on
3.5/5
Non-Fiction
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Rating: 4/5
Started: 21 April 2022
Finished: 21 April 2022
Summary:
In the woods just outside the town of Fairfold, where fae and humans live in a cautious peace, there is a sleeping fairy prince locked in an impenetrable glass box. Though as far as anyone can tell he's always been asleep, he is a central part of Fairfold: teenagers party around him, artists marvel at his still beauty, and the Evans siblings poor out their hopes and dreams over his still form.
Ben Evans was born with the gift of music beautiful enough to change minds and stop hearts, but without knowing how to control it, he's desperately afraid of his power. Despite having no magic Hazel Evans has always wanted to be a knight and protect Fairfold from the malicious fairies who revel in the suffering of tourists, stolen away in the middle of the night. One morning, Hazel wakes up, mysteriously covered in mud and glass shards, to find that the sleeping prince's glass case is shattered and empty. She must delve deep into the dangerous fae court and their frightening stories in order to save herself, the prince, and her town.
Thoughts:
While not as good as The Cruel Prince, I quite liked this book. I enjoyed the continuation of Holly Black's dark and glittering fae world; hers is one of my favorite depictions of fairyland that I've ever read--dangerously mischievous and casually violent, it feels truer to the idea of the fae than just magic and dancing.
This book had some major similarities to the cruel prince. Obviously they take place in the same system of fae courts, and there are some character overlaps (Grimsen and the Alderking). The thing that stood out to me most though was the repeat of a female character enamored with the idea of knighthood. Neither Jude nor Hazel are written as particularly tomboyish or masculine, yet both engage not in the sensual idea of a female warrior, but instead in the genderless role of knighthood. I find this fascinating. The slight bending of gender is very Holly Black fae, but this female but genderless knight situation is fascinating. The only explanation I can think of is that Holly Black feels some connection to this paradigm.
The kissing thing was a little weird. It made sense, both in terms of character development and the careless extravagance of fairyland as a whole, but it was still weird. The kissing scenes came out of the blue with almost no lead up, and I feel that they undermined most of the book's relationships through their casualness. This was upsetting--there was a lot of potential in each of the romances in the book, and I would have loved for the relationships to be stronger and more whole.
I read this book in preparation for going to Holly Black's event at Powells as part of her book tour for the Book of Night, her debut adult release. I'm probably going to read more of her books before the event, and I'm cautiously excited: I've really enjoyed the creepy and gritty glamour of her books so far, and hopefully I won't be disappointed by whatever of hers I read next.
Words:
Wastrel (n) a wasteful or good for nothing person
Solicitous (adj) showing interest or concern
Lassitude (n) a state of physical or mental weariness; a lack of energy
Fugue (n) a musical composition where themes are repeated by different voices in an interweaving of voice parts
Succor (n) assistance or support in times of hardship or stress
Sesquidecade (n) 15 years (not a recognized word; created following latin patterns)