Teen Feature: Folk of the Air Series

Jude once lived in an ordinary house on an ordinary street. She watched TV and ate fish sticks drenched in ketchup like any ordinary girl. She was just a child when a man in a long dark coat took her and her sisters from the mortal world to the high court of Faerie, where nothing is ordinary. It is a realm where winged pixies, cat-faced goblins and faerie princes wear clothing made of flower petals and moth wings. They ride on giant toads and dine on bouquets of garlic and enchanted fruit.

The folk of the Faerie are not always kind to the humans who live in their world. They look down at them. They taunt their mortality. They use enchantments to torment them. Jude, despite her human limitations, refuses to be intimated. She has strength and a spirit of her own.

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black reminded me of Game of Thrones. Although it is a fantasy novel, it is really a political intrigue story at its core. It took a few chapters for me to figure out that behind this beautiful fairy tale there is a web of conspiracy. Schemes for power and position are hidden in every corner of the plot. The further you get into the story, the more the beauty of the realm fades and its true nature is revealed.

Much like Game of Thrones author George R. Martin felt none of his characters were truly good or bad, every character in The Cruel Prince has both strengths and flaws. Even Jude, as moral as she is, will resort to deception when it comes to furthering her own ambitions.

“Someone you trust has already betrayed you.”

In the second book, The Wicked King, the realm of the Undersea threatens to invade. All the while Jude continues her balancing act – letting the faerie folk believe she is just a foolish mortal while secretly pulling the strings behind the throne. Like any game of deception, she can never be sure who is plotting against her.

Holly Black is a master at painting pictures with words. The court of Faerie is beautifully described in both The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King. You can almost feel yourself being weaved into this world of magic and wonder.

I completely devoured both books in this series. I hung on every word, loved every page and rooted for Jude through every step of the story.

The final book in the Folk of the Air series will be released next year. I already have it highlighted on my calendar.

— Lesley L.