The Queen of Nothing: what are you willing to do for power?

The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black
Series: The Folk of the Air #3
Other in the series: The Cruel Prince, The Wicked King
Format: ARC provided by HBG Canada 
Pages: 305
Top 3 Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Faeries
My rating: Set it on fire/ If you have nothing else to read/ you need to read it/Run and buy it.
To buy the book: CA•US• FR• Bookdep
Add to: Goodreads

 

 

Hey guys!!! So excited today to share my thoughts on Queen of Nothing!!! I have been waiting for this book since…well since I read The Wicked King when it came out lol. So when I finally had my hands on this baby, I simply devoured it!

Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold onto. Jude learned this lesson when she released her control over the wicked king, Cardan, in exchange for immeasurable power.Now as the exiled mortal Queen of Faerie, Jude is powerless and left reeling from Cardan’s betrayal. She bides her time determined to reclaim everything he took from her. Opportunity arrives in the form of her deceptive twin sister, Taryn, whose mortal life is in peril.Jude must risk venturing back into the treacherous Faerie Court, and confront her lingering feelings for Cardan, if she wishes to save her sister. But Elfhame is not as she left it. War is brewing. As Jude slips deep within enemy lines she becomes ensnared in the conflict’s bloody politics.And, when a dormant yet powerful curse is unleashed, panic spreads throughout the land, forcing her to choose between her ambition and her humanity…

Back to Fairyland

One of my best decisions this Fall: reading The darkest part of  the forest by Holly Black. It put me back in the perfect mindset to read The Queen of Nothing, as there are also fairies, exiled from the same kingom Cardan lives in. And they even act as guest stars in The Queen of Nothing, so I was even happier haha.

I simply ADORE this dark and yet so compeling world Holly Black created for this series, poisonous but too beautiful to resist long, especially as a human. You know how terrible it is,  how playful, tempting and dangerous fairies can be, and yet, you’d probaby go, to experience de magic  (and the sexy fairies). It is still there in this third book: curses, prophecies, murders and beautiful court parties! Decadent you said?

Jude and Cardan, Cardan and Jude

The other main interest in this book: Jude and Cardan’s relationship! It is terrible and yet fascinating, and we can’t help but hope and crave for them to find…something together. In this third book, their relationship evolves a lot, after the tipping point of betray being reached at the end of the Wicked King, Jude only wants to kill Cardan (or at least she tries to persuade herself of that)…but of course, things change pretty quickly. If we had more flirtatious banter here than threats, and if the dynamic between them changed, I think it was also necessary to have some evolution in their relationship. Like, at some point, you have to get somewhere with your romance -as twisted as it is!

So close to perfection

I loved everything in this book: the captivating world building, the characters you feel so much for, and a plot mixing political conflicts with old prophecies. But the Queen of Nothing was short, too short, and I can’t help but feel like Holly Black really did the minimum effort there to satisfy her readers!

In a few words

A beautiful conclusion to a must read series, if a little short.

See you for a cup!

Elise

PS: si vous voulez lire des chroniques en français pour ce livre, allez voir celles de Julieet Sara!