Folk of the Air trilogy

The first series I read in 2023 was The Folk of the Air trilogy by Holly Black, which consists of The Cruel Prince, Wicked King, Queen of Nothing.

A rough summary

The story opens with the parents of the twins, Taryn and Jude, and their sister Vivi, being murdered by Vivi’s true father, the leader of the fairy army. Maddoc takes them all back to fairy, Vivi with the purpose of being his heir and the twins out of a sense of duty and honour.

The story then follows the difficult lives of the human twins in fairy, where they are bullied mercilessly by the fae prince and his friends. When Jude finally has enough and starts to fight back she catches the eye of another fae prince, who makes her a deal: a gease that will keep her safe from enchantments, in exchange for becoming a spy.

But when the king and the princes are betrayed Jude must improvise, and the consequences of the power she gains sets of the chain of events in the following books.

My thoughts

So this is a proper classic fantasy series from that 2010’s era of fantasy and I’m so shocked I had never read it!

I really enjoyed this series, there’s a bunch of twists that are very well done and really catch you by surprise. The story is more about the politics of the fae world, with the romance as a secondary plot. Don’t get me wrong, the romance is awesome, although how blind Jude is to it becomes quite frustrating! Jude is a bad arse though and you find yourself really rooting for her. This is definitely worth a read!

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