The Cruel Prince | Rant Review 

I didn't link Cardan to the "Cruel Prince" and think his brothers are more cruel than him. I mean Dain literally poisoned his lover and unborned child (like geez, chill) and Balekin essentially murdered half his family. They are the cruel one. Cardan, oml Cardan, he is just a bad bully trying to idk be relavant?

The way I read the whole series in less than 48 hours and it took you four months. I guess that really shows how taste and what you want from a book can differ a lot from others.

the little bread thing in the back is adorable.

i enjoyed this book. i was very satisfied with the twists and even sometimes the predictability. but the one thing that bothered me was that it was supposed to be a “romance.” it was not. we do not get any romance except for with locke, who is very irrelevant in my opinion. cardan and jude literally still disliked each other at the end. i know there are two more books but like??? it really did confuse me.

This book is...don't know what to say. I started to read it and thought, that style of writing is weird. Then I tried to read it in original (English is not my native language) and it was still weird. It felt like Wattpad story, really bad one. No plot, characters without personalities, and that fucking toxic relationship (bully becomes lover)... Proof that not everybody should be writer.

Is it just me? Or was the cruel prince really confusing and kind of hard to follow? Like I finished it and was just like, okay? Like I get they had to fix the king situation (idk if that’s right cause it’s been a while since I read it but) but the rest I was kind of like, that’s it? Like it feels like something is missing?

Your review is everything I felt while reading the book and after. The story literally means nothing to me but some unimportant information.

But, like twins aren’t magic. I feel like having twins in a book requires about as much plot relevance as having any other sibling.

I was disappointed with this book. Iike the best way I can explain it is expecting to get a full course meal to then only get a salad....

I wanted to like this book. I just don’t. The attempt of plot twists were just lack luster for me. I didn’t feel invested in the characters in this book. I think the only characters I found interesting was vivienne. She was the most consistent character in this book. Maybe even the only consistent character. There were so many characters in this book that went unused and the ones they used had no depth and no reason to care about them. This book was so all over the place and inconsistent. I also found that chapter where they explain her finger and other experiences was jarring and just took you out of the whole story for a quick side blip. It ruined the flow to a book that already hard time keeping its flow. Maybe 3 good scenes in this book and why did they even talk so much about this mock battle if it’s not even going to happen? In any case. I agree with this review. I don’t understand how this book is “#1 New York best sellers”. Unless it bought it’s way there. If you like this book please understand this is only my opinion. Keep loving this book if you do.

More like the whiny twin sister instead of the cruel prince

After listen to the audio book after seeing it constantly for 2 years. I gave it a chance…and everything you said was what i was thinking. I kept face playing myself and going over Judes either slow to action of frustrating dialogue and could stand her. To be honest often i couldn’t wait for the fairies to bully her after a while. Her sister pissed me more than anything for a twin i never seen such a self serving whiny sister who seems to have as much distant for Jude as I and the fairies apparently. I FELT BAD FOR HER BIG SISTER. Her older sister seemed to want to get them out of their situation that Murdock put them in murdering their mom and dad and the obvious hatred to ward her siblings…..and neither twin seems to give a shit. i’m like please….leave them in their misery especially “I WANNA BE A FAIRY” Jude. I don’t even want to get into judes weak spying attempt because…..She kept coming to all these conclusions and guesses that would have made sense….to give DAN A HEADS UP BEFORE HIS STABBING.

"She doesn't like Jude... Same" Me: SAME

It took over 200 pages for it to get less dull. The only interesting character is Cardan. I had to skim over a lot of the politics to get through it. I'll try the second book because everyone is saying it gets better....

I appreciate you talking about everything that happened, all the other reviews barely talk about what happened. Your video made me feel so much better about deciding to quit reading 70% through this book. It doesn’t seem like it got much better afterwards.

If they can go to the human world why didn't they just... IDK. Leave?! 🤔🙄

Definitely overhyped. Felt flat a lot of times. And I had trouble with the first 100 pages. I didn't get hooked in the beginning. I didn't hate it, but I have read better...But I have hopes for the second one.

I don't know how 'reliable' I am, but I absolutely hated this book (everything about it felt like it was written by a 14 year old - the characters were 2 dimensional, the protagonist was a try hard and all girls in this book view each other as a threat), while I adored the sequel (it felt like the author suddenly gained the ability to write and while it was 'only' a 4 star read, because I'm an absolute critical reader and only have like 5 series I actually approve of, it was very enjoyable). I would recommend you to read the second one - just because this is the first series I actually deem to be fit of a second chance, but I can't assure you that you'll like it. Great review though!

The “saving the servant” scene seemed so last minute and irrelevant to me.

Ahhh im not even finished with this review and i gotta say, i love it. All the points you've raised (so far) are explained so well and honestly the feelings of rage i felt as i read this book were next level so to hear someone agree is just sooo satisfying lmaooo

- SPOILER ALERT and my own opinions - I saw this book recommended everywhere and my friend also liked it, so I read it and regretted it (just finished it today, but also only finished reading for the sake of finishing reading). There were so many inconsistencies/contradictions that made it very difficult for me to "immerse" into this "magical world": - one example is how the geas of Prince Dain worked: she was blessed with immunity against glamour but only not safe from Dain, and he commands her to never lose a word about her spy work, which is a smart thing to do, but then she rescues Sophie which is was not a mission from Dain and she tells Vivi about it to ask Vivi for help, but she would not tell Taryn about it because of Dain's command and this confused me a lot, why is telling Vivi okay but not Taryn? - also how the geas worked after the death of Dain: she did not have to obey the command anymore but is still immune to other glamour, there could be a logical reason behind this, but it was never explained why the "good" part of the geas stayed while the "bad" one vanished - the way Taryn behaved because Locke asked her to do so makes her so unrelatable, like who in their half right mind does that? - the sudden "closeness" between Jude and Cardan, the sudden kiss, it all sort of came out of no where, I read to the end in hopes and dreams of a developing relationship even though i was already very skeptical because Cardan used to be abusive towards Jude, I just hoped great development would make me see the reasons, but there was no development I normally don't write comments, but this book brought my blood to boil and I mean it was not all bad, I was still curious of HOW they get to the end.

I loved the book, but damn bro Jude is a really hard character to stand. She feels like the "I'm not like other girls, I like to do boy things" trope and it gets really annoying. Also I didn't mind the lack of romance, but thats probably because I went from the A Court Of Thorns and Roses trilogy to this one, so I definitely needed a little break from the overwhelming romance and lack of plot of those books.

I liked The Cruel Prince fine. Didn't love it, just liked it. However I really think it fell apart after the freaking bloodbath that was Dain's coronation... I liked the book, but not enough to read the sequels.

I finished this book in 2 days and I don't know if it was more to get it off my reading list or to know if it gets better.. it didn't. At some points, I liked it but I don't think I'm going to read the sequels.

I just read this book and it gave me NOTHING. I didn’t connect with any of these characters and the Faerie worldbuilding was underwhelming and I didn’t feel immersed at all; it was honestly even silly at times. The mention of real-life brands is an ick and the twists were predictable/unimpressive. Why would I continue reading this series? The first book gave me zero reasons to 😂 I didn’t even have fun with it.

I agree. It is something that maybe could have had potential, but it was just a really terrible book to me. I thought the writing in general was terrible. Jude is the worst. I really really hate her.

Also, I hated Jude... she made it so difficult for me to read the book (wich I didn’t finished)

Oh God, I LOVE this review so much 😭 it's like you said everything on my mind on my behalf for this video. It's so detailed and addresses basically everything I found wrong in this book. I wish the people who have anything good to say about The Cruel Prince watched this video because I can not fathom what they could possibly enjoy here?! I'm sure this is arguably the worst book I've ever read. And this was a best seller? It gave wattpad but worse. Like that's even an insult to the good wattpad books. I can't believe people genuinely recommended this with so much praise for it. I really can't trust these internet book readers/reviewers for recommendations anymore, my God.

I always thought them being twins was cool, it was to signify how 2 different people with the same upbringing and same experiences can still react to their same environment completely differently.

-- SPOILERS INCLUDED IN COMMENT --- Wow! The effort you put into creating this video - with 14 pages of notes!!! - is incredible!!!! I just think if you had read it in a shorter time period you would have understood better. (lemme make it clear I really actually do appreciate every point you make in this video, and this comment isn't saying your opinion is wrong, it is more to point out why I personally think many people automatically dont like this book.) I think the fact you left possibly weeks between each read altered your perception - which is totally not a bad fault of your own! The title 'The Cruel Prince' doesn't necessarily refer specifically to Cardan as, as you mentioned, he becomes a little softer and more open towards the end and it is his two older brothers that end up as the more evil ones per say. And I think - you might not agree which is completely fine! - that the kiss Jude and Cardan shared is more Jude torturing him, throwing him off of her final plan, or even just quenching curiosity while, yes its cruel, makes sense in terms of Jude's character at the end of the book - a traitor. The ending IS disappointing I think considering the reader is supposed to come to like Cardan and Jude as a pair, and then the protagonist goes and stabs him in the back (metaphorically, to clarify, as it might not be obvious due to the context of the book). The thing with Taryn and the confusing plot points of Jude being bullied by the faeries happend as Taryn is actually in a relationship with Locke and the other faeries know Lockes ulterior motives. It is confusing but it is explained in the end. I think Black was intending on making Jude a confusing protagonist, leading the reader to think one thing and then it turning out as another. This, I agree, kind of ended up as a bit of a two dimensional seeming character. I also agree with you that some of the characters are glossed over and shoved into an archetypal position. Personally I enjoyed the plot twists, even if they did distance you from Jude as a prot. Anyway, that's just my opinion, and just to reiterate- its not meant as a disregard of your own valid opinion! I really love hearing peoples' perspectives and sometimes like to give mine.. Great video!! Thanks for sharing!

Yeah, when this came out I was just disappointed. Holly Black is one of my favorite authors ever, her other books are GREAT. But this one was just so formulaic and cliche. It’s kind of saddening that this lackluster book is pretty much her most famous one, especially because her other books are so much better.

Honestly the book got me depressed. The thing is, I usually don't read the back of the cover just, because I like to be surprised. So after reading a quote on Pinterest, related to this book series. I was interested. The quote was: "A queen doesn't need a king to rule her kingdom" Okay, i shouldn't have imagined what it could be, because my mind had this idea about the book: The King dies, leaving the throne to the queen. She must overcome her grief and take her rightful seat on the throne, even when there's many schemes along the way. But no😭😅It wasn't a happy surprise. I thought I'll get something really interesting and i would love the characters, but no. There's not much development so far. I'll probably try reading the "wicked king" just because, i like to believe maybe character development happens...

wish i saw this before i read it bc omg it was so so bad idk how anyone is remotely satisfied with it

Rant Reviews are my favourite part of Book Tube. Nicely done. Just a couple notes: Caricature is pronounced more like "Carry catcher", and "brunt" was the word.

This book is just watered down Macbeth

(writing this at 20:49) bestie idk if you're planning to read the next 2 books but if you're this pissed about the first one, try reading the second one because it's even shittier, FAR MORE HORRIBLE than the first book. the main reason why i personally hated it is because we're told constantly that jude is cunning and smart and yeah she might be (there are very few instances to support it) but it's more telling than showing. actions speak louder than words and from what i saw, there were mostly just words. she has a lot more power in the second book but she's still begging for basic respect instead of using that power and i'm not even gonna get into the toxicity of the "romantic relationship" that happens (happens - not develops - it just came out of nowhere) between jude and cardan. the only reason i'm continuing it is because i like the world building and things are more interesting in the 3rd book (where characters like taryn actually have a purpose rather than just being jude's twin sister to show the contrast between their characters).

The goofy ass pic of that fox as locke had me dying

You are really good at paying attention to detail. I would love to read an entire novel by you! You are cute AND smart! Love your top and your background in your room is nice. 🌺

I wanted to see someone who hated the book... I dnfed the shit out of that book!! How everyone loves this shit!!?!?!

Finally i find a review that i can agree with

I agree that The Cruel Prince is just all over the place, but the Wicked King and The Queen of Nothing is BOMB!! It’s like the Cruel Prince is an experiment for Holly Black, but the second two books are more stable and awesome.

I want to like this book so much but uughhhh….200 pages in and all I feel so far is disappointment? Tithe is probably my favorite YA fiction book, and the way Holly Black wrote that book was everything. But this is just so bland in comparison.

Jeez Sydney, you might as well just start a podcast on books you hate.

The SASS!!! 😂😂😂 I loved this! It really did feel like a podcast! An hour well spent!

I absolutely love this series but each to their own I suppose.

i honestly don't think the actual cruel prince of the story is cardan but one of his brothers (dain or balekin), especially considering the fact that jude has had more storylines relating to dain than to cardan through most of the book and balekin is just... a blood thirsty piece of shit

4 months? i finished it in 4 days lmao. i have too much time on my hands

IV noticed that most of the rants that I watch about bad books are romance Dang

I feel like for good reads you cant read the 1-2 stars or 4-5 stars. Either people are way too ignorantly positive or they only talk about the negative. You need a fair review right in the middle to talk about the good and the bad lol

Fox Eyes 😂Dance with me. I'm died. So funny.

use me as an I HATE TARYN button

"would that" and "wanting" are both correct in the examples you gave, but they're still clunky and awkward

u saved my bucks! like literally just a min ago I was about to order this book

I just finished the book about 30 minutes ago and all I have to say is I absolutely loved it. I think Cardan was not all completely bad Jude wasn’t my favorite but when they were together in their bad or good moments it was really enjoyable as the reader. In the end though Locke and Taryn I DID NOT like.

hi! this is the first time im finding this chanel. i really love this book and would like to discuss it and i fould this video really intresting to see different views and interpritations about it. i love widening my views about sereis i love and looking at them more critically. this video was really interesting to watch and ill defo check out more of ur videos! :) i do have to say that I agree with some of the points your bring up. there is a lot of unnecissary detail on irrelevant characters. a lot of the details in book 1 do come up and are relevant in later books but i feel like they only needed like one line of mentions rather than whole paragraphs of detail. i also feel like book 1 is weaker than the other 2 books because it has a lot of world building that within this book alone does not pay off. most of book 1 is world building and detail that seems unnecissary at the time but becomes relevant in book 2 or 3, but again, this description is not justified within book 1 alonw because of the lack of pay off. personally i think this trilogy was meant to be read and viewed as a whole rather than each individual book. i dont think its fair to judge the whole series based on one book since this series has such a heavy emphasis on being viewd as one whole thing rather than individual books. however, i also understand why people cant do this if they cant get past book 1. if you dont like the characters or the book and cant read the whole series thats entirely up to personal taste and i completly get that coz the chrs arent likeable at all. (i personally like their unlikability but again thats personal taste) about your point that the chrs all seem two dimentional, i agree w some of them. theres a lot of chrs in this series and a lot of them are quite 2d. obv a lot of the side chrs arent fleshed out coz they arent important and theres not enough time to delv into their chrs. but there are also some key chrs in this book that feel quite 2d. most of the main cast (jude, vivi, taryn, madoc, madocs wife, oak) do get more fleshed out as the series progresses and we see more of them. and judes actions may seem quite contredictory but that is because in book 1 she is lost and not sure where she stands in the world of the fae or human. she does and says a lot of stupid pointless shit but as the series progresses she becomes more logical and deliberate about her actions. her motivations follow the same trajectory, and thru the series we watch her grow from the mess she was in book 1. this i feel fleshes out her chr more but u do have to make it past book 1 to see it so i entirely get ur dislike and confusion on her. most other chrs in the main cast fall under a simmilar umbrella as jude, or we simply do not see enough of them to understand them so they seem 2d. madoc for example, we learn that his species of fae are very blood thirsty and it is explored how despite his love and care for jude, he wouldnt hesitate to kill her to get what he wants. (this explains why he killed the mum, his ex) we watch as jude struggles with this aspect of his personality as we watch them fight and go to war against eachother in the later books. id say the only chr who remains very 2d is locke. this man does not change during the entire sereis and while his backstory is fleshed out, him as a chr never is. honestly hes the worst written chr in the whole series. his only motivation in life is to have fun thru theatrics and causing drama. thats also what his entire personality is about. its why he played w jude and taryn. he never cared about either of them. he also never cared about cardan despite them being besties. he only hung out w cardan because cardan was a prince and there was always shit going down around him. locke started like that and died like that, never changing and never developing outside of that. as a book character, this makes him a poorly written 2d chr. but i think his chr is meant to show the mischevious, manifulative side of the fae. i think he is meant to be a manifestation of that aspect of the fae that is typically assosiated with them in traditional folk tales. also about the naming of chrs like the roach, in this world the fae are described as being either really beautiful or reallu monsterous. they either look divine or like weird warty, crooked green things. thats why those naming choices were made. but the descriptions of the physical appearances of the chrs were all so boring and i skimmed thru them so i get how someone could miss that as i also missed a lot of those things when i first read it. i would also like to note things ive seen other comments talk about the romance of the book. first of all, ive seen a lot of people complain about the lack of romance or about the weird romance with locke. the lack of romance is because the romance is like a sub sub plot that is also a slow burn (like a realllyyyy slow burn that really only truly pays off in book 3 lmfao). and the werid romance with locke was mainly to build taryns story which later affects judes story in book 3 and also to propell jude into her own story. esentially the locke romance plot line is meant to drive the narrative forward in a way that sets up later plot lines. also i think, as someone who has reread this book series, that you arent supposed to like cardan in book 1, or even sympathise with him when you find out about his private life. honestly judes love hate relationship with him throughout the whole series reflects that. he does have chr development and he ends up actually caring about the fae and humans and such, but at the same time he never stops being a bad person. but neither does jude and thats what i think they make a good pair. as the series progresses you realise that every single chr in this series except maybe vivi and her gf (literally only them) are bad people. but i think thats the whole point. so ig thats part of the reason why the romances dont feel as great. but then again the book series is meant to be about politics, not romance. damn sorry this was such a long fucking comment. i just wanted to discuss. i didnt mean to write a whole bloody essay in ur comments. thank you if u made it this far in my monstrosity of a comment. i would love to discuss more so if u got any thoughts id like to hear :) good day

I really liked this book series, along with the separate book “How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories”. However, I think all of the books’ stories combined make everything so much better. To me, this first book really just handed you the characters and the world, but the rest of the books really go into Jude and Cardans relationship, the spies relationship, Balekin, etc. All together, I really love the story. My favorite book is actually “The Queen of Nothing” since it ties a lot of loose ends with everything.

I LOVE THIS😍

I can’t relate to there comments😂 I read it in 2 days and re read it a lot since it’s my absolute all time favorite😂❤️

She is defenetly right.. but my hopeless romantic still liked the book 🥲

is that a loaf of bread on your bed??

OH MY GOD FINALLY AN UPDATE

I finished that book in like a week

Your editing gives me life.

Not everything in a book has to be about plot hun...

your writing nitpicks are kind of insane and I didn’t even like this book

I know I'm late, but i feel like you have to understand Cardans character, which... obviously not everyone does. The shitty things he does in the beginning is on purpose to get portrayed in a certain way - which connects with his background and child hood. That's why he seems so harsh from far away but when you actually get to read about him interacting with characters in depth you see his personally from close. Which is totally different from what he tries to convince people. I respect everyone's opinion about this book, it's far from perfect. But It's annoying to hear people complain about things they don't understand.

I'm only on page 2 yet the pace is weird. It's all over the the place

I didn't like the first book... LOVED the second the one!! I'm still reading the third and I'm enjoying it so far. I think the first book doesn't do justice for the whole story of Jude in Faerie.

Hah. I just finished this book. I'm at least 40 years older than you. I think you're thinking too hard. But fun review anyway.

i came on this video to respect peoples opinions. respect to everyone. but i must leave before i blow up. i worship this series hehe

I bought the book because someone said that it was an enemies to lovers book but.....that spans over a whole series and its a good book to me but I had the hope that it wouldn't bruse my wallet by telling me there's a whole series

This review is getting ridiculous after watching your review on Queen of Air and Darkness. It's so empty book filled with fun service and forced diversity. Most things you don't like in Cruel Prince (exposition, empty dialog, irrelevant subplots, not developed characters) is entirety of Cassandra Clare books. so I don't really think this review is reliable. When you mention some parts of books like writing or world building in one review it should be pointed in all of them.

Does it actually say really 3x??😱😑 wow

this is interesting because im in love with this book not only this one but the whole series

57:00 I love it for the world

How can’t like this book is beyond me❤️

Sorry I disagree.. I really really really loved the trilogy

Ugh YA is weird

The cruel prince is one of my favourite series but omggg i hate jude😂

Aw :'( I liked it though....