A Reluctant prince. A runaway queen. And a quest that may destroy them both.
–GoodReads
My Review
I was so happy to return to Elfhame. It’s always going to be a favorite place of mine and Holly Black will probably always be a favorite author of mine so it’s really just a fantastic combo for me lol. Prince Oak is all grown up (well he’s no longer a kiddo but still a KID if you get me, older people) and well I can’t accept that. He’s always going to be Jude’s kid brother to me. Still, time is moving on and Jude and Cardan rule with Oak as their heir and he still remembers the girl that was almost his bride, Wren.
Wren ran away, she survived her parents and now she survives the mortal world on her own, unable to return to a place she once called home that contains the people she once called her family. She’s been living feral even for Fairie standard. But she can’t hide forever, people will always want her, to use her and then one day while running from her past she runs right into Oak. He could be giving her a way forward into the future but we all know Holly Black was never going to make it that simple and I love her for that.
The pacing could be a little ‘slow’ for other readers, but I think with Black’s books she’s got a certain style of writing that the action is always just under the current and there’s always flecks of violence on the pages, so it doesn’t feel slow to me, I’m always pretty happy with her pacing. Wren is really the star of this, she’s our protagonist and I love getting a different point of view despite liking Oak, he is just an extension of Jude and Cardan in the sense that he’s also of the Greenbriar line.
Also, Wren is just such an enigma. I want to know more about this girl who looks like she’s been cold all her life and with sharp enough teeth to tear apart her enemies; if she wanted. Wren is also so vulnerable in so many ways and I love the way Holly Black writes her; she’s emotionally a little immature and naive in the best ways but also cold and hard from her upbringing and she just feels *right.* I loved her interactions with others and every character was basically my favorite, it’s not often I enjoy a whole group of characters, usually there’s at least one person I wish would yeet themselves from the group.
The story is woven with the beautiful prose I come to expect from Holly Black and the plot itself drew me in. I have so many questions now and I was beyond happy to learn so much about Wren and Fairie itself too, we get some things unravelled for us and it just means I need to read The Prisoner’s Throne yesterday lol.
It’s a quick read, I found myself flying through it even though the chapters are long and I don’t know if I love anything more than I do with Holly Black’s description of fairies and fairie fashion lol.
Anyway, 5/5 huge cups of biased coffee from me!
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