Review: The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #3) by Holly Black
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Series: The Folk of the Air #3
Author: Holly Black
Published November 19th 2019 by Hotkey
Goodreads Synopsis
The finale to the New York Times bestselling Folk of Air trilogy, that started with The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King, from award-winning author Holly Black.
After being pronounced Queen of Faerie and then abruptly exiled by the Wicked King Cardan, Jude finds herself unmoored, the queen of nothing. She spends her time with Vivi and Oak, watches her fair share of reality television, and does the odd job or two, including trying to convince a cannibalistic faerie from hunting her own in the mortal world.
When her twin sister Taryn shows up asking of a favor, Jude jumps at the chance to return to the Faerie world, even if it means facing Cardan, who she loves despite his betrayal.
When a dark curse is unveiled, Jude must become the first mortal Queen of Faerie and uncover how to break the curse, or risk upsetting the balance of the whole Faerie world.
Goodreads
Review
This book was just utter perfection, and as you can see from the dates read, I read it in a day - more like a few hours if I'm being honest. The title to this book is poetic justice really, as Jude is The Queen of Nothing. After she and Cardan marry in secret towards the end of The Wicked King, she is the human queen of Elfhame, and has been exiled by him as soon as their bargain ended, to spend her time in the human world. Luckily, her half-sister Vivi is there, with step-brother Oak, and she's using her knowledge of the faerie world to do some odd jobs, here, there, everywhere. When Taryn turns up one day, asking for help as she has killed her husband, Locke, and Jude has the uncanny ability to lie to the Fae - the only human able to do so. Knowing that returning and pretending to be Taryn will break her exile, Jude can't stop herself, and when she uncovers more plots to dethrone Cardan, and by extent, her too, she will do whatever she can to save the people she cares about, no matter what.
This book is truly when I loved Jude. Now, I can see how all of her actions in the previous books have been setting the stage for her to be the Queen that she always was. Even from the human world, she was doing things to affect faerie, and when she gets back to Faerie, both before and after she is discovered, everything is to improve life, not just for her own gain. When the big twist happens - and I was not expecting it - Jude has to shoulder all of the burdens of the crown, and of her family issues, alone. I do love Jude, I really do. Her and Cardan's relationship in this book was off the charts, and all of their interactions were swoony. He has somewhat mellowed since The Cruel Prince, or at least, he's allowing himself to appear vulnerable, at least to Jude, and it really shows his character growth. Another character I found myself liking, and not expecting, was Taryn, who, like her twin sister, had come into her own, and her actions, or in-actions, in prior books are now all explained. She's still not my favourite, but I do understand her more now.
Again, the plot in this book was all completely necessary, and so well done by Holly. She wove all the loose ends together, and answered any question we possibly could've had from the previous books. There are so many twists and turns, and so much that happens that the book was just utterly un-put-down-able. Now, other than the first Magisterium book, I had never read any of Holly's work before now, but I definitely think that I may be willing to give her books a go, in the future.
Dates Read:
January 25, 2020Rating
4 Stars
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