Queen of Nothing by Holly Black
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…
See, character growth is great! But not when it literally takes away a person’s defining character traits.
In Queen of Nothing, both Jude and Cardan lose their sneakiness. So what if they’re nicer to each other? They’ve lost their ambition. They’re confused, frial, and weak. What made them so attractive as people was how dedicated they were, how they were willing to cross all lines to get what they wanted. Now, they’re just damsels in distress.
It doesn’t feel like growth; it feels like they’ve given up.
Unfortunately, Queen of Nothing just didn’t live up to the first two books. Because Jude and Cardan are working together, the storyline loses the twists and turns that defined the series. There’s no more second guessing, deception, and betrayal. Which means that the series has lost its identity. By finally bringing Jude and Cardan together, Holly Black has sacrificed the very thing that made this story so appealing.
The plot is then forced to focus on the other aspects of Jude’s life, like Oak, Madoc, Taryn, Oriana, the Bomb, etc. It’s still interesting; it just doesn’t quite live up to the first two books.
While it was a fitting ending to the series, I would have to place Queen of Nothing as my least favorite of the trilogy. And it’s got the worst cover :(
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…
See, character growth is great! But not when it literally takes away a person’s defining character traits.
In Queen of Nothing, both Jude and Cardan lose their sneakiness. So what if they’re nicer to each other? They’ve lost their ambition. They’re confused, frial, and weak. What made them so attractive as people was how dedicated they were, how they were willing to cross all lines to get what they wanted. Now, they’re just damsels in distress.
It doesn’t feel like growth; it feels like they’ve given up.
Unfortunately, Queen of Nothing just didn’t live up to the first two books. Because Jude and Cardan are working together, the storyline loses the twists and turns that defined the series. There’s no more second guessing, deception, and betrayal. Which means that the series has lost its identity. By finally bringing Jude and Cardan together, Holly Black has sacrificed the very thing that made this story so appealing.
The plot is then forced to focus on the other aspects of Jude’s life, like Oak, Madoc, Taryn, Oriana, the Bomb, etc. It’s still interesting; it just doesn’t quite live up to the first two books.
While it was a fitting ending to the series, I would have to place Queen of Nothing as my least favorite of the trilogy. And it’s got the worst cover :(
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