi

      7 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      The VISITATION

      Jan 4, 2022

      The VISITATION
      6 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      The Fox And CINDERELLA

      Dec 7, 2022

      The Fox And CINDERELLA
      6 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Lech

      Feb 8, 2022

      Lech
      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Sin Sunday

      Feb 29, 2024

      Sin Sunday
      2 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Perfect

      Nov 17, 2021

      Perfect
      6 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      The Girl on THE MOON

      Mar 3, 2021

      The Girl on THE MOON
      8 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      The Family Plot

      May 7, 2020

      The Family Plot
      10 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Your First Lesson

      Oct 10, 2024

      Content Disclosure: Sexual Innuendo; Mild Language Margarite lined up behind the stream of cars spilling into the street, parents more punctual than she. She couldn’t get used to being back here at the middle school she herself had attended. She’d ha

      16 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Someone To Watch OVER ME

      Jun 15, 2022

      Someone To Watch OVER ME
      9 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Someone To Watch OVER ME

      May 25, 2022

      Someone To Watch OVER ME
      9 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Me & Davey Waters

      Jan 15, 2023

      Me & Davey Waters
      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Best Of The Best

      Oct 29, 2022

      Best Of The Best
      8 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Someone To Watch OVER ME

      Jun 8, 2022

      Someone To Watch OVER ME
      9 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      THE CYBER Saviour

      Feb 10, 2021

      THE CYBER Saviour
      3 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Teddy And Roosevelt

      Jun 10, 2023

      They call it Friends Group. But there are no friends, and there is no group. Just me, a state-funded social worker, and another sixth-grader, the kids call Sweaty Teddy. We sit in a converted cinderblock office between the furnace and the chapel and

      16 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Abandoned

      May 24, 2022

      Abandoned
      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Teddy And Roosevelt

      Jan 10, 2021

      They call it Friends Group. But there are no friends, and there is no group. Just me, a state-funded Social Worker, and another sixth grader the kids call Sweaty Teddy. We sit in a converted cinderblock office between the furnace and the chapel and l

      16 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Scapegoat Child

      Mar 15, 2018

      In the crucible of our family my sister burned like molten steel. Once I saw her arms outspread her legs hanging limp and useless wet saliva dripping from her tongue. I screamed they surrounded her lifted her onto the sheets where she convulsed for h

      7 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Abandoned

      Jun 3, 2021

      Abandoned
      5 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      STEPPING Out

      Mar 4, 2020

      STEPPING Out
      9 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Alice in the Delta & Other Poems

      Sep 1, 2024

      Now the muscle can uncoverthe shoulderthe field can come inthe bright green grass as an act of repairThe plaster so tiredso gladto stop holdingeverything upAfter years she scrapeda rectangle on one walldown to white by the lightsocket before she tore

      4 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      POISON ON Pink Paper

      Jan 8, 2020

      POISON ON Pink Paper
      8 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Summer Reading Guide

      Jan 2, 2022

      Summer Reading Guide
      6 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      The Reluctant Medium

      Feb 3, 2020

      The Reluctant Medium
      6 min read

    • UNLIMITED

      Left To Lose

      Jul 10, 2022

      Around the time she gives up her name, it starts to feel like this entire revolution isn’t worth it anymore. The world is probably lucky that Kelian—she still remembers Kelian, in spite of everything—is there to pick up the pieces, the way he always

      11 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Cruel Prince

    4/5

    1,422 ratings55 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Written clearly for a teenage crowd, I’m usually attracted to the fantasy but turned off by the immaturity. For some reason I found myself INVESTED though.
      Jude is immature and impossibly (unbelievably) resilient and by the end, I wasn’t even sure whether she was a “good guy”. In fact, most of the characters blur the line between good and evil and don’t care whether you like them or not.
      It managed to surprise me with a twist and left me wanting the rest of the story, thoroughly confusing my reading tastes.
    • 5/5
      Jude is who I want to be when I grow up.
    • 5/5
      I really liked this book. The last half is great.
    • 4/5
      Gulped this down in one sitting.
      Jude and her sisters see their parents murdered in front of them. Madoc was her human mother's husband and she had absconded with the smith and made a quiet life in the human world with Madoc's daughter Vivienne. Madoc brings them to faerie and treats them as part of his family; which they technically are, and educates them with the full faerie who bully them and treat them dreadfully. Jude wants to be a warrior, Taryn, her twin, wants to marry faerie and Vivienne wants to go back to the human world to live. Madoc has another wife and Oak is their son. He's young and it's all messy in the family dynamics.
      Then the king announces that he's going to abdicate in favour of one of his sons and politics ensue. One of Jude's major tormentors is Carden and as the story progresses he becomes more important to the story and to Jude's future.
      It's messy politics with characters who just keep hitting moments in the story that I really couldn't put down. (Bad Decisions book Club winner)
    • 4/5
      It took awhile for The Cruel Price to hook me, but once it did I couldn’t put it down. This novel is so much darker than I expected it to be, but I’m intrigued by the story and can’t wait to see where it’s headed.
    • 5/5
      I love, love, love Holly Black’s worlds and this was no exception. I should have read this months ago, when it was first suggested to me. I loved the gory, scary, love and death soaked beginning. I love the slow reveals (like the red cap), but also found the love hat super predictable from the beginning, of not the familial betrayal so close to home. I’m deeply interested in where this series goes.
    • 3/5
      Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she was taken to live in the world of the High Court of Faerie. Jude and her siblings wanted for nothing except belonging. In her attempts for acceptance, Jude mingles her way into politics and makes enemies with Prince Cardan. Jude discovers the deceptions, scandals, and secrets of the court while refining her skills in strategy. To protect the fey and her siblings, Jude must fall into the hypocrisies of the court.

      Holly Black has created a bridge between humanity and the world of fey. The world building, magic, and character development are picturesque. Near the end, there was a lot of warranted rage portrayed that disturbs the plot. All in all, The Cruel Prince is a commendable read. This book is part of The Fold of the Air Series and the next book is The Lost Sisters.
    • 5/5
      Holly Black is one of my favorite YA authors and I've enjoyed every single one of her faerie lore books. She is very good with characterisations and building a world around those characters in a way that is easy to visualize and thus immerse yourself in as the reader - this book is no exception. If you've liked any of Holly's previous Faerie novels then you're sure to love this one. I cannot wait for the sequel!
    • 4/5
      I had heard good things about this book and was excited to read it! The writing style surprised me at first and it took some time for me to get used to it. But by halfway through the book, I was hooked! I loved the mystery aspect, and the plot twists that sprung up. The development of Jude's character really started to who through at the end and I can wait to see how far she comes over the next two books!
    • 4/5
      Oh, Holly, why do you do these things to me?

      Book 1 (there are 2 books within the book) is an exercise in watching the painful train wreck of a mortal girl making a lot of bad decisions in fairyland. It's intricate, it's slow, it seems always to teeter on the precipice of every thing going terribly, terribly wrong. The main character, Jude, is a stubborn, flaming, furious ball of an angry fearful girl, who is determined to wrest control in a world without that option. At least she has her sisters, but they are also broken and also coping in ways that don't seem likely to succeed. And honestly, this bit is a bit slow. Many things happen. Many mean, bullying, humiliating, hateful things. And beautiful gowns are imagined. But the pacing is slow, and the inevitable seems inevitable.

      Then BAM! book 2. And suddenly Jude comes into her own. Suddenly smart scheming and bargains and more interesting betrayals and suddenly it's impossible to put down because Jude is becoming something altogether more interesting than she was before, and so is everyone else. Except maybe twin sister Taryn. I hope she experiences a similar flowering, but I fear the direction that one will go.

      and then the tragedy of having to wait for the next 2 books kicks in. *sigh* Thanks, Holly.
    • 5/5
      Ah the agony of this series. I almost can't stand it. Black has managed to create characters that the reader can love and hate simultaneously.....it is like a constantly swinging pendulum of emotions!

      This series follows a human, Jude, who is raised in underhill by Faeries. In fact the Faerie that is raising her and her sisters (Vivi, her older sister who is a Faerie, and Taryn her twin) is the man who murdered her father and mother.

      While Taryn tries to fit into the cruel world of the Faerie, even to the point of betraying her twin; Jude fights against it. Vivi, a half faerie (sharing the same mom as Jude and Taryn, but a Faerie Father, Madoc) is angry at being forced to live with the Faerie and be part of the court.

      This story is so filled with politics and cruelty it is a virtual chess match between characters. It is impossible to tell where true loyalty lies, where love really exists and what relationships actually matter at all.

      A great read. I have begun the next in the series and will complete the Trilogy by end of month.
    • 5/5
      I'm doing a trilogy review to make my life easier. First - I loved getting to revisit some of the old characters from other series. I really enjoyed the unlikely romance that played out, and yes, I enjoyed the rest of the drama that came together. My biggest disappointment is that of course there's another book I haven't gotten hold of yet, because just because I save up an entire trilogy to read doesn't mean that there won't be another related book that I don't have. Yes, all Holly Black Faery books are amazing.
    • 5/5
      I loved this way more than I thought I would. "Hot people being horrible to each other" is an apt description, but I feel it needs more nuance for people who are a bit put off by that like me. I play RPGs and always choose the nice option. I've never been able to do a renegade run of Mass Effect!

      So. People are horrible in this book, but it's for justifiable reasons - they have a goal, or they think the other person will hurt them worse, or something like that. They all have an idea of what should be right. It's not a crapsack world. But it's still not a very nice one.

      Anyway. I think I read Tithe back in like...late middle school? Holly Black seemed too mean for me back then, and I just haven't picked her up since. YA is not my favorite style these days, but the zippy qualities were very nice after my last super slow and introspective read, so it fit very nicely with what I needed. The zippiness also kept us from wallowing in various indignities, and the YA-ness meant that Jude was going to do something about her situation. It was a nice mix.

      Some of the minor twists were visible from outer space, but whatever. The love triangle (quadrilateral?) wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been - everybody being mean to each other kept the moping way down.
    • 4/5
      I wrote this whole review and then Goodreads didn't save anything so this will not be my best review because I don't want to re-write everything.

      I liked this book which I'm happy about because it's the first YA fantasy I've really liked since I read An Enchantment of Ravens, which was the first book I read this year. I'm back home again because of COVID and I have a closet full of books I bought while back in high school so I'm probably going to be reading a lot more YA fantasy in order to get through some of those. It's nice to see I haven't let the genre behind quite yet.

      I really liked that this book used the folklore of Fae being pretty evil towards people and I also liked that they are not able to lie. I always prefer the more traditional folklore Fae, not just pretty people with pointy ears, so this is right up my alley. I thought Black did a great job executing a books where traditional Fae lore was well executed and modernized to create an interesting story. By having eviler Fae, it gives the human characters like Jude to feel conflicted and have complex motivations. It makes the characters seem more real and allowed me to understand why the would make a choice even if it was violent or I didn't agree.

      I really liked this and I would be interested in reading the sequels as soon as I can get my hand on a library copy!
    • 5/5
      WOW. This book was amazing, I finished it in one sitting! First book I've read by this author, and she didn't disappoint me. Perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare (funny since this book was dedicated to her) and faeries. Jude is a really relatable character and I can totally understand her choices... even though WHY LOCKE??? I WAS YELLING IN MY HEAD HE'S A BAD GUY NO NO NO . Overall though, great read, definitely recommending!
    • 4/5
      Took about half-way through the book for me to be fully hooked but dang. I am now invested.
    • 3/5
      Some twists and turns in the plot, but most were easily guessed.
    • 4/5
      Jude and her sisters are ripped from the human world and brought to Faerie by Macdoc a general who murdered their parents in front of them and raised them as his own. As a mortal, Jude lives with fear as she grows to love her life in faerie. She has ambitions and when the machinations of the court spin around her, she gets involved. With lush descriptions of the beings and the land, the tale is spun with magic, intrigue, and a lust for power. The end is full of twists and turns and questions about what will happen next.
    • 4/5
      This book has been recommended to me so many times and has been sitting on my reader, so I decided to finally pick it up and read it. So glad I did as it's a great story.
      Jude, her twin Taryn, and older sister Vivi are taken to Fairie when children. Jude and Taryn are fully human but are treated well because of the status of their adopted father Madoc. Jude decides to integrate by becoming a knight, but her father forbids it. Meanwhile, she and her sister are tortured by their schoolmates in various horrific ways. Jude decides to fight back even though the prime instigator is one of the kingdom's princes, Cardan.
      It's a good story with some amazing twists. It's basically YA and this first book is where the hero and heroine literally hate each other, a YA trope. The writing is good and the author really knows her stuff on the world of Fairie and assorted other creatures. They're portrayed as the unfeeling and cruel characters they are in classic literature.
      As I live in Portland, Maine, I appreciated the references to my city and the Maine Mall. I'm definitely reading the next book.
    • 3/5
      Holly Black knows her faerie folklore. The Cruel Prince, first book in The Folk of the Air series, shows the fae in all their ruthless, spiteful and selfish glory. Too bad it's wrapped in a fairly standard YA story. From the back of the book:

      Jude was seven years old 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.

      The strength of the story is in its setting and how well Black understands the folklore she used as her inspiration. Black's writing constantly reminds us just how other Elfhame and the fae are. The fae cannot lie yet they can still deceive with the truths they tell. Immortal and hauntingly beautiful, yet they have no purpose to their long lives other than to amuse themselves, which tends to lean towards cruel tricks and bullying. Glamours, fairy oaths, debts and obligations, Black includes them all.

      It took me a while to feel invested in the story. Part of that was due to my fairly neutral feelings towards Jude. Desperate to fit in, Jude is just as petty as the fae she loathes though it takes her a while to realize it. Once she does and fully commits herself, she becomes a lot more interesting. Jude's bullheaded determination takes her far and it was enjoyable to finally see her outsmart the fae. I wish the sister's relationship was explored more. It has a lot of potential. Half-fae Vivi acts more human than either Jude or Taryn at times. Taryn's betrayal was not completely unexpected and I have a feeling she's in for heartbreak in the future.

      There is a romance. It's not the main focus of the story though I think I can see where it's potentially heading. My guess is it's an enemies turn lovers deal. While I was able to guess most of the twists the story took, I was quite surprised with that tricky ending.

      I listened to the audio book narrated by Caitlin Kelly. I enjoyed her narration. She does a great job with character voices.

      Even though I enjoyed the ending and kind of want to know how Jude manages to keep her little brother safe, I don't feel any desire to pick up the next book. Perhaps this will change in the future.
    • 5/5
      Going into this book I was wary because, and I’ll be totally honest here, I’m not a fan of fantasy books that include Faeries and other creatures that are in these types of books. It’s usually hard for me to get into and follow. However, for some reason, I was compelled to read this book and I’m so glad I gave it a shot!

      Jude and her sisters, Taryn and Vivi, were only kids when their parents were murdered and they were taken to Faerie by Vivi’s biological father, Madoc. As the years go on, the girls grow up with different attitudes towards their new home – Vivi despises it, while Jude and Taryn want to find their place after finally accepting it as their home.

      The story is told by Jude, who desperately wants to be a knight for the prince in line for the throne, Prince Dain, and finally fit into the world of Faerie. Meanwhile, she and Taryn are constantly bullied by the youngest prince, Cardan, which only makes Jude angry and want to prove herself even more. Jude’s story reveals that she is, in fact, not a perfect character, but given her situation at times, you can see why she acts the way she does.

      As far as the story goes, it was really interesting. Like I said, I’m not usually into these types of fantasy novels, so learning about a new world was intriguing. I actually enjoyed the political aspect of the Faerie world and how things worked. It wasn’t hard to follow at all and the twists thrown into the story made me keep turning the pages!

      Though I don’t dislike Jude, she’s not my favorite character either. I actually like her sister Vivi the best – she’s got spunk and really cares about her family, well, her sisters and brother anyway. I’m still unsure about Taryn, though I’m not a big fan at the moment. Cardan had some redeeming moments towards the end, but even before… who doesn’t end up loving the “bad boy” of the story? Then I loved the members of the Court of Shadows, the Roach, the Ghost, and the Bomb… they were my favorites along with Vivi, and I hope to see more of them in the sequel!

      So overall, I really enjoyed The Cruel Prince and I’m very much looking forward to reading the next book in the trilogy, The Wicked King!
    • 3/5
      So many people encouraged me to read this so of course I had to pick it up. I thought the storyline was interesting, but I felt like I knew what was coming almost every time. I wish there were a few more twists in the storyline or that it was more complex. I felt the writing could have been a bit better as well.
    • 3/5
      I was a little disappointed with this book. There is a lot of cloak and dagger action, plenty of twists and betrayals, but none of it felt surprising.

      Take Jude, the main character, who has spent most of her life with the Fae, feeling powerless. So what does she do? She makes a huge mess and gets entangled in an even bigger one. She is so focused on what she wants and what she think she has to do to get it, that she forgets everything she's learned about the world she grew up in. Nothing is what it seems and no one is who you think they are. It's fun in a twisty sort of way, but again, a little boring because you expect this is what will happen.
      However, if you are a big fan of the genre, this will sweep you head first back into the Faery world. If this is your first Holly Black book, buckle up, because she has a way of building worlds that you would be both ecstatic and terrified to live in. She mixes flowery descriptions with sometimes brutal details, a compelling combination. Her characters are constantly shifting, which leads me to wonder...if this much happened in the first book, what will happen next?
    • 5/5
      Deliciously convoluted.
    • 3/5
      The description of the Faerie world is charming yet brutal. The part of the book which stands out to me is the use of superstitions to combat Faerie magic: salt in the food, berries for protection. It gave charm to the otherwise not terribly magical world of the Faerie.
    • 4/5
      This was a pretty good book. I got it as a library hold so I didn't realize it was a YA book until I went in to get the 2nd one in the series. I don't mind YA books but some of the character building can get a little predictable and their thoughts are repetitive.

      I did like the concept of this story and thought the author did a good job of explaining and using the magical aspects of Faerie. I'll probably finish out the series but I need to take a break with some other books in between so I don't get too annoyed by them.
    • 5/5
      Who's Who?
      This tale of magic, mysterious actions and murder is a continous roller coaster of dastardly deeds and back stabbing cruelty. Who to trust, who to believe, I just waited for everyone to two-face everyone. Secrets behind every tree, vine and bush in this Faerie forest will leave you wanting more twists and gasping after every chapter. I loved it!!
    • 5/5
      I read this for the "A Young-Adults Bestseller" part of my 2018 reading challenge. I read this book in one day, it was fantastic. It reminded me both of Tamora Pierce and of Court of Mists and Fury. There were enough twists that I was caught off guard a few times, and I really really can't wait for book 2.
    • 4/5
      Wow!
      I had a hazy idea that this series wasn't for me. It didn't take long to see that there is hardly anything more me than this story.
      I'm so in.
    • 2/5
      When Jude's mother was pregnant, she ran from faerie to hide in the human world. Ten years later, her husband took his revenge and stole not only his fey child, but the human twins as well. Taken from her murder parents, Jude and her sisters learn to survive in the treacherous world of faerie without being held under enchantment. Every day Jude must endure the cruelty of the fey and constantly be reminded of her human mortality. All she wants is a place in court and the comfort of safety. But to gain that protection, she will have to dive deeper into the danger to earn her keep.

      Jude just didn't cut it for me as a main character. I was surprised how little character building there was to her. Her past is literally glossed over in bullet points for a chapter. Seriously? I hate to say it... lazy writing. Something I didn't think I would see from Holly Black.

      Not a series I will continue. The plot dragged on and I could care less about the sub plots.
    pFad - Phonifier reborn

    Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

    Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


    Alternative Proxies:

    Alternative Proxy

    pFad Proxy

    pFad v3 Proxy

    pFad v4 Proxy