Afoxamongstars's Reviews > The Cruel Prince

I'm so glad I read your review because based on the synopsis I almost hit to-read. In this day and age especially I wouldn't want to read about an abusive love interest in any way. I've been finding so many of these characters and I have to say things like this are what add to the problem in the first place. I won't condone a book glorifying abuse.

he's not exactly the love interest, but Black kinda hints at it and other reviewers are jumping on that bandwagon🙄. I expected intelligent writing, a kickass plot and a heroine I would love. instead I got to ask "what the fuck out loud" every other page😐

Afoxamongstars wrote: "he's not exactly the love imterest, but Black kinda hints at it and other reviewers are jumping on that bandwagon🙄. I expected intelligent writing, a kickass plot and a heroine I would love. instea..."

Oh ok. lol That's always a bad sign. It's so disappointing that so many promising books end up having the same bad themes nowadays. Abuse is the new romance for some reason, and strong somehow equals a heroine that's a doormat for it.

yeah, I don't get that either😐

PREACH!! I dont get why people gave this book 5⭐ really everything makes me angry and the fact she just forgot everything Cardan and his minion did to her and kissed him frustating me not to mention alot of others things too

Brenda wrote: "PREACH!! I dont get why people gave this book 5⭐ really everything makes me angry and the fact she just forgot everything Cardan and his minion did to her and kissed him frustating me not to mentio..."

Yeah, I don't get it either. It's really shocking when this book is so problematic. And then the same people go and criticise the smallest of details in other books that depict healthy relationships.

this book isn't just problematic it's also clique and boring I honestly don't understand how it has such high ratings

I only read a bit of this book, but Cardan was bullying her right?

Preach!!! I thought I was the only one who had these issues with this book!

oh my god, so much this! i was just sitting there reading it like are you SERIOUSLY putting her in a love triangle with two asshole guys that have been bullying her for her entire life???? is this really the choice we've made???? i managed to talk myself into giving it 2 stars but jfc when will we get past the abusive male love interests

[and i mean, i know people might SAY he's not a love interest but ...he is ...and they're going to spend the entire rest of the series like ...staring at each other while alternately thinking about how much they hate and want to bone each other and it's going to be awful and i can't do it lmao I CANNOT]

Thank you for sharing.

I regret buying this book.

Thanks for the review! I was about to read this but I'd rather take your word for it. I can't stand books with abusive love interests!

Sim wrote: "this book isn't just problematic it's also clique and boring I honestly don't understand how it has such high ratings"

Definitely! But I'm guessing that's the appeal of it being clique-y: it's easier to talk about people (especially negatively) than to discuss ideas in an intelligent fashion.

Khrys wrote: "Thanks for the review! I was about to read this but I'd rather take your word for it. I can't stand books with abusive love interests!"

Save yourself the money and time:))

Yoda wrote: "I regret buying this book."

Me too 0_0

Calista wrote: "Thank you for sharing."

Thanks for reading:)

Alice wrote: "I only read a bit of this book, but Cardan was bullying her right?"

Yes, along with other characters - I already forgot the names of the other douchebags

Devann wrote: "oh my god, so much this! i was just sitting there reading it like are you SERIOUSLY putting her in a love triangle with two asshole guys that have been bullying her for her entire life???? is this ..."

Yup, that was my main gripe with this book/future series. How do publishers OK this????

100% agree! I felt so detached from the characters and the plot and OMG, I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE LOVE CARDAN??? I mean, it comes down to preference, but he’s literally such a horrible character with like, no redeemable qualities??? I really want to see how Holly Black’ll portray him in the next book 🤔

I could not care less about what happens. I'm really digging my heels in here, because I feel people shouldn't up her book sales count. Maybe this way authors will finally understand not to write such atrocities

Agree with you 100%, I definitely cannot see the hype after reading the crap I did.

SAME. All the sames!

By p. 35 and i stopped, and i have a feeling u would have agreed, i truly can't understand the hype

Your review is great!!
I was suspicious this book was the type to have abusive relationships. It seems like those sorts of relationships are really popular in books, especially YA. I hated The Darkest Part of The Forest, so I had a feeling this would suck just as much!

First review I’ve seen where someone talked about how bad the writing is!!!!! YES! It reads like an angsty 13 year olds diary entry

This:
Oh, and the thing that really gets me going: one of the characters that is hinted at being a possible love interest: he is abusive and no one fucking bats an eye (in the book or in the reviews I've seen). I am so done with female (and male, for that matter) authors who write abusive love interests and then absolve them of all the shit that they've done . In the world of endemic sexual harassment and abusive behaviour, in the world of #metoo and the horrifying stories of women being treated like less than dirt, why do we fall for this type of characters? why do we keep buying these books? and why do we praise the authors who write them??????? .

Finally! I'm shocked how there are hundreds of positive reviews and noone seems to be at all disturbed by this.

Brooo I agree with a lot of the criticism of this book but totally disagree with the sentiment that Jude was being whiny. I would have such a fucking hard time if it was me that was bellow average in so many ways, as a kid most of all. Also imagine living with immortals. I'm scared of death so that really got to me. Like pls I want to live longer too.

FINALLY SOMEONE WITH AN OPEN MIND! Couldn’t agree more!

YESSSSSS! I will never understand why people keep recommending this book.
The writing is absolute shite!
The character development is ✨nonexistent✨
The character personalities are inconsistent as is the plot!
They were identical twins ffs and
let’s not talk about her sisters arranged marriage to that first guy that showed her ‘affection’ and didn’t treat her like ‘trash’ because he ‘saved’ her from the bullying and abuse and almost giving all control of her body to that shitty group of friends! And he still got with her knowing he was going to get with her twin! The abuse and extent to which this toxic group resorted to bullying her and her sister is unreal and completely insane.

To conclude, If you like this book, stay the fuck away from me.


P.s.
I read this a while ago so I don’t remember their names

YES YOU'VE LITERALLY STRUNG EVERY THOUGHT I HAD WHILE READING THIS BOOK INTO ONE REVIEW.

I came here to see why so many people have loved this book. I haven’t finished it yet and I am frustrated. She is an idiot. How can she like that guy and kiss him with so many clues and situations?!? I don’t know if I can finish this... I don’t know...

I hate books that romanticise abuse, I completely agree, I was shocked by the positive reviews.

FINALLY! I finally found someone who addressed the bullying and abusive behavior from Cardan! I don't get why people like him 😭😭 what is happening

Thank you so much for this comment. I felt the same way. I only read it to the end because it was so hyped in TikTok. I shouldn't have.

I've finally just finished this book and you have put into words, exactly how I feel! I struggled to read this, and I never struggle with books. I won't be reading the next 2. Don't always trust booktok #WorstReadOfTheYear

amen to all of this

The straight-up praise for domestically violent and abusive characters was nauseating, as was the justifications for the abuse (that "they're not human, so it's different!").

All Cardan did was throw her in the river. The rest of the bulling Jude gets from his friends. On the other hand, she:
- kidnapped him
- threatened him
- manipulated him
- literally made him her slave
They're both awful. That is the point of this book!

Cardan is a walking bouquet of red flags. Ripping off the wings of a fae, shoving her in a river, that disturbing ass note with her name all over it?! Absolutely not okay

I literally have the EXACT same feelings about this book! (If u want you can also see my review I posted a few minutes ago.)

I JUST GENUINELY DONT GET WHY THERE IS SO MUCH PRAISE FOR THIS BOOK

This is are all extremely valid reasons to hate this book but I cannot deny it sort of falls into the realm of guilty pleasures. Obviously in a real life scenario this relationship is a no go, both parties definitely should have restraining orders on each other and probably some prison time but as a form of entrainment I can’t deny I was entertained. You kind of need to have a taste for dark things though and separate fiction and reality, understanding being treated poorly in real life (unless possibly as a *consensual game* but that’s also up for debate) should never be tolerated..

OKAY YKW YOU ARE WRONG AS HEECCCCCCCC. I may have only read the first 1/3 and am here to get spoilers but don't even get me started. Jude is not annoying, she is a girlboss. She stands up for her values and whta she believs in. She is write to push that dumb brat Cardan because he is just bad. Thsi cringy corny fire dump of a faerie does not get to push Taylyn or whatever her name is around. He doesn't get to push anyone around. SHE ATE SHE DEVOURED SHE LEFT NO CRUMBS SHE SHOWED HIM WHO'S THE PERIOD GIRLBOSS PERIODDDD.

Also yeah Cardan is a red flag he may as well just transform himself into a tomato with his fairy powers or whatever but that's HOT. Who cares if he's like weird and nasty and cringy because the author said he's HOT and HOT is better. Cardan is BETTER because he's HOT. PERIOD.

I got 20% into the book and wondered when the love interest was going to show up. I googled it and was shocked and appalled it was this abusive bully.

couldn't agree more

I’m 35 pages in and I cannot stand the way the book’s written. I don’t know if I can finish it.

you ate this

Thank you!! I DNFed so fast once the abuse started. I will forever rant about how horrible this book is. How does it have such good reviews

Literally couldn’t have said it better myself. Your review has better writing than the book itself. You killed it